[Hiring] Senior Staff Design Program Manager @BILL

Role Description

As the Senior Staff Design Program Manager, you are the architect of the Design Team Operating System at BILL. You aren’t here to push pixels or manage individual roadmaps; you are here to design, run, and continuously evolve the way design work flows across our newly formed centralized organization.

You will function as a strategic architect and change manager for improving operations that greatly increase BILL’s design quality. You will identify systemic gaps that others don't see yet and build the "interstate highway system" of design infrastructure—the tools, rituals, and governance that allow our 60+ designers, researchers, and content strategists to move faster and deliver higher-quality work.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in design program management, design operations, or product/program management within a digital product organization, ideally at scale.
• Proven track record designing and scaling operating models for design or product teams, including portfolio planning, QA/quality programs, systems/DS governance, and metrics.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross‑functional programs in a matrixed environment, influencing without direct authority and bringing structure to ambiguous problem spaces.
• Deep familiarity with modern product development lifecycles in SaaS (discovery through launch and iteration), and how Design, Product, Engineering, Research, and Content best collaborate.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation, and documentation skills, with comfort using tools like Asana/Jira, Figma, and collaboration platforms to keep work visible and teams aligned.

Requirements

• A Steward of Quality: You fight for high-craft and visual integrity. You believe that building the right infrastructure now is the best way to go faster long-term.
• High EQ & Change Management Expert: You are a master at navigating "cultural headwinds." You don't just impose process; you build buy-in across functions (Engineering, PM, and Design) to shift behaviors around design quality and rituals.
• Macro-Level Thinker: Your superpower is understanding the intersection of company strategy, design industry shifts (especially the impact of AI), and the realities of shipping software at scale.
• A Strategic Partner: You manage "up and out," acting as a peer to senior leadership to set standards and help their teams stick to them.
• A Tinkerer: You are fascinated by new design tools and methods, particularly how AI-native workflows can modernize design craft.
• Experienced: You have spent years as a DPM or DesignOps leader in an organization of similar or larger scale.

First Year’s Goals

• Institutionalize UX Quality: Continue to roll out, measure, and improve the new UX Quality program from a successful pilot to an org-wide standard where 100% of production releases pass through formal Design QA.
• Data into Stories: Turn the data from these programs into compelling narratives for leadership, establishing a new design impact measurement framework that tracks UX defect trends and system adoption.
• Ritual Excellence: Evaluate and centrally organize our fragmented design rituals (critiques, reviews, and demos), ensuring they unlock actual learning and alignment rather than adding overhead.
• AI Integration: Pilot and scale AI-augmented design tools that demonstrably reduce design-to-dev handoff time.

Day-to-Day

• Facilitating the Rhythm: You will own the facilitation and continuous improvement of high-leverage rituals like Software Design Reviews and cross-pillar alignment sessions.
• Managing the Engine: You’ll manage the processes behind our primary tools—Asana, Jira, and Figma—ensuring the plumbing between these systems remains seamless for the team.
• Coaching & Mentoring: You’ll spend time coaching designers, engineers, and PMs on how to navigate our operating system and adopt new ways of working.
• Stakeholder Alignment: You’ll meet regularly with senior leaders across Product and Engineering to align on quality standards and resolve process friction in the PDLC.
• Designing the Future: You’ll spend dedicated cycles identifying "what's next" for the org, whether that’s a new governance model for the Trinity Design System or new patterns for agentic AI experiences.

Benefits

• 100% paid employee health, dental, and vision plans (choose HMO, PPO, or HDHP)
• HSA & FSA accounts
• Life Insurance, Long & Short-term disability coverage
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• 11+ Observed holidays and wellness days and flexible time off
• Employee Stock Purchase Program with employee discounts
• Wellness & Fitness initiatives
• Employee recognition and referral programs
• And much more