Senior Design Program Manager

Posted Oct 2

We're transforming the grocery industry

At Instacart, we invite the world to share love through food because we believe everyone should have access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together. Where others see a simple need for grocery delivery, we see exciting complexity and endless opportunity to serve the varied needs of our community. We work to deliver an essential service that customers rely on to get their groceries and household goods, while also offering safe and flexible earnings opportunities to Instacart Personal Shoppers.

Instacart has become a lifeline for millions of people, and we’re building the team to help push our shopping cart forward. If you’re ready to do the best work of your life, come join our table.

Instacart is a Flex First team

There’s no one-size fits all approach to how we do our best work. Our employees have the flexibility to choose where they do their best work—whether it’s from home, an office, or your favorite coffee shop—while staying connected and building community through regular in-person events. Learn more about our flexible approach to where we work.

Overview

We are in search of a Senior Design Program Manager to join the Design & Research Program Management team. We operate end-to-end against Design & Research Org priorities focusing on the most ambiguous and complex problems and Design Operations projects. We are strategic thought and execution partners who land the biggest impact work on-time and with high quality for the Design Org. 

We foster an innovative environment that empowers designers to focus on cohesive design, connecting people, processes, and products to deliver a consistent and seamless user experience. We advocate for design principles and standards to drive high-quality product experiences for all. Design Program Managers prioritize their work by understanding the needs of their core project stakeholders. 

Design Program Managers exhibit expertise in problem-solving and multitasking while deftly building long-term relationships with internal and external partner teams. This role requires project management experience and familiarity with product design and development lifecycles. Excellent communication skills, experience managing complex projects, and a highly organized approach are crucial.

The ideal candidate will facilitate our teams' best work by managing short- and long-term projects and initiatives, anticipating project issues and resolving them, connecting resources to Design & Research needs, and removing barriers to doing great work. 

About The Job

  • Partner with Design Managers and cross-functional partners to support the end-to-end needs of the most ambiguous, complex and impactful sprints and projects within the Design and Research Org.
  • Create flexible processes, timelines, reviews, and milestones, ensuring the team is held accountable to the plan.
  • Design and implement communication plans to share information at the appropriate level within the core team, the wider Design & Research Org, and Cross-functional stakeholders. 
  • Communicate issues related to staying on schedule and propose solutions to remedy the issue.
  • Proactively identify and manage interdependencies with other design teams and ensure effective coordination.  
  • Foresee and address potential issues before they impact the team. .
  • Serve as a dependable point of contact for cross-functional teams, ensuring alignment with stakeholders..
  • Triage incoming requests of the design team to accommodate new needs without compromising the team’s primary goals.
  • Oversee process improvements, team documentation and tool provisioning to support the team effectively
  • Continually evangelize product quality best practices and standards within the company.

About You

  • Passionate about the Product Design and Research space with the ambition to further your understanding of how these functions thrive.
  • Excitement to foster a cohesive and unified team culture.
  • 5+ years of experience as a program manager, or project manager with a focus on building systems, supporting teams, and developing relationships.
  • Clear, and proactive written and verbal communication skills.
  • Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills and a pragmatic approach to achieving the big picture.
  • Proven track record of working independently, delivering results in a highly organized manner, and addressing problems proactively.
  • Proactively identifies problems and inefficiencies, and seeks to address them with an eye towards maintaining team momentum.
  • Experience operating independently in a fast-paced environment, with strong time management, task prioritization, and problem solving abilities.

Nice to have:

  • Experience with Figma, Airtable, SQL, data visualizations, JIRA.
  • Experience in processing and analyzing data sets to inform business decisions.

#LI-Remote

Instacart provides highly market-competitive compensation and benefits in each location where our employees work. This role is remote and the base pay range for a successful candidate is dependent on their permanent work location. Please review our Flex First remote work policy here.

Offers may vary based on many factors, such as candidate experience and skills required for the role. Additionally, this role is eligible for a new hire equity grant as well as annual refresh grants. Please read more about our benefits offerings here.

For US based candidates, the base pay ranges for a successful candidate are listed below.

CA, NY, CT, NJ

$142,000—$158,000 USD

WA

$137,000—$152,000 USD

OR, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, RI, VT, DC, PA, VA, CO, TX, IL, HI

$131,000—$145,000 USD

All other states

$118,000—$131,000 USD