Design Manager at Airbnb

Title: Design Manager, Airbnb.Org

Location: San Francisco, CA

Airbnb is a mission-driven company dedicated to helping create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. It takes a unified team committed to our core values to achieve this goal. Airbnb’s various functions embody the company’s innovative spirit and our fast-moving team is committed to leading as a 21st century company.

Airbnb.org

Airbnb is a mission-driven company dedicated to helping create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. It takes a unified team committed to our core values to achieve this goal. Airbnb’s various functions embody the company’s innovative spirit and our fast-moving team is committed to leading as a 21st century company.

The Role

This job encompasses two critical roles for Airbnb.org.

Manager of UX functions — As the functional lead across all of our UX functions, you will oversee the experience design, UX writing and experience research functions for Airbnb.org. You would be responsible for setting a high bar for these teams and supporting them to deliver it. You’d build a great team and keep them motivated, productive, and constantly growing.

Airbnb.org leader — As a member of Airbnb.org’s leadership team, you will work side by side with senior leaders of other disciplines to oversee our business unit’s strategy, execution, and team health. You will need to provide strategic insight beyond your disciplines, champion how UX can weave into a larger strategy to achieve our goals, and work collaboratively to ensure the best outcomes for Airbnb.org as a whole.

Responsibilities

Primary: UX team management

• Manage 2 people managers and 4 individual contributors across UX functions (experience design, UX research, and UX writing), encouraging high performance while motivating them and developing their careers. Opportunities to hire and rethink the org design of this team.
• Help shape and uphold the design culture, language, and practice of Airbnb.org.
• Hold the bar high on the quality and performance of each UX function to advance our team mission, with an eye toward marginalized communities.

Primary: Member of Leadership team

• As a member of Airbnb.org leadership, represent UX considerations in broader team strategy and operations and contribute to decisions on behalf of the full team, including advocating for investments in UX quality
• Build strong relationships with leaders on Airbnb.org and across Airbnb Inc.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of industry experience.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Extensive UX, UI, IA experience.
• Hands-on creative. Exceptional designer.
• Experience leading teams and managing and developing people.
• Experience launching software at scale. Good instinct for planning and prioritization of time and effort
• Broad spectrum skillset across interaction design, UX research, UX writing
• Broad technical understanding and ability to identify and leverage trends.
• Comfortable in an ambiguous work environment.
• Belief in Airbnb’s mission to make a world where anyone can belong anywhere and our responsibility to extend that mission to marginalized communities
• Sharp and critical eye for expert execution within the team, patient and optimistic approach to our community and partners
• Preferred but not required: Experience in non-profit sector or humanitarian work