Senior Design Program Manager

Join Instacart, a company on a mission to make eating well effortless for everyone. As a Senior Design Program Manager, you will drive operational excellence and programmatic execution across the Design organization. You will work closely with the Instacart Design System team and own end-to-end program execution for high-visibility design initiatives. You will leverage AI to automate workflows, manage critical vendor relationships, and create repeatable systems that translate our design, creative, and product strategy into shipped experiences.

• Conduire l'exécution opérationnelle et programmatique au sein de l'organisation de conception, en construisant des systèmes alimentés par l'IA et en gérant les outils et les relations avec les fournisseurs.
• Posséder l'exécution de bout en bout des initiatives de conception de haute visibilité tout en construisant l'infrastructure opérationnelle qui permet à l'organisation de conception de se développer.
• Collaborer étroitement avec l'équipe du système de conception d'Instacart pour aligner les programmes sur l'évolution du système et l'adoption des composants.

• AI fluency: Experience leveraging AI tools (LLMs, automation platforms) to drive efficiency and scale programs
• Ability to drive organizational change and influence cross-functional partners—bringing clarity to complexity
• (component libraries, tokens, documentation, cross-platform patterns)
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; comfortable presenting to executive leadership
• Proven track record driving complex, cross-functional programs from 0→1 and scaling operational systems in fast-paced environments
• Experience with all stages of the product development lifecycle, launching products end-to-end
• Technical fluency to collaborate with design system and engineering teams—understanding system architecture, component APIs, design-to-code workflows, and technical constraints
• Vendor/contract management experience: negotiating software contracts, managing relationships, optimizing spend, ensuring compliance
• 6+ years in program management and design operations within design or product organizations, with deep experience driving operational excellence and culture for design and product teams
• Strong product sense and design craft sensibility, with well-developed methods and tools for driving fluid programs forward into the market
• Deep knowledge of design and program management tooling ecosystems (Figma, Linear, Jira, Dovetail, asset management, prototyping tools)
• Design systems expertise: building/scaling systems, managing component libraries, defining tokens, driving adoption programs
• Experience building AI-powered workflows for creative operations or design tooling integrations
• Success translating leadership vision into actionable roadmaps and operating models
• Experience in hybrid/embedded team models with deep cross-functional partnership
• Comfort balancing hands-on execution with strategic oversight
• Track record using data and storytelling to influence leadership and secure buy-in for operational investments