Position Title: Design Program Manager

Duration: Contract

Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Description of the assignment

• Our Client is seeking a highly organized and strategic Design Program Manager (DPM) to join the Technology & Innovation team.
• The DPM will be instrumental in increasing the efficiency and impact of the department organization by managing creative programs, driving operational excellence, and fostering collaboration across cross-functional teams.
• The DPM acts as the operational backbone for the design team, managing the design lifecycle for all the product initiatives.
• This strategic role ensures that design projects are well-planned, resourced, and delivered on time while maintaining a high standard of design quality.
• You'll be a key partner to the department leadership, translating high-level goals and requirements into clear, actionable deliverables that teams can confidently execute.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain clear project plans, timelines, and milestones for design initiatives.
• Coordinate dependencies across design and development teams.
• Facilitate smooth intake and prioritization of design requests.
• Identify bottlenecks early, propose solutions, and keep projects unblocked.
• Ensure teams have the right resources and information at the right time.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for project status, risks, and decisions.
• Align stakeholders around goals, deliverables, and success metrics.
• Document and share program updates, roadmaps, and retrospectives.
• Track progress and ensure work is delivered with quality and on schedule.
• Create a healthy environment for designers to focus and do their best work.

Qualifications and skills required for the role:

• 5+ years of experience in Program Management, Project Management, Design Operations, or a similar role, ideally within a design, UX, or digital product development organization.
• Proven track record of successfully managing complex, cross-functional projects and programs from concept to launch.
• In-depth understanding of design and development process (e.g. user research, ideation, prototyping, testing, engineering handoff).
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to keep multiple projects in motion.
• Expertise with project management and collaboration tools (Jira, Figma, Excel).
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority.
• Highly organized, proactive, and comfortable navigating ambiguity and rapid change.

Good to have:

• Experience in automotive, software, consumer tech, or innovation environments.
• Familiarity with agile methodologies and product development lifecycles.
• Experience with headcount and capacity planning for design teams.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field (e.g. Design, Business, Communications, Computer Science).

Personal Attributes:

• Strong drive, communicative with good leadership skills, independent and confident as well as a good team player.
• Methodical and analytical with good planning skills.
• Flexible and able to work under constrained time schedules and frequently revised circumstances.

Other:

• The assignment will take place in the studio in Gothenburg, and will have an 'office first' environment with some flexibility to WFH.
• Travel to China may be needed (approx. 2-3 trips per year).
• Everyone in the team has a high level of responsibility and mandate and is expected to be able to work autonomously.
• Fluent in English, spoken and written

Why work through Contechs?

Contechs is a leading Automotive, Design, Engineering, Technology and Innovation Recruitment Consultancy. Founded in 1997, with an inhouse Contractor Care Team to support all external employees, acts as an employment agency for permanent and contract recruitment.

How to Apply

If you're interested in applying for this position, submit your application and one of our recruiters will be in touch.

If you know anyone that is suitable for the role, please visit the below page where we offer up to £600 referral fee: https://www.contechs.com/refer