Senior Design Program Manager

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Design Program Manager based in Canada.

This role drives operational excellence and strategic execution across a high-performing Design organization.
You will lead complex, multi-quarter initiatives while building scalable systems, processes, and tools that enable creative teams to work more effectively.
The position sits at the intersection of design, product, engineering, technical operations, and strategic program management.
You will leverage AI and automation to streamline workflows, improve visibility, and increase organizational efficiency.
The role also involves managing critical design tooling vendors, optimizing resources, and supporting design system governance and adoption.
You will partner closely with senior leaders and cross-functional teams to translate strategy into measurable outcomes.
This is an opportunity to shape the operational infrastructure behind world-class digital experiences in a flexible, remote-first environment.

• Drive end-to-end execution of complex, high-visibility, multi-quarter design programs across Design, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, Business Development, and other cross-functional teams, ensuring clear ownership, alignment, milestones, and predictable outcomes.
• Build and deploy AI-enabled workflows that automate program management activities such as status reporting, resource tracking, documentation synthesis, and stakeholder communications while increasing operational efficiency across Design.
• Manage strategic vendor relationships and contracts for design tooling, including platforms for design, prototyping, asset management, and collaboration, while negotiating agreements, optimizing licensing costs, and ensuring infrastructure can scale with organizational growth.
• Manage contractor and agency relationships and collaborate with Finance, Legal, and IT to support compliance, procurement, cost efficiency, and effective resource utilization.
• Lead capacity planning, roadmapping, resource allocation, operational metrics, and tooling integrations that create streamlined workflows and improve team health and visibility.
• Partner with design systems teams to align programs with system evolution, component adoption, governance, and scalable implementation across product teams.
• Translate design strategy and leadership priorities into actionable programs, roadmaps, operating models, milestone reviews, and measurable outcomes.
• Apply design thinking and product sense to operational challenges, creating systems that balance creative flexibility, consistency, scalability, user needs, and business impact.
• Act as a strategic cross-functional partner, facilitating planning cycles, resolving complexity, and maintaining alignment between design initiatives and broader product and business roadmaps.

Requirements

• 6+ years of experience in program management and/or design operations within design or product organizations, with demonstrated success driving operational excellence and supporting high-performing teams.
• Strong product sense and design craft sensibility, with the ability to understand design workflows and translate creative and product strategies into effective programs and operating models.
• Proven experience across the full product development lifecycle, including successfully launching products or experiences end-to-end.
• Technical fluency sufficient to collaborate effectively with design systems and engineering teams, including an understanding of system architecture, component APIs, design-to-code workflows, and technical constraints.
• Demonstrated success leading complex cross-functional programs from 0→1 and scaling operational systems in fast-paced environments.
• Practical experience using AI tools, LLMs, automation platforms, or similar technologies to improve efficiency and scale program management or creative operations.
• Strong vendor and contract management experience, including software negotiations, relationship management, licensing optimization, compliance, and cost control.
• Deep familiarity with design and program management ecosystems such as Figma, Linear, Jira, Dovetail, asset management platforms, and prototyping tools.
• Strong organizational change and influencing skills, with the ability to bring clarity to complex situations and align stakeholders around shared outcomes.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, including confidence presenting to senior and executive leadership.
• Experience with design systems, component libraries, design tokens, documentation, governance, and adoption programs is highly valuable.
• Experience building AI-powered workflows, translating leadership vision into actionable roadmaps, working within embedded or hybrid team models, and using data and storytelling to secure leadership buy-in is considered an advantage.
• Ability to balance hands-on execution with strategic oversight while managing competing priorities in an evolving environment.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary of $185,000–$195,000 CAD for Canadian-based candidates.
• Eligibility for a new-hire equity grant.
• Eligibility for annual equity refresh grants.
• Flexible remote-first working arrangement.
• Flexibility to work from home, an office, or another suitable location while participating in regular in-person team events.
• Market-competitive benefits designed for employees across eligible Canadian locations.
• Opportunity to work on high-impact design, product, AI, and operational programs at significant scale.
• Collaborative environment with strong cross-functional exposure and opportunities to influence organizational strategy and ways of working.
• Opportunity to develop and apply expertise in AI-enabled operations, design systems, program management, and technical tooling.

We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team.

We appreciate your interest and wish you the best!

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