Hello there! ????????
We’re looking for a Senior Design Manager interested in applying their skills ???????? in service of helping transform the world of education for those who need it the most.
At Khan Academy, our mission is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere ????????????. We approach it with a spirit of humility and thoughtfulness about how technology is best positioned to help.
Khan Academy is a not-for-profit, and our funders care just as much as we do about our positive impact, efficacy, and leveling the playing field in education.
About the teamThe team at Khan Academy comes from a wide variety of backgrounds, and we actively foster a cross-disciplinary environment because we believe that’s where the magic happens. Khan Academy currently employs around 200 full time staff, including the creators of our educational content, who come from teaching backgrounds.
The design team is a small, highly diverse group of people. Each member has a lot of impact and makes huge contributions across the board. There are currently 16 people on the team, from a wide variety of backgrounds: media (Vox), civics (18F), consumer (Fitbit, Square), service (Starbucks) and the agency world (frogdesign, 2x4). About one third of the team is based in the Bay Area, and two thirds are distributed across California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oregon, and Washington — so we operate in a creatively distributed-friendly way.
What you’ll work on- Our Senior Design Managers are seasoned managers / leaders who oversee a team (or multiple teams) of more complex bodies of work. While you may be expected to be hands-on if needed, you largely own and take responsibility for your area(s) of the product and help deliver “wow”.
- This role will help support our student, teacher and school district experiences in the short term, and possibly our content platforms and other products in the long term. Our student, teacher, and district leaders are at the heart of all we do, and this role will have a critical role in creating the tools and resources to help each of those groups succeed. Our content platforms and other products are the heartbeat of the Khan Academy ecosystem, where we design the critical authoring tools that allow our teams to bring our amazing experiences to life.
- You’ve been managing / leading teams designing digital apps and systems for 4+ years and you are excellent at inspiring a team of world-class designers to do their best work.
- You have proven experience shipping products and collaborating with a cross-functional product team.
- You have a strong portfolio of work you’ve made and/or led and are fluent across the design process—from problem definition to high fidelity design—with deep passion and expertise in at least 2-3 of these areas:
- Interaction design and information architecture
- Visual design
- Working with or creating comprehensive design systems
- Accessibility and inclusive design
- Qualitative and quantitative research
- Service design processes and frameworks
- Design thinking and workshop facilitation
- Discursive/speculative design
- You’re introspective, mature, and have excellent communication skills. You can demonstrate that you’re invested in growing and mentoring other designers as well as collaborating with your peers and other disciplines, such as engineering and PM.
- You have a high comfort level working within a self-directed culture, solving complex problems, and navigating ambiguity.
- You excel in the finer points of resource allocation, project prioritization, and creating an environment where excellent planning leads to excellent results.
- You can balance the importance of shaping a long term vision with the tactical needs of helping deliver and ship features.
- You’re passionate about education and designing engaging learning experiences, and you’re deeply curious about how and why people learn.
We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or Veteran status.
