Senior Design Program Manager

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Oversee the complete delivery of intricate, multi-quarter design projects involving Design, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, Business Development, and various cross-functional teams.

• Create and implement AI-driven workflows to streamline status reporting, resource tracking, documentation synthesis, and stakeholder communication.

• Advocate for AI proficiency within the Design team to enhance operational efficiency.

• Manage strategic vendor partnerships and contract oversight for design tools, including Figma, prototyping software, asset management, and collaboration platforms.

• Negotiate contracts, optimize licensing expenditures, and ensure that infrastructure scales in accordance with growth.

• Oversee relationships with contractors and agencies while collaborating with Finance, Legal, and IT on compliance and cost-effectiveness.

• Direct capacity planning, roadmapping, and resource distribution.

• Develop operational metrics and tool integrations for efficient workflows.

• Collaborate with the Instacart Design System team on system development, component adoption, governance, and scalability across product teams.

• Convert design strategies into actionable programs with clear visibility into progress and results.

• Facilitate planning cycles and milestone evaluations where design aligns with product roadmaps.

• Utilize design thinking and product insight in the operational program design.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 6 years of experience in program management and design operations within design or product-focused organizations.

• Strong understanding of product dynamics and design sensibilities.

• Familiarity with all phases of the product development lifecycle and experience in launching products from inception to completion.

• Technical proficiency in design systems and engineering principles, including system architecture, component APIs, design-to-code workflows, and technical limitations.

• Demonstrated success in leading complex, cross-functional programs from inception to scaling operational systems.

• Experience with AI tools, LLMs, and automation platforms.

• Proven vendor and contract management skills, including negotiating software agreements, relationship management, cost optimization, and ensuring compliance.

• Knowledgeable in design and program management tool ecosystems, such as Figma, Linear, Jira, Dovetail, asset management, and prototyping tools.

• Capability to drive organizational transformation and influence cross-functional collaborators.

• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management abilities; at ease presenting to executive leadership.

• Preferred qualifications: expertise in design systems; experience with AI-driven workflows for creative operations or design tool integrations; ability to translate leadership vision into actionable roadmaps and operating models; experience with hybrid or embedded team structures; balancing hands-on execution with strategic oversight; utilizing data and storytelling to influence leadership and secure buy-in.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive compensation and benefits that are highly market-driven.

• Equity grant for new hires.

• Annual refresh grants.

• Flexible work location through Instacart's Flex First policy.