Senior Design Manager, Jira AI

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Design Manager, Jira AI

Company: Atlassian

Location: Seattle, Washington, United States

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design Management / AI Product Design

Date Posted: June 01, 2026

Experience Level: 10+ years

Remote Status: Remote OK (US-based)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the design vision and strategy for Jira's evolution into an AI-powered intelligent platform, focusing on agentic systems and human-team collaboration.

• Manage and mentor a team of 8-12 experienced designers, setting high craft standards and fostering an inclusive, high-performing design culture.

• Drive the creation of novel interaction paradigms and trust frameworks for AI agents as first-class collaborators within the Jira ecosystem.

• Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to define multi-year product roadmaps and ensure technical feasibility and user-centricity of AI experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned at a critical juncture for Atlassian's flagship Jira product, requiring a leader to define the future of AI integration. The emphasis on "agentic systems" and "AI-native product design" signifies a strategic shift beyond simple feature augmentation, demanding a deep understanding of AI's potential to fundamentally alter user workflows and team dynamics. The "10+ years" experience level suggests a senior leadership role with significant strategic influence and team management responsibilities.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and drive the end-to-end design vision for Jira's agentic AI experiences, shaping how agents function as native collaborators.

• Establish the design direction for multi-year product evolution, building consensus and alignment across Product, Engineering, and Executive leadership.

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 8-12 designers, focusing on talent development, craft excellence, and fostering an inclusive team culture.

• Collaborate closely with engineering teams to understand and navigate the technical complexities of agent architectures, LLM behavior, and platform design constraints.

• Champion experimentation through MVPs, prototypes, and concept sprints to validate new interaction paradigms and AI collaboration models before scaling.

• Ensure the highest quality of shipped AI experiences across all relevant Jira surfaces, maintaining meticulous attention to detail and user impact.

• Contribute to the broader Atlassian design organization's strategy and best practices for AI-native product design.

• Coordinate with AI platform, ecosystem design, and adjacent product teams to ensure a connected and coherent user experience across the Atlassian suite.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic leadership, team management, and hands-on design direction. The emphasis on "agent architectures," "LLM behavior," and "platform design" indicates a need for a designer with strong technical fluency and an understanding of AI systems' underlying principles. The requirement to "drive experimentation" and "own end-to-end design quality" underscores the expectation for a results-oriented leader who can translate vision into tangible, high-quality product outcomes.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a degree in Design (e.g., Interaction Design, HCI, Graphic Design), Computer Science, or a related field is highly beneficial, particularly for understanding technical nuances. Advanced degrees or specialized certifications in AI/ML or Human-Computer Interaction are a plus.

Experience: A minimum of 10 years of professional design experience, with a significant portion focused on leading design for complex, large-scale enterprise or developer-facing products.

Required Skills:

• Direct experience designing for agentic systems, AI platforms, or autonomous workflows – not just AI-assisted features.

• Proven ability to lead and manage design teams of 8+ designers, including talent development and fostering an inclusive culture.

• System thinking capabilities to conceptualize and design complex, interconnected AI experiences within a platform.

• Deep technical fluency to collaborate effectively with engineering leaders on architecture, LLM behavior, and system design.

• Demonstrated track record of defining a compelling product vision and successfully delivering against it, especially in evolving and ambiguous environments.

• Expertise in user experience (UX) design principles, interaction modeling, and designing for complex enterprise or developer tools.

• Strong understanding of AI-native product design principles, including trust, explainability, and ethical considerations.

• Proficiency in prototyping and conducting user research to validate new interaction paradigms and AI capabilities.

• Exceptional cross-functional collaboration and influence skills, essential for aligning Product, Engineering, and executive stakeholders. Preferred Skills:

• Background in developer tools, project management software, or productivity platforms.

• Experience at companies specializing in agent infrastructure, whether established tech giants or innovative startups.

• Familiarity with the enterprise project management landscape and the daily workflows of teams using such tools.

• Experience working across organizational boundaries where influence and collaboration are key.

• A strong portfolio showcasing the design of impactful, large-scale AI or agentic systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Required Skills" strongly emphasize experience with "agentic systems" and "AI platforms," distinguishing this role from general UX management. The need for "technical fluency" and collaboration on "LLM behavior" and "architecture" suggests that candidates with a strong foundation in how AI systems function will be highly valued. The preference for backgrounds in developer tools and project management aligns directly with Jira's core user base.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrate a strong track record of leading design for complex, large-scale products, ideally within the enterprise or developer tool space.

• Showcase specific examples of designing for agentic systems, AI platforms, or autonomous workflows, detailing the problem, your approach, and the outcome.

• Include case studies that highlight your ability to define and drive a compelling product vision, especially in ambiguous or rapidly evolving environments.

• Provide evidence of your experience managing and growing design teams, illustrating your leadership style and ability to foster talent.

• Present examples of how you've collaborated effectively with product and engineering to bring complex technical products to market. Process Documentation:

• Detail your process for defining and driving design vision for new product paradigms, particularly for AI-native experiences.

• Illustrate your approach to setting craft standards and fostering an inclusive team culture within a design team.

• Explain your methodology for partnering with engineering to navigate technical constraints in AI development and platform design.

• Showcase your experience with experimentation frameworks (MVPs, prototypes, concept sprints) used to validate novel interaction models.

📝 Enhancement Note: For this role, the portfolio must go beyond standard UX case studies. It needs to prominently feature experience with AI, agentic systems, and complex platform design. Candidates should be prepared to articulate their process for defining vision, managing ambiguity, and leading teams through significant technological shifts. Demonstrating how they translate technical capabilities into user-centric AI experiences will be crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Zone A (e.g., high cost of living areas): USD $267,300 - $348,975 base salary per year.

• Zone B (e.g., mid-tier cost of living areas): USD $241,200 - $314,900 base salary per year.

• Zone C (e.g., lower cost of living areas): USD $222,300 - $290,225 base salary per year.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health and wellbeing resources.

• Paid volunteer days to support community engagement.

• Performance-based bonuses.

• Commission opportunities (likely tied to team or company performance, not direct sales for a design manager).

• Equity (stock options or grants).

• Additional perks and benefits detailed at go.atlassian.com/perksandbenefits.

Working Hours: While the standard full-time workweek is typically 40 hours, Atlassian emphasizes flexibility and outcomes. Expect a dynamic work environment where significant effort is required to drive major product transformations, but with the autonomy to manage your schedule effectively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges provided are substantial, reflecting the senior leadership level, the critical nature of the role (AI transformation of a flagship product), and the US market. The tiered pay zones indicate Atlassian's approach to cost-of-living adjustments. The inclusion of bonuses, commissions, and equity suggests a total compensation package designed to reward high performance and long-term commitment. The "Remote OK" status with specified US zones means candidates must reside within these designated areas.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software Development Tools, Collaboration Software, Cloud Computing. Atlassian operates in a highly competitive market, known for fostering innovation and empowering teams.

Company Size: Large Enterprise (Likely 10,000+ employees, based on typical tech company structures for such roles). This size provides significant resources, established processes, and a broad impact potential.

Founded: 2002. Atlassian has a long history of building successful, widely-adopted enterprise software products.

Team Structure:

• The Design team is likely a significant function within Atlassian, possibly organized by product line or domain. This role leads a sub-team of 8-12 designers specifically focused on Jira's AI transformation.

• The reporting structure for this role is likely to be to a Director or VP of Design, with close partnership with Product and Engineering Directors/VPs for Jira.

• Cross-functional collaboration is core to Atlassian's ethos, involving close working relationships with Product Management, Engineering, Research, Marketing, and Go-to-Market teams. Methodology:

• Atlassian emphasizes a data-driven approach to product development, utilizing analytics and user research to inform decisions.

• Workflow planning and optimization are central to their product philosophy, with a focus on enabling team productivity.

• Automation and efficiency are key drivers, especially with the integration of AI, aiming to streamline complex processes for users.

Company Website: https://www.atlassian.com/company

📝 Enhancement Note: Atlassian is known for its "Team Playbook" and a culture that champions collaboration, transparency, and customer focus. The company's growth and success in the enterprise software space suggest a mature organization with established design practices, yet the focus on AI signals a forward-looking and innovative environment. The "remote OK" policy and distributed workforce model are integral to their culture.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a Senior Leadership position within the Design function, specifically focused on a critical, transformative area of a major product. It requires a blend of strategic vision, people management, and deep domain expertise in AI and complex product design. The scope is significant, impacting millions of users worldwide.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Design Manager will report to a higher-level design leader (e.g., Director or VP of Design) within the Jira or broader Atlassian product organization. They will manage a team of 8-12 designers and work in close partnership with Product Management and Engineering leadership peers.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is profound. By shaping Jira's AI capabilities, this leader will directly influence how millions of teams plan, track, and deliver their work, potentially redefining productivity and collaboration paradigms. Success means enhancing Jira's market leadership and driving significant user adoption of AI-driven features, directly impacting Atlassian's revenue and strategic growth.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to move into Director or VP-level roles within Atlassian Design, leading larger teams or broader product portfolios.

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI-native product design, becoming a recognized thought leader in the field within Atlassian and the broader industry.

• Strategic Influence: Play a pivotal role in shaping Atlassian's overall AI strategy and product roadmap.

• Mentorship: Develop and mentor future design leaders and AI design specialists.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of AI integration in enterprise software. The growth path is clearly defined towards higher leadership levels, with the potential to shape significant aspects of Atlassian's product future and establish oneself as an expert in a rapidly evolving field. The emphasis on "agentic systems" suggests a pathway into leading R&D or advanced product initiatives.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Atlassian operates with a flexible "Team Anywhere" policy, meaning this role can be performed from home or a combination of home and office. They maintain physical office spaces in various locations, which can serve as collaboration hubs.

Office Location(s): While the role is remote-OK within the US, Atlassian has significant offices in Seattle, WA; Austin, TX; Sunnyvale, CA; and other global locations. The Seattle office is specifically mentioned as a potential hub.

Workspace Context:

• The environment is expected to be highly collaborative, leveraging digital tools to connect distributed teams.

• Access to cutting-edge design and AI tools will be standard, enabling designers to experiment and build innovative solutions.

• Opportunities for interaction with a diverse range of teams (Product, Engineering, Research, Marketing) are abundant, fostering a rich learning and contribution environment.

Work Schedule: Atlassian values work-life balance and offers flexibility. While the role demands significant strategic input and leadership, the "Team Anywhere" model allows individuals to structure their workdays to accommodate personal needs, provided team collaboration and project timelines are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Team Anywhere" model is a key differentiator, offering significant autonomy. However, for a leadership role focused on driving a major transformation, expect a high degree of engagement and a need to actively manage collaboration across time zones and work arrangements. The presence of physical offices suggests opportunities for in-person collaboration or team events, even for remote employees.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter will likely conduct an initial call to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Discussion with the hiring manager (likely a Director or VP of Design) to delve deeper into experience, leadership philosophy, and strategic thinking related to AI design.

• Design Team Interview: Meet with a subset of the design team the candidate would manage, assessing collaboration style, mentorship approach, and craft.

• Cross-functional Peer Interviews: Interviews with Product Management and Engineering leaders to evaluate collaboration, technical fluency, and ability to drive alignment.

• Portfolio Review & Presentation: A dedicated session where the candidate presents their portfolio, focusing on relevant case studies demonstrating experience with agentic AI, platform design, and team leadership. This is often a critical stage.

• Executive Interview: A final interview with a senior executive (e.g., VP or C-level) to assess strategic vision, executive presence, and overall fit with Atlassian's leadership principles.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on AI & Agentic Systems: Prioritize case studies that showcase your direct experience designing for AI platforms, agentic systems, or autonomous workflows. Clearly articulate the unique challenges and solutions for these types of products.

• Demonstrate System Thinking: Use your portfolio to illustrate how you approach complex, interconnected systems and how you design for scalability and platform evolution.

• Highlight Leadership & Collaboration: Include examples of how you've led design teams, mentored designers, and collaborated effectively with product and engineering to achieve ambitious goals. Showcase your process for building alignment.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, present data and metrics that demonstrate the impact of your design decisions, especially concerning user adoption, efficiency gains, or product adoption related to AI features.

• Tell a Story: Structure your presentations around a narrative that clearly outlines the problem, your strategic approach, the unique design challenges, your team's execution, and the measurable outcomes.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be prepared for a potential design challenge or workshop focusing on a strategic AI product problem related to Jira or team collaboration. This might involve defining new interaction models, outlining a product vision for AI agents, or strategizing on user trust in AI.

• Practice articulating your design process, decision-making rationale, and how you would lead a team through a complex, ambiguous problem.

• Be ready to discuss industry trends in AI, generative AI, and agentic systems, and how they might apply to enterprise software like Jira.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is rigorous and designed to assess leadership, strategic thinking, technical understanding, and collaboration skills. The portfolio review is paramount, requiring candidates to specifically highlight their expertise in AI and agentic systems. Candidates should anticipate presenting detailed case studies that demonstrate their ability to lead teams through complex, innovative product development.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), InVision, Axure (for complex prototyping).

• Collaboration & Project Management: Jira (naturally), Confluence, Slack, Asana, Trello.

• AI/ML Collaboration: Familiarity with tools and platforms used for AI development, LLM APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic), and AI experimentation frameworks. Knowledge of data annotation tools or platforms might be beneficial.

• User Research & Analytics: UserTesting.com, Maze, Hotjar, Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Tools for analyzing user behavior, feature adoption, and the performance of AI features. Proficiency with data visualization tools for reporting to stakeholders. CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managing CRM, understanding how Jira integrates with CRM systems and other enterprise tools is beneficial. Knowledge of workflow automation principles is key.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in industry-standard design tools like Figma is expected. More importantly, given the role's focus, familiarity with the tools and concepts surrounding AI development, LLMs, and agentic system architecture will be a significant advantage. Understanding how Jira itself is used and configured will also be critical.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Focus: Deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of Jira's vast user base, from individual developers to enterprise teams.

• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: A drive to push boundaries, especially in the realm of AI, and to constantly seek better ways to enable team productivity.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Valuing open communication, knowledge sharing, and working together across teams to achieve common goals.

• Impact-Driven: Focusing on delivering tangible value and measurable outcomes that help teams achieve their potential.

• Balance & Heart: A commitment to individual well-being and a positive, supportive work environment, even while tackling ambitious challenges.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Expect a highly integrated approach where design, product, and engineering work hand-in-hand from ideation through execution.

• Constructive Feedback: A culture that encourages open, honest, and constructive feedback to elevate the quality of work and foster professional growth.

• Knowledge Sharing: Emphasis on sharing learnings, best practices, and insights across teams to build collective intelligence and efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: Atlassian's core values of "Teamwork," "Customer Passion," "Innovation," and "Integrity" are likely to be reflected in this team's culture. The "Team Anywhere" policy implies a culture of trust and autonomy, balanced with a strong emphasis on collaborative communication and shared responsibility. Success in this role will depend on navigating these cultural nuances effectively.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Defining New Paradigms: Creating entirely new interaction models and trust frameworks for AI agents as collaborators is a significant, uncharted challenge.

• Technical Complexity: Navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of LLMs, agent architectures, and AI platform limitations requires continuous learning and adaptation.

• Alignment & Influence: Securing and maintaining alignment across diverse stakeholders (Product, Engineering, Executive) for a multi-year AI vision can be demanding.

• Balancing Innovation with Stability: Ensuring that cutting-edge AI features integrate seamlessly with Jira's existing robust functionality and user expectations.

• Managing Ambiguity: Operating in a greenfield space where established best practices are still emerging requires comfort with uncertainty and the ability to forge new paths.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Cutting-Edge AI Design: Become a pioneer in designing for agentic AI and AI-native products, gaining expertise in a highly sought-after field.

• Leadership Development: Hone leadership skills by managing a high-performing design team through a major product transformation.

• Industry Exposure: Engage with top talent in AI, product development, and design, potentially attending industry conferences or contributing to thought leadership.

• Strategic Impact: Directly influence the future of a flagship enterprise product used by millions, shaping how teams work globally.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are directly tied to the innovative and pioneering nature of the role. Successfully navigating these will offer immense growth opportunities, positioning the candidate as a leader in the AI design space. Atlassian's commitment to "Teamwork" and "Customer Passion" suggests that solutions will be user-centric and developed collaboratively, mitigating some of the inherent risks of innovation.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your experience designing for agentic AI systems. What were the key challenges, and how did you address them?" (Focus on specific examples, your process, and outcomes).

• "How would you define the design vision for Jira becoming an intelligent platform where AI agents are first-class collaborators? What are the core principles?" (Emphasize system thinking, user trust, and integration).

• "Walk me through how you would align Product, Engineering, and Executive leadership around a multi-year AI product strategy. What are your key influence tactics?" (Highlight collaboration, data-driven arguments, and storytelling).

• "How do you foster innovation and maintain high craft standards within a design team, especially when working with cutting-edge AI technologies?" (Discuss mentorship, critique processes, and talent development). Company & Culture Questions:

• "Why Atlassian, and why this role focused on Jira AI?" (Connect your passion for AI, enterprise tools, and team collaboration to Atlassian's mission).

• "How do you approach building and managing diverse, high-performing design teams, particularly in a remote or hybrid environment?" (Discuss your leadership philosophy, inclusive practices, and team-building strategies).

• "What does 'Balance & Heart' mean to you in the context of leading a team through intense product development?" (Showcase empathy, support, and sustainable work practices).

• "How do you ensure your design decisions are data-driven and customer-centric, especially when dealing with novel AI capabilities?" (Discuss research methodologies, A/B testing, and user feedback loops). Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Begin with your overall design philosophy and leadership approach, then dive into 2-3 highly relevant case studies. For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the strategic design decisions, technical considerations, team collaboration, and quantifiable outcomes.

• AI Focus: Ensure at least one case study specifically addresses agentic systems, AI platforms, or complex AI interactions. Be prepared to discuss the unique challenges and solutions involved.

• Visuals: Use clear, compelling visuals that showcase the user experience, interaction models, and system architecture. Diagrams explaining complex AI flows are highly valuable.

• Storytelling: Weave a narrative that highlights your problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, and leadership. Emphasize how you translated complex technical concepts into user-friendly and impactful experiences.

• Q&A Readiness: Anticipate questions about your process, decision-making, challenges faced, and how you would apply your learnings to Jira AI.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic leadership, deep understanding of AI/agentic systems, and strong collaboration skills. The portfolio presentation is key; candidates must strategically select and present case studies that directly align with the requirements for designing AI-native experiences and leading design teams.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the Atlassian Careers portal via the provided job URL.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select and refine 2-3 key case studies that prominently feature your experience with agentic AI systems, platform design, and leading design teams. Ensure these showcase your strategic thinking, problem-solving abilities, and quantifiable impact.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight leadership experience, direct work with AI/agentic systems, technical fluency, and team management achievements. Use keywords from the job description like "agentic AI," "system thinking," "product vision," and "people management."

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your experience and leadership philosophy, focusing on how you can drive Jira's AI transformation. Be ready to discuss your approach to team leadership, strategic vision, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Research Atlassian & Jira: Understand Atlassian's mission, values, and product suite. Familiarize yourself with Jira's current capabilities and the potential impact of AI integration. Show genuine interest in their products and challenges.

⚠️ 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.