Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
### Why this Role is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Design Operations is increasingly central in SaaS companies where product surfaces, release cadence, and cross-functional dependencies can outgrow informal ways of working. This role stands out because it treats design enablement as an operating system across product, engineering, and leadership, rather than as scheduling or tooling support. The emphasis on AI fluency also reflects a current shift in SaaS teams toward embedding new capabilities directly into day-to-day craft and delivery.
For a SaaS career path, the work builds durable leverage: creating repeatable rituals, improving sprint quality, and translating ambiguity into programs that teams actually adopt. Experience here tends to travel well across SaaS organizations because it blends program leadership with product design context, and it requires comfort navigating tradeoffs among speed, quality, and stakeholder alignment. The external presence component adds another SaaS-relevant dimension: shaping how a product organization communicates its design practice.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
Design Operations Lead
Airtable is seeking a Design Operations Lead to elevate how design works across our organization. This is a unique opportunity to shape the connective tissue between design, engineering, product, and executive leadership—driving operational excellence, accelerating AI adoption, and building programs that stick. If you’re a scrappy, deeply curious operator who thrives in fast-moving environments and wants to have a direct impact on the craft, culture, and velocity of a world-class design team, this is the role for you.
What you'll do
- Strengthen design team rituals and processes to drive alignment and clarity across leadership and teams
- Lead and execute critical projects, ensuring speed, quality, and strong cross-functional communication
- Accelerate AI enablement by building fluency with emerging tools and integrating them into design workflows
- Improve the quality and impact of product design sprints and team deliverables
- Develop and scale design education programs that foster growth and craft excellence
- Launch and iterate on an external presence strategy for Airtable Design, including content and thought leadership
- Balance proactive, reactive, and supportive work to ensure a healthy, high-performing team environment
- Serve as a connective communication layer between design, EPD, and executive leadership
Who you are
- 8+ years in design operations, program management, or a hybrid role embedded in a product design organization
- Deep appreciation for design craft and ability to engage meaningfully on quality, not just logistics
- Strong working knowledge of technology and AI tools, with hands-on experience integrating them into design practice
- Sharp cross-functional instincts; able to navigate and build trust with designers, PMs, engineers, and marketers
- Excellent written communicator who can synthesize complexity into clear, compelling narratives
- Experience building lightweight programs and rituals (education, critiques, sprints) that teams actually use
- Proven ability to prioritize and execute in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
- Active AI practitioner who uses tools like Claude in daily work
- Familiarity with Airtable or similar tools for operational infrastructure
- Experience developing an external design brand through content, thought leadership, or industry presence
- Exposure to 0→1 product development and experimental operational demands
- Background spanning both brand/creative and product design functions
Airtable is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and strive to create a workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any characteristic protected by applicable federal and state laws, regulations and ordinances. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant.
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If you have a medical condition, disability, or religious belief/practice which inhibits your ability to participate in any part of the application or interview process, please complete our Accommodations Request Formand let us know how we may assist you. Airtable is committed to participating in the interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants.
