INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Design Manager positions are at a 11% growth rate, which is faster than average. With that said, there are currently 98,500 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 10,800 to 109,300 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Design Manager jobs was $97,270 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $54,530, and the highest 10% more than $199,250.
Our conclusion? The Design Manager job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Design Manager sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Design Manager resume experience section
Design Manager Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Design Manager resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Projects: New Century Plaza, Century Plaza Towers, 960 w. 7th St. total value of $1.6 Billion
- Manage ongoing analysis of design requirements
- Tracked milestone deliverable against the project schedule and ensured that they were met.
- Implement QA/QC reviews for milestone deliverable
- Lead coordination efforts between design partners, design build/assist subcontractors, and Webcor.
- Facilitate and assist in working through solutions to RFIs and design issues with the design partners.
- Lead BIM coordination meetings during both design and construction phases.
- Assist in the development of job-site logistics plans and TCO phasing plans
- Authorized from engineering standpoint supplier changes that provided over $2.3 million in cost savings.
- Co-founded Lessard on the same week as OMX 30 hit all time low.
- Increased production quality and lowered manufacturing costs by over $500,000.
- Product sales contributed to 25% of company recurrent revenue.
- Design strategy
- Remote design sprints
- Co-creation workshops
- Stakeholder meetings and presentation
- Design critique, review and assessment sessions
- User research and guerrilla testing
- Provide designers with key skills to have a smooth initial to final handover process
- Business strategies - for sales improvement
- Improved work efficiency and design 30%
- Coordinated the design, development, and implementation of worksite for over 5 studios
- Successfully completed 3 market research from research format to design content
- Managed design and management phases over 50+ projects
- I coordinated design meetings and decisions across 4 internal departments and teams
- Minimized rework and material wastage up-to 60% by optimizing design check process - Project Name : Preset 650
- Achieved the Best Performer tag within 6 Months of joining in
- Designed 200+ Projects
- Climbed from a designer to a team lead and then a Design Manager
- Managed up to 5 projects or tasks at a given time while under pressure to meet weekly deadlines
- Provided design recommendations for 50+ projects
- Strategy for essentials (New diagonal)
- Data study/implementation : best ways to improve Essential segment
- Client-side Design Manager for the AU$800 million Oracle Broadbeach project
- Delivered mixed-use development including 509 apartments and high-end residential facilities
- Ensured design intent maintained throughout project delivery to achieve intended premium standards
- Provided ongoing design & technical review of functional & operational D&C intent
- Reviewed consultant & specialist documentation for all phases of design & construction
- Coordinated client-side direction for internal & external design aspects during construction process
- Coordinated development of specialist briefs, material selections & details
- Compiled and implemented retail/commercial fit-out guidelines & digital quality-assurance procedures
- Implemented post-contract defects management and fit-out assessments
- Contributed to delivery of the project to an acknowledged high standard, within budget and to program
- Client-side Design Manager for the AU$800 million Oracle Broadbeach project
- Delivered mixed-use development including 509 apartments and high-end residential facilities
- Ensured design intent maintained throughout project delivery to achieve intended premium standards
- Provided ongoing design & technical review of functional & operational D&C intent
- Reviewed consultant & specialist documentation for all phases of design & construction
- Coordinated client-side direction for internal & external design aspects during construction process
- Coordinated development of specialist briefs, material selections & details
- Compiled and implemented retail/commercial fit-out guidelines & digital quality-assurance procedures
- Implemented post-contract defects management and fit-out assessments
- Contributed to delivery of the project to an acknowledged high standard, within budget and to program
- Improved process development time by 20%
- Guest speaker at Pearson Course Redesign Conference - Miami 2009
- Initiated resolution of 75+ improvements to project management system design resulting in efficiency and data reporting improvements
- Developed New Student Orientation program and student workshops improving retention rates
- Co-led a new stakeholder's aggressive course development timeline for 16 new courses
- Manage 5 network engineers with responsibility for the network architecture in all daa worldwide locations
- Responsible for annual project & resource planning including coordinating activities with peer domain managers.
- Provide technical leadership while developing the team to ensure high performance in delivering to business objectives.
- Manage vendor relationships while keeping informed of industry trends.
- Mentor and lead a team of 7 designers.
- Responsible of the brand and product strategy, creative expression and all aspects of product design and research.
- Responsible for the design output and product review meetings, and meetings with buyers.
- Product & project management for in-house digital solutions - requirements gathering, use cases and process description, test phase management, pilot execution, go-live prep, post-go-live maintenance, KPIs monitoring, product backlog maintenance
- UX/UI designer for websites and digital solutions, working directly with the dev team
- Facilitate service design sprints with start-ups and internal business teams to define digital use cases for revenue uplift opportunities (10+ UX sprints)
- Explore digital partnerships and define use cases and business models with third parties
- Conduct user researches to verify problems hypothesis' and personas (10+ thorough user researches)
- Build financial business cases and business models
- Managing the design and structural aspect of project.
- Revision of design and implementation at job site to produce effective outcome.
- Reviewing design and its approval from client along with resolution of technical issues.
- To ensure assigned projects and schedules are completed within budgets while meeting client’s needs, business, objectives and design guidelines in order to ensure successful completion and coordination of all efforts
- To revise all the structural drawings drawn in earlier seventies to make sure there is no structural miss holes.
- Guide the site team to perform the required investigations, boreholes, pits and any other testing as per the structural requirements of standards and tender documents.
- Perform all functions inherent in management and supervisory positions through directing, planning, organizing and coordinating.
- Responsible for interfacing with appropriate levels of management to obtain approvals, signatures and explanation of project scope.
- Interacts with governmental bodies and regulatory agencies as required to ensure that the project comply with all applicable legal requirements and regulations.
- To interface between design team and engineers at site or main office close coordination with the project manager
- Educate and guide multiple teams from various divisions within 3M to understand how they can apply digital technology to their material science expertise for next generation innovation.
- Manage a high functioning team of designers to execute across multiple diverse programs servicing multiple 3M divisions.
- Part of core innovation team for 3M's personal safety division as design stakeholder for a new digital platform
- Assist in setting and maintaining project specifications and efficiencies as well as creating new and refining current processes and workflows
- Communicate obstacles and improvement opportunities within workflow processes to the Project Manager
- Consult with the marketing team to create/develop the design of banner ads, email templates and new potential web contentExecute all visual design stages from concept to final hand-off to development
- Involved with the development team in estimating, planning and refactoring software development programs, projects and tasks
- Energetic -- high energy, willing to work hard and enjoy success and willing take risks
PRO TIP
Include quantitative data throughout your Design Manager resume to impress the hiring manager. Real facts and figures that show off your competency as an audit manager go a long way. Did you reduce the costs of audits? Manage a large team? Boosted efficiency? Show off the real numbers!
Action Verbs for your Design Manager Resume
Recommended reads:
Design Manager Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Design Manager resume
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Microsoft Office
- Autocad
- Jira
- Scrum
- Communication
- Active listening
- Conflict resulotion
- Stakeholder management
- Empathy
- Openmindedness
PRO TIP
Avoid getting sidetracked by Applicant tracking software by including a tech skills' section matching the job description and your own qualifications.
Recommended reads:
Design Manager Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Design Manager Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Design Manager resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.
Design Manager Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Design Manager resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
Recommended reads:
Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Design Manager resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
Design Manager Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Design Manager Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Test your draft Design Manager resume by sending it out to peers and mentors in your circles. Ask them to review it as if they are hiring you for a project and implement the feedback afterwards.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Design Manager resume:
Design Manager Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Design Manager resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Design Manager Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
