The Design Manager’s overall responsibilities is managing and coaching the design team, and delivering high quality projects. The projects will span from minor features and campaigns on Skype.com to larger single or co-branded campaigns mixing Skype.com and partner entities. The CDM will also work with partners on producing packaging and sales materials that live up to guidelines and maintain the Skype brand. Developing first class direct marketing will also be the CDM’s responsibility. Despite all the management talk, the Creative Design Manager will also be practicing hands on design, and will be involved in most of Skype’s projects.
Dept/Team mission
The design department, headed up by the Creative Director, is divided in to three areas:
User Interface Design - Designs and maintains the user interfaces of desktop and mobile versions of Skype.
Industrial Design - Works with hardware partners to conceptualize and design Skype enabled, physical products.
Creative Design - Responsible for designing and maintaining Skype.com and a host of marcomms related material.
Main purpose of role
The Design Manager’s overall responsibilities is to managing and coaching the design team, and delivering high quality projects. Graphic Designers and Web Frontend Developers are reporting to the Creative Design Manager.
The Creative Design Manager will set goals for each person on the team and evaluate completion.
Produce
The main task for the Creative Design Manager will be to work as the main contact point for high level design-related issues and concepts for product and project managers in other teams, and make sure projects deliver consistently high quality, striving to delight the people using Skype, and to avoid compromise and short sighted gains in return for long term losses.
The Creative Design Manager will serve a very important role in protecting and evolving the Skype brand as it is broadcast, received and processed by people interacting with Skype’s web entitites and other marketing efforts. The CDM will work together with the Creative Director to set the tone, style and direction for the Skype brand.
Prioritizing incoming requests and making sure specs and briefs are complete before handover to designers is an important part of the Creative Design Manager’s tasks. The Creative Design Manager will manage the weekly work schedules of designers and frontend developers.
To ensure quality and consistency, it’s the Creative Design Manager’s responsibility to provide oversight and input to designers and make sure they deliver high quality projects on schedule.
Future
Creative Design Manager is responsible for growing the team to met hiring targets set together with Creative Director and VP of Marketing.
Key accountabilities of the role
- Maintain Skype quality standards in every project
- Protect and evolve the Skype brand
- Manage designers and developers to perform their best
- Manage and prioritize incoming requests
Pre-requisite Knowledge, skills and experience
Required business knowledge/experience:
- 3-5 years experience in similar position in rapidly evolving company
- Relevant degree a plus, but not required
- Great book
Essential functional / technical skills:
- Management potential and aspiration as must, experience not
- Knowledge and interest in Skype
- Experience with world wide brands and cooperation
Personal attributes / competencies:
- Desire and will to always do great stuff
- An eye and a passion for details
- Sharp sense of what’s important and what’s not.
Location - London, UK, Europe
Ref: CDM-MS-LON-ME
