Who you are

• You have 10+ years of relevant experience, with at least 6 years of experience as an individual contributor on an in-house product design team, and at least 4 years of experience as a people manager of product/UX designers
• You have senior expertise in design methods and strategies, with skills across service design, complex software product design, user research, and modern user interface design
• You have a wealth of experience with developing and improving the design process, with a keen sense of where we are struggling and proactively applying your expertise to streamline how our team ships world-class design solutions
• You know how to build strong relationships cross-functionally and bring people into the conversation when their input and buy-in is crucial
• You have the ability to juggle ambiguous and broad problems/opportunities along with smaller well-defined projects
• You are a critical participant in design reviews, modeling what it looks like to deliver effective feedback to strengthen design work, as well as soliciting feedback at every step of the process
• You are comfortable in ambiguous situations and dynamic environments, where you regularly interact with and gather feedback from Senior Leadership
• You are scrappy, have a bias toward action
• You have an understanding of common needs and roles in K-12 school districts in the U.S
• Motivated by the Khan Academy mission “to provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere."
• Proven cross-cultural competency skills demonstrating self-awareness, awareness of other, and the ability to adopt inclusive perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors to drive inclusion and belonging throughout the organization
• Introspective, mature, and emotionally intelligent, with excellent communication skills
• Invested in your own growth and the growth of our team
• Proactively seek out the people/information you need to move work forward and unblock yourself
• High comfort level working within a strong product and pedagogical vision
• Able to balance the immediate tactical needs of helping deliver and ship features with scouting ahead for what’s next
• Willing to roll your sleeves up and pitch in when a project goes off-script
• Passionate about education and designing engaging learning experiences, deeply curious about how and why people learn

What the job involves

• In this role, you will act as the Senior Design Manager for a group of designers working on ambitious, high-impact experiences across Khan Academy offerings, including those for students, teachers, and administrators
• As a Senior Design Manager, you’ll be a force multiplier for your reports, applying your senior-level expertise and proven design process as you guide and coach your team across many projects and products
• You will also use your strong process and project management skills to improve how our team collaborates with cross-functional teams
• You will play a vital role on an inclusive, collaborative Design team, helping us shape and fulfill the mission of the organization: to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere
• We genuinely care about people and value compassion in our everyday interactions
• You’ll be able to be yourself, feel valued, supported, learn and grow, no matter how experienced you are
• Even if you don’t check every box (no one does), we encourage you to apply
• Partner with Product Management, Engineering, Content, Data, Design peers, and other departments to shape the future of our products, beginning with Assessments and District platforms
• Lead a 5-10 person design team in owning the end-to-end product research and design solutions – from IA and journey maps to wireframes, user flows, high-fidelity mockups, clickable prototypes, and everything in between
• Seamlessly shift between high-level strategic planning and detailed execution across a complex, multi-touchpoint product surface area, ensuring alignment across all team deliverables
• Know our customers and products inside and out. Inspire others to a similar depth of knowledge - and to use customer/product insights to guide product decisions
• Set the bar for delivering high-impact, high-quality products rooted in a deep understanding of the business and customer needs
• Manage, coach, and develop individual contributors, from associate to principal levels, in both user experience research and product design. Engage in coaching, career planning, career path development, and performance management of this critical team
• Provide and develop a culture of feedback where designers are encouraged to iteratively improve on their work
• Cultivate a growth mindset by contributing to design best practices for organizational needs such as career ladders, design critique, lean research, advanced design methods, integrating our brand into the product, and more
• Drive communication with cross-functional peers, directors, and teammates, ensuring clarity and alignment up, down, and across

Benefits

• Flexible spending account (FSA)
• Dental insurance
• Optical insurance
• Life insurance
• Performance bonus
• 401K plan
• Family medical leave
• Diversity program
• Pet friendly workplace
• Work from home opportunities
• Health insurance
• Affinity groups where Parents, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Women and Gender Minorities, and LGBTQIA+ identified folks come together