Design Manager, Instrumentation

General Motors • Sunnyvale, CA

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to Warren, MI or Sunnyvale, CA, three times per week, at minimum. The Role GM’s Human Interface Design – Vehicle Studio is hiring a Design Manager, Instrumentation to shape the future of in-vehicle driver information. In this role, you will lead a team focused on digital instrument clusters and alert architecture, ensuring that critical information is clear, glanceable, and trustworthy. You’ll partner closely with software, engineering, safety, and product teams to deliver intuitive, accessible, and delightful cluster experiences that enhance driver confidence. Join us to create impactful digital instrumentation that reaches millions of drivers worldwide.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience creating digital interfaces for automotive, web, mobile, gaming, or embedded systems, with a strong focus on complex information displays.
• Formal training or degree in Interface Design, Visual Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related discipline.
• Strong portfolio showcasing UX, interaction design, visual systems, and information design for data-rich or real-time experiences.
• Proven ability to lead design strategies for driver information that align with business objectives, safety requirements, and user needs.
• Deep understanding of the product development lifecycle and how instrumentation fits within a broader in-vehicle ecosystem.
• Ability to exercise restraint in design, balancing aesthetics, glanceability, and functional clarity for safety-critical use cases.
• Strong track record establishing workflows, documentation, and reusable patterns that enable teams to ship consistent, high-quality UI.
• Proficiency in design tools such as Figma and Adobe Creative Suite, and familiarity with prototyping tools for motion and interaction.
• Ability to partner with cross-functional teams (engineering, safety, human factors, product, brand) to solve complex problems.
• Demonstrated adaptability in managing shifting priorities, tight timelines, and evolving requirements, while supporting team well-being.
• Operational mindset with strong attention to detail and a drive to ship high-quality instrumentation at scale.
• Excellent visual, verbal, and written communication skills, especially when explaining complex states and behaviors.
• Strong problem-solving and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple programs and brand variants in parallel.

Nice To Haves

• Proven experience leading design teams of 5+ designers, fostering collaboration and creative excellence in a production environment.
• 5+ years of experience in the automotive industry, especially in instrument clusters, HUDs, or safety-critical HMI.
• Hands-on experience in lean product environments, including sprint planning, iterative design, and rapid validation.
• Strong understanding of accessibility, legibility, and inclusive design for in-vehicle and low-attention contexts.
• Proficiency in interactive prototyping (software and/or hardware), with experience simulating real-time vehicle states or data considered a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead, support, and develop a team of designers focused on driver instrumentation, coaching both project outcomes and individual growth.
• Own the design strategy and execution for digital instrument clusters, including layouts, cluster faces, states, and model/brand variants.
• Define and maintain alert and notification architecture, ensuring safety-critical information is prioritized, legible, and consistent across the ecosystem.
• Collaborate with product managers, software engineers, safety, and human factors teams to transform requirements into user-centered, regulation-aware design solutions.
• Oversee the end-to-end design process—from early concepts and information architecture through wireframes, prototypes, and final specifications—ensuring usability, consistency, and design excellence.
• Establish and steward design guidelines, patterns, and frameworks for information hierarchy, motion, and state management in the cluster.
• Ensure alignment with brand guidelines while maintaining high visual and interaction quality across all instrumentation designs.
• Champion user-centered design principles and leverage data, research, and validation studies to inform and refine design decisions.
• Stay ahead of emerging trends in automotive HMI, data visualization, and display technology to drive innovation in driver information.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and curious team culture aligned with organizational goals.

Benefits

• GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees