We are hiring a Design Operations Manager for our client JetBrains. The Design Operations Manager is the operational backbone of the client`s design organization. Reporting to the Head of Design, this role builds the systems, tools, and processes that make design faster, smarter, and more scalable – empowering designers to focus on creativity and quality. They optimize demand, improve throughput, and implement automation, tooling, and outsourcing to balance speed with excellence.
Key KPIs
Speed: Reduction of average request-to-delivery time while maintaining design quality and creativity.
Quality: Increase in internal stakeholder satisfaction (NPS), with measurable gains in perceived design quality, reliability, and responsiveness.
Creativity: Increase in the percentage of projects rated “high creativity” in post-reviews, indicating that operational systems enable, not limit, creative excellence.
Team workload balance: Reduction in the percentage of designers reporting sustained overload.
Automation impact: Increase in the percentage of recurring or repetitive tasks automated.
Smart outsourcing impact: Increase in the percentage of tasks effectively outsourced to optimize team focus, cost, and stakeholder satisfaction, with a focus on improving overall quality rather than driving volume.
- Maintain a live overview of team capacity, workload, and utilization.
- Forecast upcoming demand and proactively adjust resources or outsourcing plans.
- Lead vendor and outsourcing relationships for overflow or production design work.
- Ensure sustainable team pacing and minimize overload
Tooling and systems
- Act as the operational liaison between the Design team and internal “clients”.
- Train teams on operational best practices and tool usage.
- Support cultural initiatives that promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Audit current workflows – map all request paths, pain points, and hidden bottlenecks.
Design a new intake and prioritization model, tested with 1–2 pilot teams.
Launch a transparency dashboard (monitoring requests, queue, and turnaround) for internal visibility.
Establish quick-win automations (such as templated assets, intake forms, and AI support).
Define and run an outsourcing pilot scheme with a clear quality and review process.
Roll out a dashboard for tracking capacity and demand, presenting insights quarterly.
