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Introduction

A career in IBM Software means you'll be part of a team that transforms our customer’s challenges into solutions.

Seeking new possibilities and always staying curious, we are a team dedicated to creating the world's leading AI-powered, cloud-native software solutions for our customers. Our renowned legacy creates endless global opportunities for our IBMers, so the door is always open for those who want to grow their career.

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 Design Manager passionate about guiding our creative design team and empowering them to deliver exceptional end-to-end customer experiences. As a 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.

Responsibilities:

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 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.

Leaders are expected to spend time with their teams and clients and therefore are generally expected to be in the workspace a minimum of 3 days a week, subject to business needs.

Required education

High School Diploma/GED

Preferred education

Master's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• 3+ years experience as a design lead/people manager
• Experience 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 and leadership skills
• Excellent listening, written, and verbal communication skills as well as storytelling and documentation skills.
• Leaders are expected to spend time with their teams and clients and therefore are generally expected to be in the workplace a minimum of three days a week, subject to business needs.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• 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 experience working with a diverse global team