Design Manager - Kraemer Design + Production

PlayCore Careers•Cincinnati, OH

About The Position

Kraemer Design + Production (KD+P) is seeking a Design Manager to lead and coordinate the creative development of family-focused, hands-on interactive exhibit experiences. KD+P specializes in interactive experiential exhibit design and production, guiding projects from concept design through installation for museums, children’s museums, nature centers, visitor centers, entertainment experiences, and other community-based attractions. The Design Manager will oversee the design process across all active projects, ensuring that each experience is imaginative, educationally accurate, visitor-centered, buildable, on schedule, and aligned with each client’s content, goals, budget, and audience. This role is ideal for a creative leader who can manage multidisciplinary teams, translate client content into engaging physical and digital experiences, and balance big-picture storytelling with practical execution. The Design Manager will work closely with project managers, designers, graphic designers, writers, fabricators, vendors, consultants, and clients to deliver memorable exhibit environments that invite exploration, learning, play, and repeat engagement for visitors of all ages.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in exhibit design, industrial design, interior design, architecture, experiential design, environmental graphic design, museum studies, theater design, or a related field; equivalent professional experience will also be considered.
10+ years of professional design experience, preferably in museums, children’s museums, science centers, nature centers, themed entertainment, visitor attractions, experiential environments, or custom public-facing installations.
3+ years of experience leading designers, managing design teams, or directing multidisciplinary creative work across multiple concurrent projects.
Strong understanding of exhibit design process, interpretive planning, spatial storytelling, interactive development, visitor flow, material selection, fabrication coordination, and design documentation.
Demonstrated ability to turn client content, educational objectives, and audience needs into engaging hands-on experiences for families and children.
Experience managing design schedules, budgets, deliverables, review cycles, and consultant or vendor coordination.
Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to explain design intent clearly to clients, internal teams, fabricators, and non-design stakeholders.
Strong visual, written, and verbal storytelling skills, including the ability to guide concept narratives, exhibit descriptions, design presentations, and client-facing materials.
Working knowledge of accessibility, safety, durability, child development, inclusive design, and public environment requirements as they relate to interactive exhibits and family experiences.
Ability to manage competing priorities, make decisions with incomplete information, maintain creative momentum, and support teams through deadline-driven project phases.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency with common design and production tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, SketchUp, Rhino, AutoCAD, Vectorworks, SolidWorks, or similar platforms is preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the day-to-day design management of all assigned exhibit, attraction, and visitor experience projects from discovery and concept development through design documentation, fabrication coordination, and installation support.
Guide multidisciplinary design teams in developing engaging, hands-on experiences that translate client content into clear stories, intuitive visitor flow, age-appropriate interactions, and memorable family learning moments.
Establish and maintain project design standards, creative goals, deliverable expectations, and review processes across concept, schematic design, design development, final design, bid documentation, and production support phases.
Collaborate with project teams to align design scope, schedule, staffing, fees, budgets, milestones, client reviews, and production requirements.
Serve as a secondary point of contact for clients, facilitating design meetings, presenting concepts, documenting decisions, gathering feedback, and helping clients understand how design choices support their goals.
Review drawings, graphic packages, exhibit descriptions, interactive concepts, material selections, finish palettes, lighting and audio-visual approaches, and fabrication details for clarity, consistency, feasibility, accessibility, durability, and visitor impact.
Mentor designers and design support staff by providing constructive feedback, prioritizing workloads, encouraging professional growth, and helping team members strengthen their exhibit design, storytelling, documentation, and presentation skills.
Coordinate with fabricators, vendors, consultants, architects, engineers, media producers, educators, evaluators, and internal team members to ensure creative intent is preserved through production and installation.
Help identify design risks, scope gaps, budget pressures, schedule conflicts, accessibility concerns, safety considerations, and fabrication challenges early in the project process.
Support prototyping, mockups, user testing, and iterative refinement of interactive experiences, particularly for children, families, school groups, and multigenerational audiences.
Promote design solutions that are inclusive, accessible, safe, durable, maintainable, educationally meaningful, and appropriate for high-use public environments.
Contribute to proposals, interviews, pre-design planning, client workshops, and internal process improvements as needed.