Head of Design

The Head of Design is responsible for the design function: they define a shared vision, organise designers’ work and oversee the quality of their output. They enable the company to connect its design choices with users’ needs and business objectives. Their role may cover one team, several teams or the entire design function.

Their scope depends on the products and services entrusted to them. It may encompass physical objects, interfaces or service experiences. The technical knowledge required varies accordingly. The common responsibility is to give direction to design work, develop the team’s skills and improve practices. In digital design, this may include maintaining a consistent design system, with work explicitly allocated between designers and engineering.

The Head of Design contributes to strategic decisions alongside other department leaders. They explain users’ needs, research findings and the implications of design choices. They do not automatically have the final say on product, technical or commercial decisions. The role must therefore specify reporting arrangements, recruitment responsibilities and delegated budget authority.

Head of Design, product leader and designer: who does what?

• Head of Design: entrust them with design leadership and make explicit which decisions they can take about the team and the quality of its work.
• Product leader: clarify with them which product decisions design contributes to and how disagreements between leaders should be resolved.
• Designer: if your primary need is for design work, compare the proposed role with that of a Product Designer. Then define how much management is actually needed.

Apply the same approach to defining Lead Designer and art director roles: the title alone is not enough to establish their equivalence with a design leadership role.

The aim is to give a shared direction to design decisions made across several projects. The Head of Design connects users’ needs, business objectives and delivery constraints. A useful vision helps designers understand what they are trying to improve and enables other leaders to discuss the proposed choices.

Quality also depends on how work is organised. Design reviews, shared research and explicit criteria help teams improve their deliverables. Without this framework, a company risks making numerous isolated decisions or basing every judgement on the personal preferences of those involved. In digital design, component consistency may form part of this work. Depending on the projects, the criteria must also incorporate accessibility, inclusion and environmental impacts.

The choice of candidate also affects the team’s ability to develop. Being an excellent designer does not, in itself, demonstrate an ability to recruit, support designers or organise several projects. Equally, management experience must remain grounded in a sufficient understanding of design methods to guide the work. The company’s actual needs should determine the balance between these capabilities.

Hypothetical example: several teams are designing digital journeys using research that remains separate. The business leader wants to recruit a Head of Design. Before asking them to harmonise the interfaces, the leader could ask them to share user insights and define common quality criteria. The leader must also clarify with product and technical leaders who decides when an improvement requires priorities to change.

Finally, giving someone a leadership title without delegating decisions risks creating a mismatch. Specify the projects involved, the resources to be allocated and the matters that still require approval.

• Define a design vision consistent with users’ needs and business objectives.
• Organise designers’ work and allocate skills across projects.
• Recruit the designers needed and support their development, directly or through their managers.
• Lead design reviews to improve the quality of deliverables.
• Share research and testing findings across teams.
• Represent design choices in discussions with product and technical leaders and other relevant department leaders.
• Plan the skills, tools, budgets and timescales needed, within the limits of the authority delegated.
• Define quality criteria and monitor improvements to design practices.

Design courses develop an understanding of design, research methods and project work. French education pathways may include a DN MADE, a DNA, a master’s degree in design or a specialist school diploma. These examples are not a list of mandatory qualifications for leading a team. The relevance of the specialism studied depends on the objects, services or interfaces involved in the role.

The first useful foundation is the ability to work through a design problem: connect a need to an analysis, develop a concept, choose a prototype and incorporate test feedback. Coursework contributes to these foundations. Professional practice then provides experience of applying them within constraints on resources, timescales and quality.

The path towards leadership also draws on the responsibilities a person has held. Coordinating a project, supporting designers and managing managers prepare them for different decisions. Experience of structuring a team can provide useful skills when practices still need to be established. For overseeing several teams, experience of sharing knowledge and decisions between leaders is also valuable.

Developing one’s own practice and that of others is another part of this journey. Proficiency in a software application is a production skill. On its own, it is not enough to set a direction, organise collective work or defend choices in discussions with other department leaders. These responsibilities draw on skills distinct from simply using a tool.

The common foundation of GetPro’s assessment method

GetPro structures assessment around a candidate search framework that prioritises the skills expected. It distinguishes what can be verified through a candidate’s career history from what requires an interview or test. Each criterion is linked to an assessment method. This framework is then used to explore points that remain uncertain.

The interview uses open questions and concrete examples to examine the essential criteria. Reference checks complement these observations by placing skills in the context of a past working relationship. They seek facts that shed light on the candidate’s strengths and areas requiring attention.

Advice on assessing a Head of Design

The following suggestions adapt these principles to a Head of Design’s responsibilities. They are recommendations to tailor to the role, rather than a description of a specific protocol used by GetPro for this profession.

1. Define the responsibilities to assess

Specify the decisions you want to entrust to the candidate: design direction, team organisation, recruitment or coordination across several projects. Describe their expected contribution to product decisions and the budget authority you intend to delegate.

Choose distinct criteria: design reasoning, use of research, quality of work, management and collaboration with other leaders. Distinguish what is essential from the outset from what can be developed.

2. Explore a past project in depth

Ask the candidate to present a project from the initial problem through to the decisions made and the results available. Ask them to specify the team’s composition, the constraints and their personal role.

Examine the research, concepts or prototypes they can share. What information changed a decision? How was test feedback incorporated? Distinguish the team’s deliverables from the decisions taken by the candidate. A useful explanation connects choices to observations and acknowledges the limitations of the results. A presentation focused on final images calls for further exploration of the reasoning.

3. Present a situation relevant to the role

Hypothetical example: two teams are improving different digital experiences, with shared components and research that is still not widely shared.

Ask the candidate what information they would gather and how they would organise work with product and technical leaders. Observe how they prioritise questions, recognise missing information and suggest tests. Ask them to specify the quality criteria, particularly accessibility, and the project constraints.

Assess their reasoning and allocation of responsibilities. For another area of design, replace this exercise with a situation relevant to the objects or services involved.

4. Examine management and communication

Ask for an example of a designer’s development, followed by a disagreement with another leader. Ask the candidate to specify the actions taken, decisions retained or delegated and difficulties encountered. If the role includes managing managers, explore how they support them.

Also invite the candidate to explain a design decision to a non-specialist. Observe the clarity of their arguments and how they take the stated constraints into account.

5. Cross-check observations

Involve the people the leader will work with and, if necessary, a professional able to examine the design methods presented. With the candidate’s consent, use references to explore examples of collaboration and support for the team in greater depth.

Bring the observations together by criterion. Distinguish a lack of information from insufficient skill, then decide on the basis of the role’s responsibilities and the facts gathered.