Sr Manager, UX Design , Amazon Ads

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Sr Manager, UX Design, Amazon Ads

Company: Amazon

Location: New York, New York, United States / Seattle, Washington, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: UX Design Management / Advertising Technology Operations

Date Posted: 2026-09-28

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and mentor a team of UX Designers focused on advertiser creative building experiences within Amazon Ads.

• Drive the end-to-end design of innovative, AI-first creative workflows and tools for millions of global advertisers.

• Establish foundational design principles, interaction patterns, and scalable frameworks for creative generation and campaign optimization.

• Collaborate with Design Technologists to deliver production-quality prototypes and contribute to Design Systems.

• Navigate complex product strategies, align cross-functional stakeholders, and ensure design decisions directly impact campaign performance and advertiser success.

📝 Enhancement Note: While this role is in UX Design, its focus on "creative building workflows," "AI-generated creatives," "multi-format campaigns," and "advertiser success at scale" strongly positions it within the broader GTM and Operations ecosystem. The emphasis on scalable patterns, end-to-end product delivery, and measurable outcomes aligns with key Revenue and Sales Operations principles. Success in this role will require a deep understanding of how design directly influences operational efficiency and revenue generation for advertisers.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of UX Designers, fostering a culture of innovation and high-quality output in creative tool development.

• Own the complete product design lifecycle for advertiser creative experiences, from initial concept and user flows to high-fidelity visuals and production-ready prototypes.

• Champion AI-first design strategies, guiding the team in creating intuitive generative AI workflows for image/video generation, agentic creative agents, and AI-powered asset bundles.

• Define and advocate for the overall Advertiser Experience (AX) vision, establishing reusable design frameworks and scalable patterns that can be adopted across multiple product teams.

• Effectively manage ambiguity and stakeholder relationships, aligning Product Management, Engineering, Legal, and Policy teams on design strategy and implementation.

• Implement robust mechanisms for design quality assurance, including critique cadences, advanced prototyping practices, and structured mentoring programs.

• Drive the adoption of shared design standards by partnering with Design Systems to ensure creative building tools are consistent with Amazon Ads' broader design language.

• Translate complex advertiser needs and business objectives into clear, actionable design strategies that lead to measurable improvements in campaign performance and advertiser productivity.

• Gatekeep design intake and advocate for unified approaches to implementation, ensuring design decisions are data-driven and tied to key performance indicators (KPIs).

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary responsibilities highlight a strong need for strategic thinking, team leadership, and cross-functional influence, which are critical for senior operations roles. The emphasis on "end-to-end product design," "scalable patterns," "measurable outcomes," and "stakeholder alignment" are all core tenets of effective Revenue and Sales Operations management.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience:

• 10+ years of comprehensive design experience, with a proven track record of delivering impactful user experiences.

• 5+ years of experience leading and managing multi-discipline Design teams (e.g., Visual Design, Interaction Design, User Research).

• Demonstrated experience in managing teams, including performance management, career development, and team building.

• Proven ability to lead diverse teams in delivering end-to-end experiences, encompassing user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity visuals.

• Significant experience designing for AI-powered or generative workflows, understanding the unique challenges and opportunities these present. Required Skills:

• UX Design Leadership: Proven ability to lead and mentor design teams, setting vision and driving execution for complex projects.

• Generative AI & AI-First Design: Deep understanding of designing for generative AI capabilities (image/video generation, LLM-powered agents) and defining interaction patterns for these technologies.

• Product Design Ownership: Experience managing the full product design lifecycle from concept to launch, including user flows, wireframes, and high-fidelity mockups.

• Interaction Design & Prototyping: Expertise in creating intuitive interaction models and developing production-quality prototypes, ideally with experience in design technologies.

• Strategic Vision & Pattern Definition: Ability to define foundational design principles and create scalable, reusable design patterns that minimize reliance on direct oversight.

• Stakeholder Management & Influence: Strong skills in aligning cross-functional teams (PM, Engineering, Legal, Policy) and navigating complex organizational dynamics.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Capacity to tie design decisions to measurable outcomes and use data to justify strategic choices.

• Mentoring & Team Development: Experience in building team culture, establishing critique cadences, and fostering professional growth for designers.

Preferred Skills:

• Advertising Technology Domain Expertise: Familiarity with advertising technology, creative tooling, or content creation platforms, understanding advertiser workflows and pain points.

• Agentic AI Patterns: Knowledge of agentic AI patterns such as asynchronous task handling, progressive disclosure, and proactive notifications.

• Design Systems Contribution: Experience contributing to or leveraging design systems to ensure consistency and scalability across products.

• Agile Design & Development: Experience embedding design within product teams for agile design and development collaboration.

• User Research Integration: Ability to integrate user research insights effectively into the design process to validate concepts and iterate on solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "scalable patterns," "measurable outcomes," and "cross-functional alignment" are critical for operations-minded candidates. These skills are transferable to driving efficiency and revenue impact within a GTM or RevOps context.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Case Studies: Showcase 2-3 comprehensive case studies detailing your leadership in designing complex advertiser experiences from conception through to successful implementation. Each case study should clearly articulate the problem, your strategic approach, the design process, key decisions, and measurable outcomes.

• AI/Generative Design Examples: Include specific examples or detailed descriptions of your experience designing for AI-powered or generative workflows, highlighting innovative interaction patterns and problem-solving approaches.

• Scalable Pattern Design: Demonstrate instances where you've successfully designed and implemented scalable design patterns or frameworks that have been adopted by other teams, reducing redundancy and increasing efficiency.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Artifacts: Present examples of how you've collaborated with Product Managers, Engineers, and other stakeholders, perhaps through process diagrams, alignment documents, or design review summaries.

• Metrics-Driven Impact: Clearly articulate the business impact of your design work, using specific metrics related to advertiser adoption, campaign performance, efficiency gains, or revenue contribution.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Portfolio should illustrate your ability to map, analyze, and optimize complex advertiser workflows, particularly those involving creative asset generation, campaign setup, and optimization processes.

• System Implementation & Integration: Demonstrate understanding of how design integrates with technical systems. If applicable, show how your designs have been implemented through design systems or contributed to the development of new tools and platforms.

• Performance Measurement & Analysis: Highlight your approach to defining and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) for design initiatives, showing how you measure success and iterate based on performance data.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations roles, a portfolio demonstrating process optimization, system integration, and measurable business impact is crucial. This section helps candidates understand how to frame their design experience in an operations-centric manner, focusing on efficiency, scalability, and ROI.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• New York, New York: $198,300 - $268,400 USD annually

• Seattle, Washington: $180,300 - $244,000 USD annually

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance package including medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage.

• Basic Life & AD&D insurance with the option for supplemental life plans.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Mental Health Support services.

• Medical Advice Line for health-related queries.

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) for healthcare and dependent care.

• Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage.

• 401(k) retirement plan with company matching.

• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) and Parental Leave policies.

• Sign-on payments and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) as part of the total compensation package.

Working Hours: Standard 40 hours per week, with flexibility expected for project deadlines and team collaboration needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary ranges provided are specific to the listed locations and reflect typical senior management compensation in major tech hubs. The inclusion of sign-on bonuses and RSUs indicates a competitive total compensation package, common for senior roles at large tech companies. The benefits are extensive and align with industry standards for comprehensive employee support.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: E-commerce, Cloud Computing, Digital Advertising, Artificial Intelligence. Amazon operates at the forefront of multiple rapidly evolving industries, creating a dynamic and challenging environment for its employees. The scale of its operations influences every aspect of its culture, demanding efficiency and innovation.

Company Size: Amazon is a global technology giant, employing over 1.5 million people worldwide. This immense scale means operations are highly structured, with dedicated teams for specialized functions, but also offers opportunities for significant impact through well-defined processes and strategic initiatives.

Founded: 1994. Founded by Jeff Bezos, Amazon began as an online bookstore and has since expanded into a vast array of products and services, including cloud computing (AWS), digital streaming, artificial intelligence, and advertising. This history of continuous innovation and expansion shapes its forward-thinking culture.

Team Structure:

• The Amazon Ads Creative Experiences Design team is a specialized unit within the larger Amazon Ads organization.

• It likely consists of UX Designers, Design Technologists, and potentially User Researchers, reporting to the Sr. Manager of UX Design.

• This team collaborates closely with Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and other GTM functions to deliver integrated advertising solutions.

• Reporting lines are typically hierarchical within Amazon, with clear paths for escalation and decision-making. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Amazon heavily emphasizes data analysis to inform strategy and measure success. This applies to design, product development, and operational efficiency.

• Customer Obsession: A core Amazon principle, ensuring that all initiatives, including design, are focused on solving advertiser problems and improving their experience.

• Bias for Action & Long-Term Thinking: Balancing the need for rapid execution with strategic, long-term planning to build sustainable solutions and competitive advantages.

• Ownership & Accountability: Individuals are empowered to take ownership of their work and are held accountable for driving results.

Company Website: https://www.amazon.com

📝 Enhancement Note: Understanding Amazon's culture, particularly its data-driven approach, customer obsession, and emphasis on ownership, is crucial for success. For operations roles, this translates to a focus on measurable impact, process efficiency, and proactive problem-solving.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This Sr. Manager, UX Design role represents a senior leadership position, typically requiring significant experience in both individual contribution and team management. In an operations context, this level often involves strategic planning, process re-engineering, and driving operational excellence across multiple teams or a significant business unit.

Reporting Structure: The Sr. Manager will report to a Director-level executive within Amazon Ads. They will be responsible for managing and developing a team of UX Designers, setting their strategic direction, and ensuring their work aligns with broader business objectives.

Operations Impact: While this role is in UX Design, its impact on operations is profound. By designing intuitive and efficient creative tools, this role directly influences:

• Advertiser Productivity: Streamlining creative creation leads to faster campaign launches and more efficient use of advertiser time and resources.

• Campaign Performance: Well-designed creative tools can enable advertisers to produce higher-quality, more effective ads, driving better campaign results and ad spend optimization.

• Scalability: Developing scalable design patterns and AI-driven workflows allows Amazon Ads to support a growing number of advertisers and campaigns without a proportional increase in operational overhead.

• Revenue Generation: Ultimately, by improving the advertiser experience and campaign effectiveness, this role contributes to increased ad spend and revenue for Amazon Ads.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to move into Director-level roles overseeing larger design teams or broader product areas within Amazon Ads.

• Strategic Influence: Opportunity to shape the future of creative tooling and AI integration within advertising, influencing product roadmaps and business strategy.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Experience gained in managing complex stakeholder relationships and driving end-to-end product delivery can translate into leadership roles in Product Management, GTM Strategy, or Operations.

• Specialization in AI & AdTech: Deepening expertise in cutting-edge areas like generative AI and advanced advertising technologies, positioning for future leadership in these domains.

• Mentorship & Talent Development: Continued opportunity to mentor and develop talent, building a strong reputation for fostering high-performing teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth opportunities emphasize transferable skills valuable in operations, such as strategic planning, cross-functional leadership, and driving business impact. A candidate could frame their UX leadership experience in terms of operational efficiency and revenue enablement.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This role is based in Amazon's corporate offices in New York City or Seattle. These are typically modern, collaborative workspaces designed to foster innovation and teamwork.

Office Location(s):

• New York, New York: Prime locations within Manhattan, offering access to a vibrant business and cultural hub.

• Seattle, Washington: Primarily based at Amazon's main corporate campus in South Lake Union, a hub for technology and innovation.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: Offices are designed with open spaces, meeting rooms, and informal gathering areas to encourage cross-pollination of ideas among design, engineering, and product teams.

• Tools & Technology: Access to state-of-the-art hardware, software, and internal Amazon tools essential for design, prototyping, and collaboration. This includes robust design software, collaboration platforms, and internal development environments.

• Team Interaction: Frequent opportunities for in-person interaction with direct reports, peers, and senior leadership, facilitating clear communication and rapid decision-making. Regular team critiques, design reviews, and cross-functional syncs are standard.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is typical, the fast-paced nature of Amazon and the demands of a senior leadership role may require flexibility to meet project deadlines, launch critical features, and support global advertiser needs across different time zones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a collaborative, tech-enabled environment is standard for major tech companies. For operations candidates, understanding how the physical workspace supports efficient communication and project execution is key.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Recruiter screen to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Hiring Manager Interview: In-depth discussion about your leadership experience, strategic vision, team management philosophy, and experience with AI/generative design.

• Design Bar Raiser / Peer Interviews: Typically involves interviews with other UX Designers, Design Technologists, and Product Managers. These sessions focus on your technical design skills, problem-solving abilities, and ability to contribute to Amazon's design culture. Expect discussions on past projects, design challenges, and how you handle ambiguity.

• Portfolio Review: A dedicated session where you will present 2-3 detailed case studies from your portfolio. This is a critical part of the process, where your ability to articulate your process, strategic thinking, and impact will be evaluated.

• Leadership Principles Interview: Amazon's unique interview loop focusing on its Leadership Principles. Be prepared to provide specific examples of how you have demonstrated principles like Customer Obsession, Ownership, Bias for Action, and Dive Deep.

• Final Loop/Offer: Discussions with senior leadership to finalize the decision and extend an offer.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: For each case study, clearly articulate the business problem, your strategic approach, the design solutions, and most importantly, the measurable outcomes and impact on advertisers or the business. Quantify wherever possible.

• Showcase Leadership: Highlight your role in leading the team, mentoring designers, and driving strategic direction. Demonstrate how you influenced outcomes beyond individual contributions.

• Detail Your Process: Explain your end-to-end design process, including how you navigated ambiguity, collaborated with stakeholders, and made critical design decisions.

• AI & Scalability Emphasis: Given the role, prominently feature your experience with AI/generative design and your ability to create scalable, reusable patterns.

• Conciseness and Clarity: Be prepared to walk through your portfolio efficiently, focusing on the most relevant aspects for this specific role. Practice your narrative.

Challenge Preparation:

• Leadership Principles: Thoroughly prepare examples for each of Amazon's Leadership Principles. Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your responses.

• Design Scenarios: Be ready to discuss hypothetical design challenges related to AI, creative tools, or advertiser workflows. Think about how you would approach defining requirements, ideating solutions, and validating them.

• Team Management Scenarios: Prepare for questions about how you manage performance, resolve conflicts, foster team growth, and build a strong team culture.

• Strategic Thinking: Articulate how you set a vision, define strategy, and align teams towards common goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on Leadership Principles and portfolio review is crucial for Amazon. Operations candidates should frame their past experiences using these principles, focusing on "Ownership," "Bias for Action," "Dive Deep," and "Deliver Results." Their portfolio should highlight process improvement, efficiency gains, and measurable business impact.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop), InVision, Axure RP, or similar industry-standard design and prototyping tools.

• AI/ML Tools: Familiarity with or experience designing interfaces for tools incorporating Generative AI (e.g., image generation, text generation models) and Agentic AI concepts.

• Collaboration Platforms: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Amazon Chime for internal communication and team syncs.

• Project Management: JIRA, Asana, Trello, or similar tools for tracking design tasks and project progress.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Data Visualization: Tableau, Power BI, Looker, or Amazon's internal BI tools for analyzing user behavior and campaign performance data.

• A/B Testing Platforms: Experience with tools that facilitate A/B testing of design variations to optimize user flows and conversion rates.

• User Feedback Tools: Tools for collecting and analyzing user feedback, such as surveys, in-app feedback mechanisms, and user testing platforms.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM Systems: While not directly a CRM role, understanding how design impacts CRM data and advertiser segmentation is beneficial (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot).

• Workflow Automation: Awareness of how design can enable or be informed by automated workflows within advertising platforms.

• Design Systems: Experience working with or contributing to robust design systems for maintaining consistency and efficiency across multiple product surfaces.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations roles, proficiency in data analysis, CRM, and workflow automation tools is paramount. While this role is UX-focused, highlighting any experience with these operational tools, or demonstrating an understanding of how design impacts these systems, will be advantageous.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Obsession: A relentless focus on understanding and improving the advertiser experience. This means designing tools that are intuitive, efficient, and directly contribute to their success.

• Ownership: Taking full responsibility for the entire design process and its outcomes, from initial concept to shipped product and post-launch analysis.

• Bias for Action: Moving quickly to address advertiser needs and business opportunities, even in the face of ambiguity, by prototyping and iterating.

• Dive Deep: Thoroughly understanding the advertiser's workflow, technical constraints, and business objectives to create effective and impactful design solutions.

• Invent and Simplify: Constantly seeking innovative ways to improve the creative building process and simplify complex workflows for advertisers.

• Deliver Results: Focusing on measurable outcomes and ensuring that design contributions directly impact key business metrics, such as campaign performance, advertiser adoption, and revenue.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Designers work closely with Product Managers and Engineers as integral members of product teams, fostering a collaborative and iterative development process.

• Design Critiques: Regular, constructive critique sessions are a core part of the design process, encouraging feedback and continuous improvement across the team.

• Pattern-Based Collaboration: Emphasis on building and sharing scalable design patterns, promoting consistency and enabling teams to work more autonomously while maintaining alignment.

• Data-Informed Dialogue: Discussions are often grounded in data and user research findings, leading to objective and effective problem-solving.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values listed are Amazon's core Leadership Principles. For operations candidates, understanding how these principles translate into daily work—like using data for decisions, taking initiative, and focusing on measurable results—is key to demonstrating cultural fit and operational mindset.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Ambiguity: Amazon Ads is a rapidly evolving space. Designers must be comfortable working with incomplete information, defining problems, and charting a course forward.

• Balancing Innovation with Scale: Designing cutting-edge AI features while ensuring they are robust, scalable, and integrate seamlessly into existing advertiser workflows is a significant challenge.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Gaining consensus among diverse stakeholders (PM, Engineering, Legal, Policy) with potentially competing priorities requires strong negotiation and communication skills.

• Maintaining Design Quality at Scale: Ensuring a consistently high standard of UX across a vast product suite and a growing team requires disciplined processes and strong leadership.

• Impact Measurement: Clearly defining and attributing the impact of design decisions on complex business outcomes like advertiser success and revenue can be challenging.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into AI/ML: Unparalleled opportunity to work at the forefront of generative AI and agentic AI applications within advertising.

• AdTech Expertise: Gaining in-depth knowledge of the advertising technology landscape, creative production pipelines, and advertiser strategies.

• Leadership Development: Formal and informal opportunities to hone management skills, strategic planning, and cross-functional leadership through Amazon's internal programs.

• Design Systems Advancement: Contributing to and leveraging sophisticated design systems to drive product consistency and efficiency.

• Industry Exposure: Potential to attend industry conferences and engage with a broad network of design and technology professionals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges and growth opportunities highlight areas where operations professionals can draw parallels. For instance, "navigating ambiguity" and "balancing innovation with scale" are common operational challenges. Framing past operational successes in overcoming these challenges can be highly effective.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Vision Setting: "How would you define the long-term vision for creative tooling in Amazon Ads, especially considering the rise of generative AI?" (Prepare to discuss market trends, advertiser needs, and potential future capabilities.)

• Process Optimization: "Describe a time you identified a significant inefficiency in a design or product development process. What steps did you take to optimize it, and what were the results?" (Focus on quantifiable improvements in speed, quality, or resource utilization.)

• Stakeholder Alignment: "How do you approach aligning Product, Engineering, and other stakeholders when there are differing opinions on design direction or implementation strategy?" (Emphasize data-driven arguments, negotiation skills, and finding common ground.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• Leadership Principles: "Tell me about a time you demonstrated 'Ownership' when faced with a challenging project." or "Describe a situation where you had to 'Dive Deep' to understand a complex problem before making a decision." (Prepare specific, detailed examples using the STAR method.)

• Team Management: "How do you foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within your design team?" or "Describe your approach to mentoring and developing designers at different career stages." (Focus on actionable strategies for team growth and high performance.)

• Customer Focus: "How do you ensure that advertiser needs and pain points are at the forefront of your team's design decisions?" (Discuss methods for user research, feedback incorporation, and empathy-building.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly define the problem, your strategic approach, the design process, key decisions, and the ultimate measurable impact. Aim for a clear, logical flow.

• Highlight Leadership & Impact: Emphasize your role in leading the team, driving strategy, and achieving quantifiable results. Use numbers and data to demonstrate success.

• Showcase AI & Scalability: Clearly articulate your experience with AI/generative design and your ability to create scalable patterns. Explain the "why" behind your design choices.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your process, decision-making, and the specific tools/techniques you used.

• Connect to Amazon's Principles: Weave in how your work aligns with Amazon's Leadership Principles (e.g., Customer Obsession, Ownership, Bias for Action, Deliver Results).

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations candidates interviewing for this role, framing their experience through the lens of process improvement, efficiency gains, data-driven decision-making, and measurable business outcomes will be key. Demonstrating an understanding of how design impacts operational efficiency and revenue is crucial.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Sr. Manager, UX Design position:

• Submit your application through the official Amazon Jobs portal via the provided URL.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight leadership experience, team management, and your track record in delivering end-to-end design solutions. Emphasize any experience with AI/generative design, advertising technology, and scalable pattern creation.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your most impactful case studies that best demonstrate your leadership, strategic thinking, and ability to drive measurable results. Ensure they clearly articulate your process, the challenges faced, your solutions, and the business impact. Focus on showcasing AI/generative design experience and scalable pattern design.

• Prepare for Leadership Principles: Thoroughly review Amazon's Leadership Principles and prepare specific, behavioral examples using the STAR method for each.

• Research Amazon Ads: Understand Amazon Ads' mission, its advertiser base, the competitive landscape, and current industry trends (especially regarding AI in advertising). This will help you articulate your strategic vision and cultural fit.

• Practice Your Portfolio Presentation: Rehearse presenting your case studies, ensuring you can clearly and concisely articulate your process, decisions, and impact within the allotted time. Be ready for in-depth Q&A.

⚠️ 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.