Senior Staff Design Program Manager, Buyer Experience

Etsy; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity package

Annual performance bonus

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Etsy is seeking a Sr. Staff Design Program Manager located in New York City to lead operations for Buyer Experience. In this pivotal role, you will manage complex programs across teams, influencing senior stakeholders while ensuring operational improvements.

With over 10 years of experience in program management and design operations, you will build effective frameworks and strategies. This full-time position includes competitive salary, equity, and flexible work arrangements.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in program management, design operations, or a related field.
• Experience at multi-team or org-wide scope, influencing VP/senior directors.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex operational programs for Buyer Experience design.
• Identify and build new operational initiatives.
• Define planning and prioritization frameworks across platforms.

Skills

Program management

Design operations

Communication

Operational systems building

Influencing stakeholders

Tools

Figma

Jira

Notion

Google Workspace

Job description

Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build, power, and evolve the tools and technologies that connect millions of entrepreneurs with millions of buyers around the world.

As an Etsy Inc. employee, whether a team member of Etsy or Depop, you will tackle unique, meaningful, and large-scale problems alongside passionate coworkers, all the while making a rewarding impact and keeping commerce human.

Salary Range: $200,000.00 - $260,000.00

What’s the role?

We’re hiring a Sr. Staff Design Program Manager to lead the operations powering Etsy’s Buyer Experience. This is a senior individual contributor role with org‑wide scope: you will own the most complex, high‑stakes programs across the end‑to‑end buyer side of the marketplace, shape how the team plans and operates, and serve as a strategic thought partner to Design leadership across multiple groups within the organization.

At this level, you are highly independent – you identify where operational leverage is needed, build the initiatives to get there, and influence at the Director and VP level to make it happen. You bring clarity to novel, complex problem spaces and help the organization make sharper bets about where to focus.

This is a full‑time position reporting to the Director of Design Operations. In addition to salary, you will also be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus, and competitive benefits that support you and your family as part of your total rewards package at Etsy.

For this role, we are considering candidates based in the United States. Candidates living within commutable distance of Etsy’s Brooklyn Office Hub may be the first to be considered. For candidates within commutable distance, Etsy requires in‑office attendance once or twice per week depending on your proximity to the office.

What’s this team like at Etsy?

Buyer Experience spans multiple groups that share a mission: making it easier for buyers to discover, trust, and return to Etsy. These teams work across the full buyer journey – from the signals that make Etsy feel differentiated, to retention and frequency, to discovery and matching – and your role is to help them operate with shared clarity and momentum.

The Design Operations team is the operational backbone of this work. As the Sr. Staff DPM for Buyer Experience, you will embed deeply with design leadership across these groups, understand where the org is losing momentum, and build the systems and programs that help the team move faster and with more clarity.

What does the day‑to‑day look like?

• Own the highest‑complexity programs: Lead the most long‑term, cross‑functional, and high‑risk programs for the Buyer Experience design org. This includes initiatives that span multiple squads – from planning rhythm resets to cross‑team alignment on shared buyer strategy.
• Propose new ops‑led initiatives: Identify gaps in how the org operates, build the case for addressing them, and own the solution end‑to‑end, even where the problem space is novel and the path forward is undefined.
• Shape the operational model: Partner with the Director of Design Operations and Buyer Experience design leadership to define how this group plans, prioritizes, and reviews work across platforms (desktop, mobile web, and native app).
• Influence at the Director level: Bring data‑informed strategy to Design directors and senior cross‑functional leaders to drive organizational alignment. Serve as a credible, trusted voice in rooms where strategic trade‑offs are being made.
• Unify across teams: Build connective tissue – shared rituals, communication cadences, planning frameworks – that help these teams operate as a coherent group rather than in silos.
• Make impact visible: Develop audience‑appropriate reporting and communications – dashboards, leadership summaries, team newsletters – that make the Buyer Experience design org’s work and progress legible to partners and leadership.
• Invent novel operational models: Design scalable frameworks that address the specific challenges of a multi‑platform, multi‑squad buyer experience organization.
• Drive adoption: Lead the organization through significant process and strategy shifts, with clear communication and empathy for the human element of change. Ensure teams actually adopt them.
• Tool and vendor stewardship: Partner with the Director of Design Operations on the long‑term tool stack strategy for the Buyer Experience org, evaluating new tools and managing key vendor relationships.
• These are just examples; your role will encompass other tasks, and duties may change over time at Etsy’s discretion, or otherwise applicable with local law.

Qualities that will help you thrive in this role

• 10+ years in program management, design operations, or a related field, with a significant portion leading operations for a large design or product organization.
• A track record of independently identifying and building new operational programs – not just running established ones – in environments where the problem space was genuinely novel.
• Experience operating at a multi‑team or org‑wide scope, with demonstrated ability to influence VP and senior director‑level stakeholders without formal authority.
• Deep familiarity with consumer product development, ideally including experience with multi‑platform experiences (web and native app) or two‑sided marketplace products.
• Strong command of how design teams plan and ship work, including how design intersects with product management, engineering, and research across the product development lifecycle.
• Experience building and scaling operational systems – planning rhythms, intake and prioritization frameworks, capacity models – for large (20+ person) design organizations.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills, including a history of translating operational strategy into language that resonates with both creative and business audiences.
• Fluency with Figma, Jira, Notion, Claude, and Google Workspace.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
A diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace furthers relevance, resilience, and longevity. Etsy is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If, due to a disability, you need an accommodation during any part of the application or interview process, please let your recruiter know. While Etsy supports visa sponsorship, sponsorship opportunities may be limited to certain roles and skills.