Senior Design Manager

We are an infinitely curious team always seeking new possibilities and dedicated to creating the world’s leading AI-powered cloud-native software solutions. Our renowned legacy creates endless global opportunities for our network of IBMers. We are a team of deep product experts ensuring exceptional client experiences with a focus on delivery excellence and obsession over customer outcomes.

IBM’s product and technology landscape includes Research Software and Infrastructure. Entering this domain positions you at the heart of IBM where growth and innovation thrive

Thomas J. Watson said it best: “Good design is good business.” Design is an essential profession—an imperative thread—interwoven through the various functions and segments of the business. Design is a driver of improved outcomes contributing to business value for our clients and for IBM. Our designers work to create experiences that work together work the same and work for our clients. IBMers have a growth mindset and work in teams to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. We showcase ownership and autonomy throughout the design process and seek understanding of strategic objectives to create beautiful and functional products. At IBM you will be joining us in serving as a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

Your Role and Responsibilities
You are a Senior Design Manager passionate about guiding our creative design team and empowering them to deliver exceptional end-to-end customer experiences. As an experienced leader you will be responsible for a combination of people and practice leadership. You will directly manage a team of designers UX researchers and content professionals collaborating with cross-functional leadership counterparts to set and deliver project objectives. You will mentor designers with various creative backgrounds and career experiences and set up the design team for success.

Your responsibilities will include
Design Leadership and Community Building

• Cultivate design excellence and accelerate cultural transformation and innovation by creating the conditions for the team to do their best work.
• Define and implement strategies to accomplish the design vision and mission and communicating across the organization.
• Lead with an owner’s mentality to deliver ideas and design outcomes that differentiate our solutions in the market.
• Own operational outcomes managing project tasks and timely delivery of design projects using agile methodologies.
• Make data-driven decisions –from one source of truth– with a bias for understanding and action.
• Participate in design critiques to give and receive creative direction to ensure the highest quality market-leading design outcomes
• Understand modern design thinking and design trends (including responsiveness accessibility AI)

Cross-functional collaboration and alignment

• Drive alignment by collaborating with developers marketers product managers and other design teams to drive a shared understanding of user’s needs and behaviors.
• Communicate collaborate and innovate — promoting positive cross-discipline product culture on a regional scale.

People leadership

• Shape the design culture by setting a high bar for performance and design excellence and addressing performance misalignment in a prompt and human-centered manner.
• Promote an environment of psychological safety for interpersonal risk-taking that allows the design team to spend more time towards high-performance goals.
• Review designs of the multi-skilled design teams improving the work while growing the designers and supporting their career development.
• Foster a team culture of diversity and transparent collaboration.
• Create and sustain a diverse hiring pipeline in India

Required Technical and Professional Expertise

• At least 10+ years of experience that demonstrates strategy leadership and collaboration on complex problems.
• 5+ years experience as a design lead/people manager
• Deep expertise in influencing multidisciplinary teams communicating design needs and accurately scoping your team’s work to drive action towards business goals
• A portfolio of work samples that demonstrates experience in human-centered design with a proven track record for driving outcomes
• Excellent listening written and verbal communication skills as well as storytelling and documentation skills.
• Ability to work in-office 3 days per week

Preferred Technical and Professional Expertise

• Advanced degree in a design-related field or Computer Science
• Known for transformational leadership and sustained record of excellent design work and leadership while actively contributing to developing the design profession.
• Enterprise software experience
• Self-motivation an open mind and a sense of humor