Design Director

Job Title: Design Director

• Provide mentorship, coaching, and technical guidance to foster a high-performance, collaborative team culture.
• Model and promote accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement across departments.
• Conduct monthly one-on-one meetings with direct reports to review the Design Performance Matrix.
• Address performance issues with clear documentation, initiating weekly one-on-ones and Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) when necessary.

• Create a two-week onboarding orientation schedule for new hires reporting directly to this position.
• Generate and manage a 12-week development plan with identified deliverables to ensure new designers are progressing in their training.
• Ensure Design Managers are actively managing onboarding, coaching, and development within their teams.
• Conduct regular check-ins with all direct reports to assess training needs and plan for continuous development.
• Identify opportunities to enhance collaboration, engagement, accountability, and client focus across departments, and partner with leadership to develop and implement improvement plans.

• Assign project work through ZOHO once project scope, product solutions, and timeline have been validated.
• Ensure effective resource alignment to balance workload, optimize utilization, and support timely, high-quality deliverables.
• Monitor workload and capacity and align resources to ensure teams have the support they need and can meet deadlines with accurate, high-quality deliverables.
• Monitor team capacity and collaborate with leadership to proactively address resourcing challenges.
• Provide guidance and strategic oversight on key or complex projects/accounts.

• Ensure all direct reports are actively tracking tasks in ZOHO, updating comments, meeting deadlines, and closing tasks appropriately.
• Oversee MxT Utilization Tracking to ensure alignment with billable goals of 85% minimum utilization.
• Support and lead problem-solving efforts across departments to maintain high output standards and resolve project obstacles.
• Champion innovation in processes, design thinking, and technology adoption.

• Foster strong working relationships across departments to ensure open communication and enterprise alignment.
• Promote collaboration between design, sales, operations, and project management to deliver cohesive client experiences.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships with clients, partners, and team members.
• Assist in guiding teams to appropriately engage with dancker's Growth Ventures (e.g., DBE, ForBuild, dePloy).

• Partner with sales leadership on strategic accounts, providing design expertise and support for business development initiatives.
• Serve as a design resource in key client engagements, presentations, and strategic planning sessions.
• Strong product knowledge of commercial furniture, including market trends and innovations.
• Elevate the role of design as a strategic differentiator within the sales process.

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and design software (CET, AutoCAD, SketchUp, BlueBeam, etc).
• Comfortable using ZOHO Projects or equivalent project management platform.

• Ability to think strategically and make recommendations that align with the goals of sales and design teams.
• Organized, proactive, and able to manage multiple designers and their workload.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design, Architecture, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in commercial furniture design, with at least 5 years in a leadership or management role.
• Excellent communication, organization, and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and mentor a team while meeting individual project responsibilities.