Design Program Manager, Systems

We are looking for a Design Program Manager to partner closely with our Systems teams. This is a high-impact, high-trust role that sits at the intersection of design craft, systems thinking, and cross-functional execution.

The Systems team is made up of Design Systems and Creative Systems. The Design Systems team is focused on developing the core primitives and standards that engineers and designers use to build Discord's products. The Creative Systems team is focused on defining and maintaining the graphic, illustration, and motion systems that shape Discord's visual identity.

As the DPM for this team, you will help Systems Designers and Engineers balance their two primary tracks of work: proactive, planned work led by the internal team, and reactive, incoming work originating with our partner teams. You will bring together the strategic and the operational, helping the entire Systems team deliver with clarity, pace, and intentionality.

You will report into the TPM organization, but will collaborate day-to-day with Systems leads, designers, and engineers, as well as cross-functional partners across the company. This role is for someone who loves building clarity out of complexity to accelerate the work of design and engineering teams.

What You'll Be Doing

• Drive the Systems roadmaps and intake process, ensuring both Design and Engineering capacity stay aligned with incoming requests and partners have a clear path to request support
• Track program health proactively, surfacing blockers early, and keeping stakeholders informed at the right level of detail
• Serve as a connector between Systems and their partners, facilitating conversations that surface dependencies, align on priorities, and keep design and engineering timelines connected
• Support Systems leadership in shaping operating rhythms, including planning, resourcing, and capacity decisions
• Identify and implement improvements to how the team plans, shares knowledge, and operates, reducing friction and enabling better outcomes
• Drive large-scale system initiatives like migrations, visual refreshes, rollouts, and platform upgrades from planning through adoption
• Align Systems' efforts to broader organizational goals and contribute to longer-term planning cycles, including annual priorities and investment cases for system improvements

What you should have

• 5+ years of experience in design program management, design operations, or a closely related role, with a track record of building and evolving programs
• A genuine understanding of how design systems work, including both the design craft and the technical dimensions of component libraries, tokens, and documentation
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional programs with multiple workstreams and stakeholders at various levels of an organization
• A builder's mentality: you create processes because you understand the people who will use them, not because process is the goal
• An instinct for collaboration over control: you influence through trust, and you know when to lead and when to listen
• The ability to thrive in ambiguity and bring structure to situations where none previously existed
• Experience managing vendor relationships or budgets
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including a talent for translating complex topics into clear updates for leadership and partners

Bonus if you have

• Experience at a consumer tech company with a Design Systems team
• Familiarity with illustration systems, motion, or other creative system primitives
• Hands-on experience experimenting with AI tools to solve real workflow problems, and a point of view on where they add genuine value versus noise
• Background working within or alongside a TPM organization

This position is temporary. Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties). For this role, there is no formal requirement to work from the office.

The US base salary range for this temporary full-time position is $196,000 to $220,500 + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include benefits.