Design Operations Manager

Overview

Vuori is re-defining athletic apparel: built to move and sweat in but designed with a casual aesthetic to transition into everyday life. We draw inspiration from an active coastal California lifestyle; an integration of fitness, creative expression and life. Our high energy fast paced retail environment is reflected in the clothes we make. We aim to inspire others to take on all aspects of their lives with clarity, enthusiasm and purpose…while having a lot of fun along the way.

We are proud to be an outlet for opportunity and for personal growth and success.

Job Description

Vuori is seeking a highly organized, collaborative, and influential Design Operations Manager to support our fast-growing Apparel Design team. In this strategic and cross-functional role, you will help drive operational excellence across our seasonal calendar, creative workflows, and special projects—including high-visibility collaborations. You will leverage strong communication and influencing skills to align stakeholders, guide decision-making, and foster accountability across teams. Your leadership will bring structure to the creative process, enabling Design to deliver innovative product with clarity, speed, and cohesion.

Design Operations

• Own and manage the seasonal Design calendar, partnering with cross-functional stakeholders (Design, Merchandising, Product Development, Marketing) to ensure key milestones are visible, achievable, and aligned.
• Act as a central hub of communication for the Design team, ensuring clarity on seasonal goals, priorities, timelines, and deliverables.
• Lead the planning, logistics, and execution of key creative milestone meetings, ensuring teams are prepared with product rooms, presentation decks, and samples.
• Identify and implement workflow improvements, tools, and templates that streamline the design process and enhance team productivity
• Establish and maintain best practices for cross-team collaboration, documentation, and decision-making.
• Monitor and evaluate the efficiency of design operations processes; recommend and implement improvements that drive scale and increase speed to market.
• Partner with Product Ops to ensure seamless handoffs and consistent documentation between Design and downstream teams.
• Manage the operational relationship between internal design functions to ensure consistency and shared standards.
• Build strong relationships across teams to support and maintain process discipline.
• Act as the documentation owner for Design Ops—maintaining operational playbooks, updated workflows, and best-practice resources.

Collaboration & Project Management

• Lead cross-functional planning for partnership and capsule projects, ensuring timelines, responsibilities, and deliverables are clearly defined and met.
• Serve as the key operational partner for collaboration projects with the Marketing team to ensure programs align with product launches and business objectives.
• Work closely with internal Design partners to manage timelines and deliverables for capsule collections.
• Collaborate with Merchandising to align capsule assortments with business needs, including key item strategy and volume-driving styles.
• Coordinate project milestones, manage partnership touchpoints, and ensure alignment from concept through launch.
• Own tracking tools, timelines, and workflow documentation for all special projects; escalate risks and roadblocks proactively.
• Drive clarity and alignment through communication across product and partnership teams.

Tools, Systems & Reporting

• Evaluate current tools and identify gaps or inefficiencies in how the Design team manages projects and tracks work.
• Develop reporting dashboards and tracking systems to provide visibility into seasonal progress, project status, and team bandwidth.
• Champion the adoption of new tools and systems; lead training sessions and create supporting documentation to ensure successful implementation.
• Partner with technology and business systems teams to explore integrations that support creative operations.

Team Culture & Leadership Support

• Organize Design team events, offsites, and collaborative sessions that strengthen culture and connection.
• Coordi…