Everyone is welcome at Handshake. We know diverse teams build better products and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We strongly encourage candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to apply.

Design at Handshake

At Handshake we create opportunities for all students and recent graduates to have equal access to meaningful jobs and internships, and we believe design plays a crucial role in the pursuit of this mission. Under the umbrella of our Chief Design Officer, we are a unified team of product designers, content designers, user experience researchers, brand designers, and design ops folks, all working collaboratively to help students, employers, and career centers.

We take a student-first approach to how we design and build products, and we strive to deeply understand our users and their true goals. We believe that great products and experiences are made great by the combination of how they work and how they look. One without the other is not enough, and while we're not perfect, we strive to excel in both and are committed to going the extra mile.

Great products are built by teams — and teams are built by people who communicate and collaborate well. A culture of openness, honesty, and the ability to provide and receive constructive feedback is important to us.

We also believe that great teams are inclusive. Being surrounded by a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives brings out the best in everyone, and leads to higher quality products and experiences.

Your impact

We’re looking for an individual to join our growing Design Operations team. Reporting to the Director of Design Operations, you’ll play a key role in creating, evolving, and managing the programs we use to build, grow, and scale the Design org at Handshake. 

A Senior Design Program Manager recognizes that how a design team functions is just as important as what a design team makes. Your work will have impact across three pillars:

• Business operations — run point on the processes and activities that support the day-to-day operations of the team, from resourcing/staffing projects, to OKR planning and reporting, including managing relationships with internal stakeholders as well as outside agencies, vendors, and contractors.
• Creative operations — help us implement the perfect process for how ideas become reality and how Design impacts the projects it works on, as well as ensuring Design leadership has the right level of visibility on projects as they go through key milestones.
• People operations — effectively communicate with the team through our Slack channels, in meetings, and other touch points, and play a key role in maintaining documentation that ensures fair and equal evaluation across teams and managers.

In short: Handshake and the Design org are scaling rapidly, and we’re looking for someone to help us roll-out & project manage strategic programs and initiatives effectively and efficiently, while maintaining a high quality of output across the team.

Your role

• This is an individual contributor role on the Design Ops team that will be responsible for the co-creation and day-to-day implementation of foundational documentation and process. While a lot of your work will be strategic, this is not a strategy-only role. An action-oriented, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude is a must!
• Partner with Design, Product, and Marketing leads to develop project plans, set goals for the team, track progress, allocate resources, and improve overall efficiency and impact.
• Work with Design leadership on the roll-out of strategic initiatives pertaining to organizational design, talent development, resourcing strategies, and process improvement that will help us scale and operate effectively.
• Participate in monthly & quarterly business reviews and recurring planning processes for the Design org and the initiatives that we support.
• Prepare communications and presentations for internal audiences, such as all-hands meetings and status updates, to ensure cross-functional alignment. 
• Project manage select design/design-related projects as determined by the leadership team.
• Own internal administrative functions specific to the Design team such as contractor & new hire onboarding tasks; bring consistency to team celebrations and rituals; and help to plan team offsites.

Your experience

• A minimum of six years of experience in a similar role at a high-volume and deadline-driven design firm, agency, or product company. 
  • Experience with Brand design production and stakeholder management is necessary