How to hire a design manager/senior designer

How to hire a design manager/senior designer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step design manager/senior designer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a design manager/senior designer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new design manager/senior designer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a design manager/senior designer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a design manager/senior designer, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A design manager/senior designer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, design managers/senior designer from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of design manager/senior designer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Design Manager/Senior Designer	Description	Hourly rate
   Design Manager/Senior Designer	Graphic designers create visual concepts, using computer software or by hand, to communicate ideas that inspire, inform, and captivate consumers. They develop the overall layout and production design for various applications such as advertisements, brochures, magazines, and corporate reports.	$46-87
   Engineering Director	An engineering director or director of engineering is a professional who manages a team of engineering managers and coordinates all the engineering activities within the organization. Engineering directors work closely with the organization's executives to develop new strategies to reduce unnecessary costs and time to complete their projects... Show more	$52-114
   Research And Development Director	A research and development director spearheads and oversees the research and development initiatives and projects in a company. It is their duty to set goals and guidelines, establish timelines and budgets, direct and manage different departments, liaise with internal and external parties, gather and analyze data to implement solutions against problem areas, and utilize expertise in developing strategies to optimize company operations... Show more	$45-96

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Sketch
   • Project Management
   • User Experience
   • SR
   • PowerPoint
   • Autocad
   • Design Process
   • CAD
   • Visualization
   • Product Development
   • UI
   • Design Strategy
   • Prototyping
   • Design Concepts

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Hire and manage a team of visual designers and CSS developers who support 50+ shipping products and common UI frameworks.
   • Review requirements, for UI work coordinate associate.
   • Oversee design, prototyping, and development of the solution.
   • Compose technical drawings and plans for the projects from sketch to construction.
   • Integrate new tools for user testing, prototyping, design and web development.
   • Coordinate themes for the toys that create fresh direction for the TV animation.

   More design manager/senior designer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your design manager/senior designer job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A design manager/senior designer salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, design managers/senior designer' average salary in south dakota is 55% less than in washington.
   • Seniority. Entry-level design managers/senior designer earn 48% less than senior-level design managers/senior designer.
   • Certifications. A design manager/senior designer with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a design manager/senior designer's salary.

   Average design manager/senior designer salary

   $133,180yearly

   $64.03 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level design manager/senior designer salary

   $96,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average design manager/senior designer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$177,695	$85
   2	California	$177,488	$85
   3	District of Columbia	$141,371	$68
   4	Oregon	$137,818	$66
   5	Arizona	$134,799	$65
   6	Nevada	$133,593	$64
   7	New York	$128,143	$62
   8	Virginia	$123,564	$59
   9	Massachusetts	$123,383	$59
   10	Colorado	$118,757	$57
   11	Maryland	$117,766	$57
   12	Connecticut	$117,512	$57
   13	Illinois	$116,271	$56
   14	Pennsylvania	$115,719	$56
   15	Texas	$114,998	$55
   16	Montana	$113,309	$54
   17	Wyoming	$111,680	$54
   18	Michigan	$110,448	$53
   19	New Hampshire	$109,883	$53
   20	Minnesota	$106,604	$51

   Average design manager/senior designer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Apple	$169,645	$81.56	346
   2	Reddit	$162,554	$78.15
   3	Microsoft	$159,603	$76.73	115
   4	The Walt Disney Company	$155,786	$74.90	47
   5	Chime	$154,742	$74.40	1
   6	Course Hero	$153,917	$74.00
   7	Slack	$150,985	$72.59	5
   8	Credit Sesame	$148,208	$71.25
   9	Zillow Group	$145,904	$70.15
   10	Essex Property Trust	$145,847	$70.12
   11	Hanesbrands	$144,822	$69.63
   12	Rivian	$144,728	$69.58
   13	Harry's Seafood	$143,942	$69.20	1
   14	Infinera	$143,839	$69.15
   15	1871	$143,193	$68.84
   16	Eagle Family Foods Inc	$143,191	$68.84
   17	ams	$143,191	$68.84
   18	Mercedes-Benz of Sarasota	$143,191	$68.84
   19	PC House Call	$143,114	$68.80	2
   20	SHREDZ Supplements	$142,929	$68.72

4. Writing a design manager/senior designer job description

   A design manager/senior designer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a design manager/senior designer job description:

   Design manager/senior designer job description example

   The Design Build Manager/Senior Project Manager - Design Build will be responsible for pursuing and managing DB pursuits, and delivery of DB projects in the New England area. Responsible for tracking and leading DB pursuits including positioning with clients and marketplace, teaming arrangements with peer firms and Contractor teams, and managing proposal phase pursuits including scoping, contracting, qualifications and proposal phase engineering. Responsible for delivery of DB projects including coordination of Roadway, Bridge, Hydrology, Traffic, Utilities, and other disciplines to meet project deliverable milestones and timelines within budgets. Close coordination and experience with Contractors, and the ability to communicate well to both internal and external team members is an essential skillset to be successful in this role. Candidates must be willing to travel within the Continental United States to assist with opportunities being pursued by Michael Baker International and construction teaming partners.
   
   The candidate must possess an understanding and ability to meet typical RFP/RFQ requirements and to conduct team meetings to collaboratively work with resources required to address project requirements, challenges, and owner requests. An understanding of contractual requirements, clauses, notification requirements combined with organizational skills to maintain project information and records is essential.
   
   The successful candidate will operate within the New England area collaborating with various practices and assisting with project delivery. You may be involved in contract/scope negotiations, fee reviews and work plan development on large/strategic design-build/P3 projects. The candidate must be able to:
   Develop and maintain trusted adviser relationships with key clients within the region. Work with our Practice leaders, client service teams, and divisions in the development of targeted client service action plans. Work with the National Practice Leads, Regional Directors and Office Executives in the determination of Go/No Go decisions and teaming. Participate in ongoing strategic positioning for major design-build project opportunities, especially large and complex bridge, highway, aviation and rail/transit design-build projects. Manage client relationships and guide the application of Michael Baker International's services to best serve the interests of the client and Michael Baker. Maintain responsibility for successful contracting and project execution, working closely with Michael Baker International staff and office leadership across the country. Responsible for reviewing design-build contracts, including teaming and design agreements with contractor clients Draw upon broad engineering and construction industry experience to identify risks and contractual terms not conforming to the company policy and work to develop risk-mitigation strategies. Ensure compliance with Michael Baker International company policies and procedure
   PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS
   Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related field and a minimum at least 15 years of project management experience of projects exceeding $100 million dollars in construction value. Minimum of 20 years related experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience in the execution and management in the surface transportation, aviation, and/or rail/transit marketplace. Minimum 10 years related experience in business development activities, preferably in design-build/P3 markets. Licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in MA, CT, or RI. Preferred in multiple states, and a complete NCEES record for registration in additional states as needed. This position requires a proven ability to execute projects after successful win. Please include specific examples of this in your resume. Must demonstrate excellent speaking, oral and written communication skills; strong interpersonal skills; and the ability to clearly and effectively present information.
   COMPENSATION
   
   The salary range for this position is $ 115,743 - $ 265,256 . This will be dependent on the experience and expertise of the incoming candidate.
   
   MICHAEL BAKER INTERNATIONAL EEO STATEMENT AND OTHER INFORMATION
   
   Michael Baker International is proud to be an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Michael Baker International provides equal employment opportunity for all persons, in all facets of employment. Michael Baker International maintains a drug-free workplace and performs pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks. As a covered federal contractor, Michael Baker International is required to comply with Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, and its implementing guidelines. This includes ensuring that all covered employees are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, except in limited circumstances when there is legal entitlement to an accommodation. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply for any open position for which they feel they are qualified and all will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, genetic information, disability, protected veteran status or any other legally protected status.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find design managers/senior designer for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your design manager/senior designer job on Zippia to find and attract quality design manager/senior designer candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dribbble, authentic jobs, working not working, coroflot.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting design managers/senior designer requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new design manager/senior designer

   Once you've selected the best design manager/senior designer candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new design manager/senior designer. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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