Senior Design Operations Program Manager

Mercury•Portland, OR

About The Position

At Mercury, we believe that thoughtful design can change an ancient industry shaped by complexity, friction, and indifference—and that intentionality, care, and taste can marry power and beauty, form and function, where these concepts are taken for granted. As we build a radically different kind of banking experience, design isn’t an aesthetic layer added at the end. It’s how our products are shaped, how decisions are made, and how customers experience us every day. Design at Mercury is a team of 40+ curious, supportive, and thoughtful designers. We’re looking for a Senior Design Operations Program Manager to join us, reporting to the Head of Design Operations to support our growing design org. In this role, you’ll help build the programs and processes that make life better for our design team, whether that’s improving onboarding, refining ways of working, or organizing team off-sites. Our focus is to improve the quality, efficiency, and impact of Design. You’ll be an advocate for team health and happiness, always seeking opportunities to improve how we work and deliver an exceptional user experience for Mercury’s users. This role blends strategy and execution, giving you ownership from concept to delivery while collaborating closely with a diverse group of stakeholders.

Requirements

3-6+ years of experience in a design-focused operations or program management role.
Excellent interpersonal, presentation, and communication skills.
Demonstrated high bar for quality and attention to detail, and fostering accountability.
Proven ability to influence without authority and coordinate across teams, product areas, and platforms to land new ways of working.
Demonstrated ownership of complex horizontal programs, including scoping, sequencing, making trade-offs, and engaging the right partners.
Ability to reflect, adapt quickly, and continuously improve in response to changing priorities and feedback.
Skill in anticipating and mitigating risks across people, process, and tools.
History of driving operational excellence by improving systems end-to-end, not just delivering individual projects.

Responsibilities

Build simple processes and systems to ensure our Design org can scale effectively as it continues to grow year-over-year without unnecessary overhead.
Lead activities and initiatives that support a healthy design culture and quality goals such as all hands, onsites, and other team rituals.
Champion initiatives that elevate our employer brand and grow the Design team’s external presence through events, content, and community engagement.
Drive onboarding and enablement: Maintain and update onboarding programming in partnership with EPD Ops to ensure new designers ramp quickly and effectively.
Support tooling and workflow. Manage design tooling and partner with Procurement to secure new tools that improve efficiency, collaboration, and AI fluency.
Provide thought partnership to Design leaders, consulting and facilitating decision-making and collaborating on new ideas and initiatives.
Cultivate positive relationships with our partners to effectively identify and co-create solutions to address team roadblocks and inefficiencies.
Collaborate with designers, design leaders, and cross-functional partners along with partnering with Product Ops, Research Ops, and Eng Ops in supporting programs and processes across Eng, Product, and Design.