Design Manager

About Planning Center

Planning Center exists to help churches build stronger, more connected communities.

Since 2006, over 80,000 churches have trusted our tools to care for their people—whether that’s communicating with their congregation, organizing important information, or coordinating the details that make ministry happen.

We’re an independent, profitable company with no outside investors. That means we get to focus on building products thoughtfully, caring for our team well, and making decisions for the long term.

Our team is fully remote, working together daily through tools like Slack, Asana, Linear, Notion, and Zoom. Three times a year, we gather in Carlsbad, CA to connect in person, strengthen relationships, and align on where we’re headed.

About the Work

Planning Center makes software that helps churches help people — and the people who run those churches are real, busy, and deserve tools that actually work. Our Design Managers are responsible for both the people and the work: you lead a team of Product Designers, set the design direction for your area in alignment with the other areas of the company, and stay close enough to the craft to raise the bar on what ships.

This role sits within the Product org and reports directly to the Director of Product Design. You'll partner with your Area Triad (Product Manager and Senior Engineering Manager) to shape what gets prioritized and how it gets built, while developing every designer on your team to do their best and most independent work.

We're looking for someone who has done the job before — who has hired, coached, and had the hard conversations — and who genuinely believes that investing in people is how you get great design at scale.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop a team of Product Designers through regular 1:1s, feedback, performance conversations, and growth planning

Partner with your Area Triad (PM and ENG lead) to define design strategy and turn business goals into clear design direction

Set and hold a high bar for design craft. Give feedback that is specific, grounded, and connected to the user

Step in to do hands-on design work when the team needs support or additional bandwidth

Run design reviews, crits, and stakeholder conversations that move work forward with the right people in the room

Coach designers to form a clear point of view and own their problem space, rather than waiting for direction

Hire and onboard new designers as the team grows

Contribute to the evolution of Planning Center's design system and push for cross-product consistency

Establish and refine design processes that scale with team growth and product complexity

Model thoughtful use of AI tools and help your team build real confidence using them

What You Bring

3+ years leading a team of product designers, including hiring, coaching, and performance management

Experience partnering in a product trio or cross-functional structure to set direction and make trade-offs

A track record of shaping ambiguous problems alongside product and engineering -- not just executing well-scoped design work

Strong design craft with the ability to set a high bar and give feedback that raises others' work

Clear, confident communicator in writing, in conversation, and in cross-functional stakeholder settings

Fluency in Figma and a curiosity about where design tools and practice are heading

Nice to Have

Experience contributing to a design system or working closely with a design systems team

Background as an IC product designer before moving into management

Familiarity with church management software or the faith-based sector

Experience integrating AI-assisted design tools into your own workflow and helping your team do the same

Who We Look For

The best fits for any role on the Planning Center team are people embodying our Core Values:

Engage with Humility - We actively participate with openness and receptiveness. We are ready to listen, learn, and speak thoughtfully and kindly—regardless of skill level, expertise, or place on the org chart.

Invest in our team - We give our time and energy to our team’s success—improving collaboration with effective communication, making space for diverse perspectives, sharing knowledge, and asking questions.

Do Our Best Work - We aspire to do our best possible work—continually looking for ways to improve the quality of our individual output and contribute to our team's overall success and growth.

Focus on Customer Impact - We advocate for our customer’s best interests in our decision-making—we can trace the goal of every project back to creating positive value for our customers.

Think Holistically, Work Iteratively - We focus on taking practical steps towards our goals with an awareness of the broader context—thinking big, working small.

We believe the strongest teams are made up of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, and we are committed to cultivating that diversity here at Planning Center. We're building …