Design Manager

Love What You Do and Why You Do It! 

Participate Learning is a force for good that connects teachers and students through global education programs to foster human understanding and create peace around the world. We offer purpose-driven, challenging work in a collaborative environment, a flexible and open culture, and encourage employees to pursue their professional and personal passions.

What You’ll Do: 

The Design Manager, reporting to the Senior Director of Product and Marketing, will play a pivotal role in shaping our brand's visual identity and ensuring the highest quality in design work. You will lead and inspire a team of designers, guiding them through projects and fostering a creative and collaborative environment. Your leadership will be instrumental in achieving our design goals and delivering exceptional design experiences to our customers.

Responsibilities

• Work side by side with the Design Team to create visual solutions that support business objectives and align to the brand guidelines. 

• Distill abstract business concepts and client needs into elegant creative solutions.

• Provide creative direction and vision for design projects, offering guidance on concept development and execution.

• Pitch ideas confidently and present the creative vision clearly to clients, as well as communicate in the same manner to members of the creative team.

• Have strong people management and leadership skills in order to hire, develop, and inspire the creative team.

• Mentor the design team in terms of design strategy, soft skills, stakeholders management and creating a growth mindset.

• Play the role of quality assurance to uphold the highest standards. 

• Drive effective collaboration between the Design team and the rest of the organization.

• Provide thought leadership with regard to new design technologies and applications to grow the marketing department’s arsenal of available tools to continually improve marketing strategy.

• Lead multiple concurrent projects from conception to completion in accordance with deadlines and in alignment with high quality standards.

• Grow a design mindset across all levels of the organization.

• Be proactive in suggesting design solutions.

• Ask smart questions, take risks, and champion new ideas.

Experience You Bring:

• Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience

• Minimum of 5-7 years of professional design experience that includes ensuring that work flows efficiently through various production stages. Leadership or managerial role preferred 

• Strong portfolio showcasing a diverse range of design work

• Ability to effectively communicate, plan and collaborate with a wide variety of internal stakeholders and external vendors

• Ability to effectively manage the workloads of others in a fast-paced environment based on their time, strengths and weaknesses

• Proven ability to lead and inspire design teams

• Project leadership and management skills

• Super attentive to details with a keen eye for design aesthetics, trends, and best practices.

• Production skills at the end of the creative process (fluency in the most relevant design software, editing within content management system, facilitating print production)

• Understand the abilities of the creative staff and must be able to provide advice if technological issues arise

• Both creative and organized

• Skilled in working and leading through change management

• Even-tempered, proactive and positive attitude

About You

• You are an impact maker who believes in using their career as a force for good. 

• You’re a natural and proactive problem-solver with a process-driven mindset.

• You’ve got great communication skills with key stakeholders across departments.

• You are naturally self-directed, operate at a high cadence, and get things done with minimum supervision.

• You expertly balance and prioritize your daily to-do's, as well as your short-term and long-term planning.

• You are an extraordinary teammate always willing to jump in and offer support and say "yes" to taking on new things.

• Confidence to experiment with different tactics, shake up strategy, adapt to new trends, to incorporate business changes, or to bounce back from subpar results.

• You thrive in a fast-paced, target-driven environment.

What You’ll Love About Us: 

Participate Learning is a B Corporation headquartered in Chapel Hill, NC, that partners with K-12 schools and districts to provide cultural exchange teachers, global education, and language immersion programs in Spanish and Mandarin. As part of our B Corp commitment, one of the essential measures of the success of our business is the positive impact we make on our employees. Our work inspires everyone to be change agents, bringing more empathy and connection to the world.

• Attractive benefit coverage for medical, dental, vision

• Company paid long-term, short-term disability and life insurance

• Paid Maternity/Paternity Leave

• Generous Vacation and Separate Sick Time

• Wellness Program

• Adoption Assistance

• Infant-At-Work and Bring Your Dog to Work Program

• Cell Phone Reimbursement

• Fully-Stocked Kitchen

• Onsite Gym

• Volunteer Time Off

• Professional Development Funds

• Tuition Assistance

• Cultural Experience & Milestone benefit every 3 years

Due to the nature of our work with teachers and schools, COVID-19 vaccine/booster is a requirement for new hires, however, the company will consider accommodations for disability and religious reasons.