Design Manager – Upstream Robotics

About us

At Dyson we are encouraged to think differently, challenge convention and be unafraid to make mistakes. We’re creative, collaborative, practical and enthusiastic. 

Dyson offers a unique opportunity for skilled individuals to invent, design and develop market leading products for the global market. By working in our world class research, design and development (RDD) department, these professionals have the opportunity to work alongside leading technical specialists and highly motivated creative people to create products which fulfil our vision of being truly different and better than our competitors.

About the role

The Design Manager (DM) is responsible for the design and development a product, accountable to the executive team for every element to achieve the highest standards of performance, quality, cost, and speed of development. The DM leads the continuous process of balancing conflicting and interdependent requirements and are ultimately accountable for setting direction through one-to-one reviews with Senior stakeholders.

You will be working within a fast paced and exciting field with a dedicated inspiring workspace; focussed on developing products depending on advanced robotics and artificial intelligence technologies. 

The DM role within Upstream Robotics is responsible for developing early-stage products that leverage the latest technologies, whilst managing the challenging complexities of multiple systems and requirements. You will be leading / working closely with other engineers, designers, scientists, specialists, downstream teams, and other cross functional teams to create and develop new technology, product formats and business cases for projects in our portfolio.

About you

You’ll be able to demonstrate an excellence in leadership, creativity, and problem-solving, all achieved under the banner of Design Manager. These qualities, coupled with a broad range of technical competencies, will enable you to navigate challenges effectively. You will consider yourself a subject matter expert in your product field. Furthermore, adherence to and development of good governance practices is essential, whilst fostering a culture of accountability and transparency. Commercial acumen is also vital, as the Design Manager controls product costs and identifies opportunities to maximise commercial value. Additionally, your experience will align to leading multi-disciplinary teams and managing third-party collaborations ensuring cohesive and efficient project execution.

In addition, you will have experience within:

• Owning and communicating the vision for products, providing the context for the business, and leads key project decisions.

• Problem solving with the ability to address issues across all aspects of a project; technical, operational, timing, cost etc. 

• Spotting opportunities within the project to deliver faster, improve spec, save costs etc through applying ‘wrong thinking’ and is objective in analysis and decision making. 

• Use design reviews to step into the technical detail; challenge, recommend and ultimately make design decisions with consideration for time, spec and cost.

• Use technical review process to judge project readiness to pass milestones, be critical and hold the technical teams to account.

• Track software and hardware risks and maturity, using formal reviews to assess and authorise changes.

• A ‘super-generalist’ can pick up technical complexity quickly and be conversant in all technical disciplines core to the vision of the product and can explain technical risks and decisions for all aspects of the product.

• Broad understanding of the competitor landscape (key manufacturers, performance, volumes and value shares, key claims).

• Understands the target consumers, and their needs, behaviours, and attitudes.

• Navigate market specific challenges and support the resolution through spec changes / claims / demos etc. 

• Adept at identifying where leadership is most required, ranging from hands on design and problem solving to bringing recommendations to strategic decisions. 

• Rapidly become expert in the technologies, trends, problems related to the product and its users. 

• Drive the development of the vision, collaborating with James and the most senior members of the business; ensure minimal compromise and make advantageous improvements. 

• Engage in technology selection, adoption, and integration in both physical and digital forms. 

• Refine the vision to generate maximum commercial potential, ensuring it is sufficiently well defined that all internal and external teams and totally clear on their goals and constraints.

• Assist with development of a commercial strategy through model ranging and the development of technically robust claims.

Dyson is an equal opportunity employer. We know that great minds don’t think alike, and it takes all kinds of minds to make our technology so unique. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and employment decisions are made without regard to race, colour, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, protected veteran status or other any other dimension of diversity.