Design Manager

DesignMinds; Kentucky; On-site; USD 85,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

DesignMinds is seeking a Design Manager to provide strategic direction and mentor a design team across departments. You will balance hands-on design oversight with leadership responsibilities, ensuring timely, high-quality deliverables and enterprise-aligned client experiences.

You will partner with sales leadership on strategic accounts and contribute to business development efforts, leveraging your knowledge of commercial furniture and design software.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design, Architecture, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in commercial furniture design.
• Leadership or management experience (at least 2 years).
• Excellent communication, organization, and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a high-performance design team across departments.
• Manage project scope, product solutions, timelines, and resource alignment.
• Ensure tasks are tracked, deadlines met, and deliverables are high quality.
• Support sales and client engagements with design expertise and strategic planning.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Team management

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in Interior Design/Architecture

Tools

Microsoft Office

AutoCAD

SketchUp

BlueBeam

CET

Job description

The ideal candidate is based in Bowling Green, Louisville, or Lexington. Regular travel is required.

Position Overview:

The Design Manager provides strategic direction, fosters collaboration across departments, and ensures the design team’s work supports the company’s overall business goals. This role balances team development and operational oversight with hands‑on engagement, mentoring, and process improvement.

The Design Manager will supervise direct reports on the execution of project work, resource alignment, and process implementation to ensure accurate, timely, and high-quality design deliverables.

Key Responsibilities:

Leadership & Team Management

• Provide mentorship, coaching, and technical guidance to foster a high-performance, collaborative team culture.
• Model and promote accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement across departments.
• Conduct monthly one-on-one meetings with direct reports to review the Design Performance Matrix.
• Address performance issues with clear documentation, initiating weekly one-on-ones and Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) when necessary.

Project & Resource Management

• Assign project work once project scope, product solutions, and timeline have been validated.
• Ensure effective resource alignment to balance workload, optimize utilization, and support timely, high-quality deliverables.
• Monitor workload and capacity and align resources to ensure teams have the support they need and are able to meet deadlines with accurate, high-quality deliverables.
• Monitor team capacity and collaborate with leadership to proactively address resourcing challenges.
• Provide guidance and strategic oversight on key or complex projects/accounts.

Process & Quality Oversight

• Ensure all direct reports are actively tracking tasks in ZOHO, updating comments, meeting deadlines, and closing tasks appropriately.
• Support and lead problem‑solving efforts across departments to maintain high output standards and resolve project obstacles.
• Champion innovation in processes, design thinking, and technology adoption.
• Foster strong working relationships across departments to ensure open communication and enterprise alignment.
• Promote collaboration between design, sales, operations, and project management to deliver cohesive client experiences.

Client‑Facing & Business Development Support

• Partner with sales leadership on strategic accounts, providing design expertise and support for business development initiatives.
• Serve as a design resource in key client engagements, presentations, and strategic planning sessions.
• Strong product knowledge of commercial furniture, including market trends and innovations.
• Elevate the role of design as a strategic differentiator within the sales process.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and design software (CET, AutoCAD, SketchUp, BlueBeam, etc).
• Ability to think strategically and make recommendations that align with the goals of sales and design teams.
• Organized, proactive, and able to manage multiple designers and their workload.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design, Architecture, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in commercial furniture design, with at least 2 years in a leadership or management role.
• Excellent communication, organization, and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and mentor a team while meeting individual project responsibilities.