Senior Design Program Manager II

Canada - Remote (ON, AB, BC, or NS Only) · Remote · CAD 185,000-195,000 / year · 6+ years experience · Full-time · Remote · Posted Oct 2, 2026

At a glance

Drive operational excellence and programmatic execution across the Design organization by building AI-enabled systems, scaling critical processes, and managing tools and vendor relationships.
Own end-to-end program execution for high-visibility design initiatives while building the operational backbone that enables the Design organization to scale.

Drive end-to-end delivery of complex, multi-quarter design initiatives across Design, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, Business Development and other cross-functional teams.
Build and deploy AI-enabled workflows that automate program management tasks such as status reporting, resource tracking, documentation synthesis, and stakeholder communication.
Own strategic vendor relationships and contract management for design tooling including Figma, prototyping, asset management, and collaboration platforms.
Manage contractor and agency relationships while partnering with Finance, Legal, and IT on compliance and cost efficiency.
Champion team health through capacity planning, roadmapping, and resource allocation.
Partner with the Instacart Design System (IDS) team to align programs with system evolution and component adoption, driving governance programs across product teams.
Apply design thinking and product sense to program design, understanding user needs, designing operational experiences, and iterating based on feedback.

6+ years in program management and design operations within design or product organizations, with deep experience driving operational excellence and culture for design and product teams.
Strong product sense and design craft sensibility, with well-developed methods and tools for driving fluid programs forward into the market.
Experience with all stages of the product development lifecycle, launching products end-to-end.
Technical fluency to collaborate with design system and engineering teams, understanding system architecture, component APIs, design-to-code workflows, and technical constraints.
Proven track record driving complex, cross-functional programs from 0 to 1 and scaling operational systems in fast-paced environments.
AI fluency with experience leveraging AI tools such as LLMs and automation platforms to drive efficiency and scale programs.
Vendor and contract management experience including negotiating software contracts, managing relationships, optimizing spend, and ensuring compliance.
Deep knowledge of design and program management tooling ecosystems including Figma, Linear, Jira, Dovetail, asset management, and prototyping tools.
Ability to drive organizational change and influence cross-functional partners while bringing clarity to complexity.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with comfort presenting to executive leadership.

Design systems expertise in building and scaling systems, managing component libraries, defining tokens, and driving adoption programs.
Experience building AI-powered workflows for creative operations or design tooling integrations.
Success translating leadership vision into actionable roadmaps and operating models.
Experience in hybrid or embedded team models with deep cross-functional partnership.
Comfort balancing hands-on execution with strategic oversight.
Track record using data and storytelling to influence leadership and secure buy-in for operational investments.