Product Design Manager

Essential Responsibilities:

Talent Management & Team Development
Manage and support a team of designers through coaching, mentorship, performance management, and career development, ensuring designs are intuitive, effective, and deeply aligned with real classroom needs.

Conduct regular growth conversations, development planning, and performance reviews.

Help individuals identify strengths, growth opportunities, and meaningful career trajectories.

Foster an inclusive, psychologically safe, and collaborative team culture.

Support onboarding, retention, succession planning, and internal mobility efforts.

Partner with recruiting teams on hiring strategy, interviewing, and talent evaluation.

Organizational Health & Effectiveness
Improve team operations, communication practices, and collaboration models.

Identify organizational friction points and implement workflow improvements that enhance team effectiveness and sustainability.

Help establish healthy management practices, feedback systems, and growth frameworks.

Partner cross-functionally with Design Directors and project leads to support team alignment and organizational clarity.

Contribute to the development of scalable management practices and design organization standards.

Craft Growth & Capability Building
Support the continued growth of design craft across the organization through coaching, critique culture, mentorship programs, and learning initiatives.

Identify skill gaps and create development opportunities aligned to organizational priorities.

Help shape internal learning pathways, design competencies, and capability frameworks.

Future Trends & Innovation
Investigate emerging trends in design practice, collaboration tooling, and organizational design.

Assess evolving industry directions and their implications for team skills, operating models, and creative processes.

Recommend thoughtful experiments with AI workflow enhancements that improve quality, sustainability, or effectiveness.

Share insights and strategic recommendations with design leadership.

Required Qualifications:

7+ years of experience in product design, with at least 2 years of experience managing designers.

Experience building great products and ability to impart that experience through leading and developing designers within complex product or organizational environments.

Demonstrated strength in coaching, mentorship, feedback, and performance management.

Strong emotional intelligence, communication skills, and organizational awareness.

Experience building healthy team cultures and scalable management practices.

Deep understanding of modern product design workflows and creative collaboration.

Curiosity about emerging technologies, AI-assisted design workflows, and evolving design practices.

Ability to balance strategic thinking with practical people leadership.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience designing for K–12 educators and/or students

Familiarity with classroom workflows, curriculum products, or assessment systems

Background in learning science, accessibility, or inclusive design

Experience working across both digital and print-connected ecosystems

Any lived experience with teaching, tutoring, or supporting K–12 students, especially in digital learning contexts

Familiarity with AI-assisted design tools