Design Manager, Vehicle OS, Governance & Enablement

Job Description

Work Arrangement

This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the successful candidate is expected to report to the office three times per week or other frequency dictated by the business.

The Role 

GM’s Human Interface Design – Vehicle Studio is hiring a Design Manager, Governance & Enablement to define, evolve, and operationalize GM’s in‑vehicle UX governance model. This role ensures design patterns, templates, and documentation are applied consistently across products and programs, while enabling teams and partners to work efficiently and scale with quality.

You will lead a team of designers and collaborate closely with Design System Foundations, Engineering, Product Management, Brand, and Program teams to maintain system integrity while supporting rapid innovation. This role drives excellence across design standards and documentation, processes, and contribution models, ensuring governance supports the full design and product lifecycle.

Join us to create impactful, scalable digital experiences that reach millions of drivers worldwide—where quality, consistency, and speed coexist.

What You’ll Do 

• Lead and develop a team of designers, driving both project success and individual professional growth.

• Define and evolve GM’s design system governance model to enable scalable, high‑quality design execution across platforms, programs, and partners.

• Set the strategic direction for design standards, documentation, and system architecture, ensuring alignment with business goals, accessibility, safety, and regulatory requirements.

• Lead the end‑to‑end contribution workflow, including intake, prioritization, evaluation, decision‑making, and onboarding of internal teams and external partners.

• Lead cross‑functional alignment across Design, Engineering, Product, Brand, and external partners to drive adoption, consistency, and long‑term system health.

• Guide exception management and escalation paths to protect system coherence while enabling innovation and program‑level needs.

• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and innovative team culture aligned with organizational goals.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• 8+ years of experience in Product UI/UX Design or Design Systems, including 3+ years leading or scaling design systems across multiple products or platforms.

• Strong portfolio demonstrating UX excellence, system thinking, and high‑quality design execution.

• Bachelor’s degree in Interface Design, Visual Design, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).

Design System & Strategy

• Proven ability to define and evolve design system strategies that align user needs, business goals, and product priorities.

• Strong understanding of the product development lifecycle and how design systems enable speed, consistency, and scale.

• Sound judgment in balancing usability, visual quality, performance, and feasibility at the system level.

Governance & Operations

• Experience owning design system governance, including standards definition, contribution workflows, approvals, and exception management.

• Track record of driving consistency, quality, and operational efficiency across teams and applications.

Documentation & Tools

• Expertise in design system documentation and standards (e.g., component libraries, usage guidelines, specs, decision logs).

• Proficiency with industry‑standard design tools, including Figma and Adobe Creative Suite.

Collaboration & Leadership

• Strong cross‑functional collaborator with experience partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Brand, and Accessibility teams.

• Clear and effective communicator, able to influence stakeholders, resolve design conflicts, and guide decisions in complex environments.

• Comfortable operating in fast‑paced settings with evolving priorities while delivering results.

What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)​

• Experience leading or mentoring design teams and fostering a culture of collaboration and design excellence.

GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc). This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location at least 3 times a week {or other frequency dictated by their manager}. This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us 

We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Benefits Overview

From day one, we're looking out for your well-being–at work and at home–so you can focus on realizing your ambitions. Learn how GM supports a rewarding career that rewards you personally by visiting Total Rewards resources.

Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.

All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws. 

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.

Accommodations

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