Manager, Product Design

Our product design team is at the heart of that work, breaking down barriers and unlocking the potential of an intuitive platform and thoughtfully crafted product experiences. We're driven to design a more inclusive future where creation and problem-solving aren't limited by sophisticated technical skills. Design has been a part of Airtable's DNA from the start, and it's a crucial part of where we're heading as a product and company. 

We’re looking for an experienced product design manager to join our passionate crew of design leaders at Airtable. If these sound like puzzles you’re eager to help us solve and you’re excited about the chance to lead a team of humble, talented, and deeply thoughtful designers, we can’t wait for you to apply.

You’ll be an integral part of a collaborative team, contributing to both strategic vision and design execution. This role will be based in San Francisco and we have a hybrid collaboration culture with 1-2 in-office days preferred per week. This is not a remote position.

What you'll do

• Shape and communicate our strategy
  Projects aren’t just handed off to design in a fully defined state at Airtable. You’ll partner closely with Product Management and Engineering partners to define roadmaps, goals, and success metrics focused on compelling and high-impact problems. Everyone on the team has a voice to identify opportunities and sharpen the vision. You’ll leverage design-led explorations to unpack tricky product and business problems and bring a balance of user-focus to the conversation. As a key member of our Product Development Leadership team, you’ll engage directly with our executive team across the business.
• Set the bar for design quality and craft
  You’ll oversee the design of high-quality features and workflows, from problem-setting to polishing details (and every step in between), while creating a sense of empowerment for your team throughout the process. Our managers own their team’s critique and feedback culture—we believe in engaging conversations and spaces that set a high bar for quality in a supportive and constructive environment. And when you see an opportunity, you’ll lead the way with thoughtful team design sprints and initiatives.
• Drive operational excellence
  When it comes to design leadership, it’s not just what we deliver but how we get there as a team. You’ll develop and drive important relationships, practices, and processes from both a design and cross-functional perspective. We work to balance quality and efficiency in our product development process. You’ll actively manage design resourcing to create healthy and sustainable dynamics for our designers. You’ll also help set the pace for shipping and learning with considerate tradeoffs in mind.
• See Airtable through the eyes of our customers
  We have a diverse customer base, which means a broad and nuanced set of customer needs and use cases. You and your team will work with cross-functional partners across the business and engage directly with our customers to understand goals and behaviors in many industries. You’ll help establish approaches, programs and relationships to feed developing initiatives with high-quality customer and user insights.
• Help our design team thrive
  We are all stewards of our design culture at Airtable. We’re constantly learning and evolving — we make intentional space for diverse perspectives and experiences. You’ll provide thoughtful day-to-day leadership and continually guide the development of your reports. You’ll also provide mentorship to the broader team and influence our organizational rituals and dialogue. You’ll be an important member of a design management crew that values the balance of people, product and process in our work. We support each other through big and small challenges, working together to constantly grow as people managers, craft experts, and leaders.

Who you are

• You’ve led product design teams before
  ...and have 5+ years of design management experience and a track record of thoughtful, impactful work to show for it. You have experience managing a team of designers working on projects where quality, scale, and execution are a priority.
• You’re a lifelong learner
  The details and nuances are important to you, and you never feel “done” learning the craft of design, the art of management and how design intersects with emerging technologies.
• You gravitate towards complex problems
  There’s no shortage of gnarly and impactful problems to solve at Airtable. If you thrive on wrangling ambiguity and helping teams find their footing when overwhelmed by the possibilities, we think you’ll have a good time here.
• You like saying “we” more than “I”
  Your team and functional partners will be a collaborative bunch, and you’ll be working closely with other designer managers, PMs, engineering, PMMs, and more. We are greater than the sum of our parts.
• You just go for it
  There are lots of opportunities to have meaningful impact as a self-starter at Airtable. You don’t hesitate to champion a good idea until it turns into something that works.
• You enjoy leading in a dynamic environment
  We’re still growing and changing as a company which can be both exciting and challenging. We're looking for leaders who are comfortable with uncertainty and can help us rise to the occasion of each new moment in our company's rapid development.
• You inspire your colleagues to be the best versions of themselves
  We genuinely admire and respect each other which motivates us to show up as our best selves and take pride in the work we do together.

Airtable is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and strive to create a workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any characteristic protected by applicable federal and state laws, regulations and ordinances. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant. 

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If you have a medical condition, disability, or religious belief/practice which inhibits your ability to participate in any part of the application or interview process, please complete our Accommodations Request Form and let us know how we may assist you. Airtable is committed to participating in the interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants.