Design Manager

Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people in the digital age. We build open source technology and organize a network of people dedicated to making government services simple, effective, and easy to use. We believe design is key to solving some of the toughest social challenges. Designers at Code for America are working on products and services that include helping families in need access food assistance, reducing incarceration, and redesigning the workforce system. We are a hiring a Design Manager with broad industry experience and a passion for using design to tackle social challenges to manage our growing team of designers. This is a people manager role with 8-10 direct reports, mainly interaction designers.

This role is based in San Francisco and reports to the Head of Product.

Responsibilities:

Manage a dynamic and creative team of product designers, service designers, UX and design researchers.
Strengthen the culture of design across the organization.
Support the design team to deliver outstanding work
Champion the use of design with other disciplines: engineering, product and program.
Manage individual designers to expand their expertise and deepen their impact.
Work to ensure designers are placed in the right role for their skills and development.
Contribute to the organization’s credibility and thought leadership in design.
Build connections with design teams working across government and other industries.
Manage client relationships, negotiating design decisions successfully

Competencies:

Expert at multiplying the effectiveness of others by mentoring, teaching, listening and facilitating.
A natural community organizer you are committed to building strong culture.
Confident design leader, able to represent the discipline to senior leadership and external stakeholders.
Strong skills across a broad range of design roles.
Passionate about user centered design (Engineers, Product leads, policy makers.)
Able to work at pace in an agile environment
Excellent visual communication skills
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Able to communicate purpose and direction with clarity and enthusiasm.

Requirements:

Design degree or equivalent experience
Minimum 6 years experience working in a design role
Proven experience working on multiple large scale products or services and delivered them successfully
Experience across a broad range of roles in the design industry
Experience working on digital products in a fast paced agile environment
Proven experience in design leadership
A passion for our mission of making government services better for people who need them

Benefits

Code for America offers full health and dental benefits, a 401k plan with matching funds and a culture that is collaborative, hardworking and fun.

About Code for America

Code for America is a startup non-profit with a great culture and a huge opportunity to make a difference. We work in cross-functional teams, collaboratively and agilely and value high-quality, user-friendly work product. We strive to learn from everything we do and regularly host talks from leaders in the civic technology movement. We respect each other, work hard, and have a great time together. We’re looking for individuals who share our vision, our values, and our willingness to do what it takes to achieve an ambitious mission over the next few years.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Code for America values a diverse workplace and strongly encourages women, people of color, LGBT individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply. Code for America is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.