Design Manager
Full TimeJob Overview
Pigment is looking for a Design Manager to help scale and strengthen the Product Design team. This is primarily a people and design-leadership role, with an expected split of approximately 80% management / 20% hands-on design.
The role will focus on developing designers, improving the team's operating rhythm, strengthening design culture and ensuring consistently high-quality work. For a strong candidate, there is also meaningful scope to help shape Design strategy: defining useful KPIs and OKRs, improving processes, measuring Design's impact and helping identify the skills and hires the team will need next.
Pigment is looking for a Design Manager to help scale and strengthen the Product Design team. This is primarily a people and design-leadership role, with an expected split of approximately 80% management / 20% hands-on design.
The role will focus on developing designers, improving the team's operating rhythm, strengthening design culture and ensuring consistently high-quality work. For a strong candidate, there is also meaningful scope to help shape Design strategy: defining useful KPIs and OKRs, improving processes, measuring Design's impact and helping identify the skills and hires the team will need next.
So you will
- Manage, coach and develop Product Designers, creating clear expectations, regular feedback and meaningful opportunities for growth.
- Build a strong, collaborative Design culture and create the conditions for designers to do their best work.
- Own and improve Design operations, including team rituals, planning, processes and ways of working.
- Supervise design work and maintain a high bar for craft, UX quality and product thinking across the team.
- Partner closely with Product and Engineering leaders to align people, priorities and delivery.
- Help designers navigate complex B2B product problems while balancing user needs, business outcomes and technical constraints.
- Contribute hands-on where it adds the most value while remaining primarily focused on management and team effectiveness.
- Develop frameworks, processes and best practices that help our Design organisation scale.
- Help define meaningful Design KPIs and OKRs and improve how we understand and communicate Design's impact.
- Identify capability gaps and contribute to the future shape and hiring needs of the Design organisation.
Who you are
- You're an experienced Product Design leader with proven people-management experience in a high-quality product organisation.
- You've managed and developed Product Designers through coaching, feedback, performance conversations and career development.
- You have a strong understanding of end-to-end Product Design and enough hands-on craft expertise to review work, challenge thinking and raise the quality bar.
- You're comfortable working on complex B2B software and partnering closely with Product Managers and Engineers.
- You're an excellent communicator who can create alignment across Design, Product and Engineering.
- You have a strong operational mindset and enjoy improving processes, team rituals and how a Design organisation works.
- You can balance people leadership and delivery with longer-term Design strategy.
- You're proactive and autonomous, you identify opportunities to improve the organisation rather than simply maintaining existing processes.
- You're interested in measuring Design's effectiveness and connecting Design work to meaningful product and business outcomes.
What success looks like
You'll help create a Design team that is well supported, operating effectively and consistently producing exceptional work.
Our designers will have clearer direction and stronger development support. Our Design organisation will have better processes, greater management capacity and a clearer understanding of its impact and the capabilities we'll need as we continue to grow.