Senior Design Manager (Infrastructure)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Design Manager (Infrastructure) Company: Canonical - Jobs Location: Home based - Europe, Marseille, France Job Type: Full-Time Category: Design Management, Infrastructure Design, UX/UI Date Posted: 2025-09-18 Experience Level: 5-10 Years Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and manage the Infrastructure Design team, focusing on the user experience of cloud-native products and software distribution mechanisms.
• Drive the evolution of design systems and guidelines to enhance consistency, efficiency, and the overall quality of design output within the infrastructure domain.
• Collaborate extensively with product and engineering stakeholders to define, validate, and deliver on roadmap objectives, ensuring timely project completion.
• Foster professional growth and development for individual designers through effective coaching, mentorship, and performance management.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role requires a blend of strong design leadership acumen and a deep understanding of technical domains, particularly in cloud infrastructure and software distribution. The focus is on managing a team of designers to create impactful user experiences for developers and cloud engineers, aligning with Canonical's commitment to open-source software and global collaboration.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Oversee and review the design work of the Infrastructure Design team, ensuring adherence to quality standards, strategic alignment, and user-centric principles.
• Provide direct management and mentorship to designers, supporting their career progression, skill development, and overall professional growth.
• Continuously refine and improve operational workflows within the design function, including production outsourcing strategies and collaboration protocols with Web Engineering.
• Actively engage with cross-functional stakeholders, particularly within the Engineering organization, to clearly articulate design needs, validate outcomes, and ensure shared understanding of project goals.
• Champion the development and maintenance of robust design systems and style guides, driving consistency across products and improving design efficiency.
• Coordinate with other design leadership to mature the collective design practice across Canonical, sharing best practices and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Organize and facilitate team events and knowledge-sharing sessions to strengthen team culture and promote cross-pollination of ideas and work.
• Engage with the open-source community to gather insights, foster collaboration, and ensure the value and impact of Canonical's infrastructure offerings are clearly communicated and understood.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "evolving the security of how software is packaged and delivered" suggests a critical need for design to proactively address complex security considerations within the user experience, not just functional aspects. This also implies a strong connection to development operations (DevOps) and security operations (SecOps) workflows.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Behavioral Science, or a related discipline. Experience: 5-10 years of experience in UX design, with a significant portion spent in team management and leadership roles within technically complex environments.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated expertise in UX/UI design, with a strong portfolio showcasing high-quality work in complex technical domains.
• Proven experience in managing and coaching design teams, fostering professional growth and ensuring high performance.
• Ability to effectively manage stakeholder relationships, particularly with engineering teams, to align on objectives and drive project success.
• Proficiency in defining and evolving design systems and guidelines to ensure consistency and efficiency.
• Experience with full lifecycle design processes, from user needs discovery through validation and guiding implementation.
• Commitment to transparent project delivery and accountability for team deadlines and roadmap execution.
• Familiarity with quantitative optimization approaches and data-driven decision-making in design.
• Strong communication and active listening skills to facilitate clear dialogue with team members and stakeholders.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in open-source software environments and community engagement.
• Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure, software distribution mechanisms, and security best practices in packaging and delivery.
• Familiarity with agile development methodologies and their impact on design processes.
• Experience with cross-functional collaboration, including with Web Engineering teams.
• Ability to balance innovation with the need for consistency in design solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "savviness in technology" and managing a team working on "cloud experiences and software distribution mechanisms" strongly implies that candidates with experience in SaaS, DevOps tooling, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), or containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) will be highly valued.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing a strong track record of delivering high-quality UX design solutions for complex technical products, demonstrating a deep understanding of user needs in developer or infrastructure contexts.
• Case studies detailing the full design lifecycle for at least one significant project, illustrating problem definition, user research, ideation, prototyping, user testing, and final implementation guidance.
• Examples of how design systems, style guides, or component libraries were developed and utilized to drive consistency and efficiency across multiple products or platforms.
• Demonstration of strategic thinking and problem-solving capabilities, particularly in balancing user needs with business objectives and technical constraints.

Process Documentation:

• Evidence of experience in refining and documenting operational workflows for design teams, including processes for production outsourcing and cross-functional collaboration.
• Examples of how design processes were adapted to support agile development cycles and ensure seamless integration with engineering teams.
• Demonstration of a data-driven approach to design, including how quantitative methods were used to validate design decisions, measure impact, and drive iterative improvements.

📝 Enhancement Note: For this role, the portfolio should not just showcase finished designs but also the candidate's ability to manage processes, guide a team through complex technical challenges, and demonstrate strategic impact. Emphasize case studies that highlight leadership in driving design quality and process improvements within a technical product context.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: For a Senior Design Manager with 5-10 years of experience, based in Marseille, France, the estimated annual salary range would typically be between €75,000 - €100,000. This estimation is based on industry benchmarks for senior design management roles in Western Europe, considering the cost of living in Marseille and the specialized nature of infrastructure design within a tech company.

Benefits:

• Fully remote working environment, enabling work-life integration and flexibility.
• Personal learning and development budget of $2,000 USD per annum to support continuous skill enhancement.
• Annual compensation review to ensure competitive remuneration based on performance and market trends.
• Recognition rewards to acknowledge significant contributions and achievements.
• Generous annual holiday leave to promote well-being and rest.
• Comprehensive parental leave policies to support new parents.
• Employee Assistance Programme offering confidential support and resources.
• Opportunity to travel to new locations 2-4 times yearly for internal team sprints and strategic alignment.
• Priority Pass for travel and potential travel upgrades for long-haul company events, facilitating global collaboration.

Working Hours: The role is expected to align with standard full-time working hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility to accommodate remote work and global team collaboration needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate for the specified location and experience level. Actual compensation will be determined by factors such as specific experience, skills, knowledge, and geographical location, as stated by Canonical. The benefits package underscores Canonical's commitment to employee well-being, professional development, and fostering a global, connected culture.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Open Source Software, Operating Systems, Cloud Computing, AI, IoT. Canonical is a key player in the enterprise and technology markets, powering critical infrastructure with Ubuntu. Company Size: 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries. This indicates a large, globally distributed, and experienced workforce. Founded: 2004. Canonical has a long-standing history and proven stability as a pioneer in the open-source and remote-work space.

Team Structure:

• The Design function is a dedicated department focused on ensuring the quality and effectiveness of Canonical's software and infrastructure user experiences.
• The Infrastructure Design team is a specialized unit within the larger design organization, reporting to the Senior Design Manager.
• Cross-functional collaboration is heavily emphasized, especially with the Engineering organization, to ensure seamless product development and delivery.

Methodology:

• Data-driven decision-making, with a focus on quantitative optimization approaches to validate design and product strategies.
• Agile and iterative development processes, requiring close alignment between design, product, and engineering.
• A strong commitment to open-source principles and community engagement, influencing how products are designed and how feedback is incorporated.
• Emphasis on global distributed collaboration, with regular in-person meetups to foster alignment and team cohesion.

Company Website: https://canonical.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Canonical's culture is distinctively set up for remote work, emphasizing autonomy, global collaboration, and a high standard for excellence. This means candidates need to be self-driven, excellent communicators, and comfortable working across diverse time zones and cultures. The "founder led, profitable and growing" status suggests a dynamic and forward-thinking environment.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Management. This role sits at a senior level within the Design function, responsible for a specific team and its strategic output. It involves not only design leadership but also people management and process optimization. Reporting Structure: The Senior Design Manager will report to a higher-level design leadership position (e.g., Head of Design, VP of Design) and will manage a team of designers. Close collaboration with Engineering leadership is also a key aspect of the reporting dynamic. Operations Impact: The Infrastructure Design team's work directly impacts the usability and adoption of Canonical's core products like Ubuntu, especially in cloud, AI, and IoT contexts. Effective design management ensures these products are intuitive for developers and engineers, directly influencing customer satisfaction, developer productivity, and market competitiveness.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to move into broader design leadership roles, overseeing multiple teams or entire design disciplines within Canonical.
• Strategic Influence: Opportunity to shape the design strategy for Canonical's infrastructure products, influencing the direction of key open-source technologies.
• Skill Specialization: Deepen expertise in infrastructure design, cloud technologies, and managing design within large, distributed organizations.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Develop stronger skills in managing complex stakeholder relationships and driving consensus across product, engineering, and community efforts.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, this role signifies a transition into a leadership position where strategic input on product direction and operational efficiency of the design process is paramount. The growth path is clearly into higher levels of design management and strategic influence within a technical organization.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. Canonical has been a remote-first company since 2004, with a strong emphasis on asynchronous communication and occasional in-person team sprints. Office Location(s): While the role is home-based in EMEA (specifically mentioning Marseille), Canonical has a global presence with colleagues in 75+ countries. The company organizes in-person team meetups 2-4 times per year in various interesting locations worldwide.

Workspace Context:

• A highly collaborative remote environment that relies on digital tools for communication, project management, and design work.
• Access to a suite of modern design and collaboration tools, supporting global team interaction and project execution.
• Opportunities to connect with colleagues at global in-person events, fostering a strong sense of team and company culture despite the distributed nature of work.

Work Schedule: The standard working hours will be approximately 40 hours per week, with the flexibility inherent in a remote-first culture. This allows for effective collaboration across different time zones and integration with personal life, while still meeting team and project deadlines.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Home based - Europe, Marseille" location suggests that while the role is remote, there might be a preference or expectation for the candidate to be based within a specific time zone region (CET/CEST) for easier collaboration with other European teams. The mention of travel up to 4 times a year for internal events is a key aspect of the work environment, facilitating in-person team building and strategic planning.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess alignment with the role's requirements, focusing on UX design quality, management experience, and technical savviness.
• Hiring Manager Interview: A discussion with the hiring manager to delve deeper into your leadership philosophy, team management experience, and approach to driving design quality and process improvements. Expect questions about your experience with technical stakeholders and quantitative optimization.
• Team/Stakeholder Interviews: Meetings with members of the design team and key engineering/product stakeholders to assess cultural fit, collaborative style, and ability to work effectively across functions.
• Portfolio Presentation: A dedicated session where you will present a selection of your work, likely focusing on case studies that demonstrate your strategic thinking, problem-solving abilities, and impact on product and user experience. Be prepared to discuss your process, challenges, and outcomes.
• Final Interview: Potentially with a more senior leader to discuss overall fit, strategic vision, and long-term potential within Canonical.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for Impact: Select 3-4 projects that best showcase your leadership in UX design for technical products, your team management skills, and your experience with design systems or process optimization.
• Tell a Story: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role and team's approach, the challenges faced, the solutions implemented, and the measurable outcomes or impact. Focus on the "why" and "how."
• Highlight Management: Include examples that demonstrate your ability to coach designers, manage team performance, and collaborate effectively with technical stakeholders.
• Showcase Technical Acumen: Ensure your portfolio reflects your understanding of complex technical domains, such as cloud infrastructure or software distribution.
• Quantify Results: Whenever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the success of your design initiatives, such as improvements in user engagement, task completion rates, or efficiency gains.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be ready to discuss how you would approach improving operational workflows for a distributed design team.
• Prepare to articulate your strategy for balancing consistency and innovation within a large-scale software product.
• Anticipate questions about your philosophy on fostering professional growth for designers and managing performance within a technical context.
• Consider how you would engage with the open-source community to gather design feedback and insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: Canonical's interview process is likely to be thorough, with a strong emphasis on assessing both technical and leadership capabilities. Your portfolio presentation is a critical component, serving as a tangible demonstration of your expertise and management style. Focus on demonstrating how you drive tangible outcomes and improve processes for design teams.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop). These are standard tools for UX/UI design, wireframing, and prototyping.
• Collaboration & Project Management: Jira, Confluence, Asana, Trello. Essential for managing workflows, tracking progress, and documenting processes in a remote, agile environment.
• Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom. Crucial for real-time and asynchronous communication in a distributed team setting.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Analytics Platforms: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude. For understanding user behavior and product usage, informing design decisions.
• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, Looker. To create dashboards and reports for stakeholders, demonstrating design impact and identifying areas for optimization.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM: Salesforce (likely for sales/customer data context). While not directly a design tool, understanding CRM data can inform user personas and journey mapping.
• Automation Tools: Tools supporting CI/CD pipelines and developer workflows (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI) may be relevant for understanding the technical context of infrastructure design.

📝 Enhancement Note: While specific tools aren't listed, the role's focus on infrastructure design, cloud, and software distribution implies familiarity with tools that support developer workflows, cloud platforms, and potentially containerization technologies. The emphasis on "quantitative optimisation approaches" suggests a need for data analysis skills and tools.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Excellence: A commitment to being the best at what they do, driving high standards in design quality and team performance.
• Collaboration: Strong emphasis on working together across teams and globally, fostering a sense of shared purpose and mutual support.
• Transparency: Open communication and clear project delivery, ensuring all stakeholders are informed and aligned.
• Innovation: Encouraging new ideas and approaches to solve complex technical challenges and improve user experiences.
• Community Focus: Engaging with and valuing the open-source community, reflecting a dedication to shared progress and user contribution.

Collaboration Style:

• Distributed & Asynchronous: Proficient in collaborating across time zones using digital tools, with a focus on clear documentation and asynchronous communication.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: A strong emphasis on working closely with Product Management and Engineering to ensure design solutions are technically feasible, strategically aligned, and meet user needs.
• Feedback-Rich Environment: Encouraging constructive feedback and open dialogue to continuously improve work and foster professional development.
• Global Team Building: Actively participating in virtual and in-person events to strengthen team bonds and shared understanding.

📝 Enhancement Note: Canonical's culture is deeply rooted in its remote-first identity and its leadership in open-source. The values reflect a high-performance environment that prioritizes collaboration, continuous learning, and a commitment to making powerful technology accessible and user-friendly, particularly for developers and technical users.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Managing a Distributed Team: Ensuring consistent quality, engagement, and professional development across designers located in different countries and time zones.
• Technical Complexity: Navigating intricate infrastructure design challenges that require a deep understanding of cloud computing, software distribution, and security principles.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Effectively managing expectations and driving consensus among diverse stakeholders, especially engineering teams with different priorities.
• Balancing Consistency and Innovation: Maintaining a cohesive design language across a broad product suite while encouraging creative solutions and feature innovation.
• Community Engagement: Translating the needs and feedback from the open-source community into actionable design improvements.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design Leadership: Opportunities to hone skills in strategic design planning, organizational development, and cross-functional influence.
• Deepening Technical Expertise: Gaining in-depth knowledge of cloud infrastructure, DevOps practices, and the security landscape within open-source software.
• Global Management Skills: Developing expertise in leading and motivating diverse, remote teams across international boundaries.
• Industry Conferences & Certifications: Potential for support to attend relevant design, technology, or management conferences and pursue certifications.
• Mentorship: Access to senior leaders within Canonical for guidance on career progression and strategic development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for senior leadership roles in global tech companies, particularly those with a strong open-source ethos. The growth opportunities are aligned with advancing within design leadership, specializing in complex technical domains, and mastering the art of leading distributed teams.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your approach to managing and developing a team of designers in a fully remote, globally distributed environment. How do you ensure quality and foster growth?" (Focus on coaching, performance management, and remote collaboration techniques.)
• "Walk us through a complex design challenge you faced with an infrastructure-related product. What was your process, how did you involve technical stakeholders, and what was the outcome?" (Highlight problem-solving, stakeholder management, and technical understanding.)
• "How do you leverage quantitative optimization approaches in your design process? Provide an example of how data influenced a significant design decision or improvement." (Emphasize data-driven decision-making and ROI.)
• "Canonical has a strong open-source community. How would you approach engaging this community to inform the design of our infrastructure products?" (Focus on community interaction and feedback mechanisms.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Canonical and our mission in the open-source space?" (Research Canonical's products, values, and impact on the tech industry.)
• "How do you see your leadership style fitting within a remote-first, globally collaborative culture like Canonical's?" (Demonstrate self-motivation, strong communication, and adaptability.)
• "How do you ensure design consistency while also driving innovation across a broad product portfolio?" (Discuss strategies for design systems, brand guidelines, and balancing competing priorities.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your presentation logically, starting with an overview of your experience and then diving into 2-3 detailed case studies. For each case study, clearly define the problem, your role, your process, key decisions, challenges, solutions, and measurable impact.
• Focus on Leadership: Emphasize your role in managing the design process, guiding team members, and collaborating with stakeholders, not just your individual design contributions.
• Demonstrate Technical Savvy: Be prepared to discuss the technical context of your projects and how you approached understanding and designing for complex systems.
• Quantify Impact: Use metrics and data to showcase the effectiveness of your design solutions and process improvements.
• Engage Your Audience: Make it a conversation. Be ready to answer questions about your process, decisions, and strategic thinking.

📝 Enhancement Note: Prepare to discuss specific examples of how you've improved design processes, managed teams through technical challenges, and collaborated with engineering. Your ability to articulate a strategic vision for design within an infrastructure context will be key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the Canonical Careers portal via the provided link.
• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in UX design management, technical stakeholder engagement, process improvement, and any experience with cloud infrastructure, open-source software, or developer tools. Use keywords from the job description, such as "Design Management," "Infrastructure Design," "UX Design," "Quantitative Optimization," and "Stakeholder Management."
• Portfolio Customization: Select and refine 2-3 of your strongest case studies for presentation. Ensure they clearly demonstrate your leadership in design, your process for tackling complex technical challenges, and any quantifiable impact you've achieved. Be ready to discuss your management style and how you foster team growth.
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your experience using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for behavioral questions. Prepare your portfolio presentation, focusing on storytelling and demonstrating strategic thinking. Research Canonical's products and culture thoroughly.
• Company Research: Understand Canonical's position in the open-source market, its key products (especially Ubuntu and its infrastructure components), and its remote-first culture. Be prepared to discuss how your skills and values align with theirs.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.