Sr. Manager, Design Operations

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As the Senior Manager of Design Operations at Yum Digital & Technology, you’ll be a key operational leader ensuring the Design, Research and Strategy teams are empowered to operate with clarity, consistency and focus.

You’ll oversee the tools, systems and practices that support scaled, high‑performing collaboration across the Byte ecosystem—while also cultivating the rhythms and structures that keep the team connected, informed and aligned.

This role is ideal for a systems thinker and strategic operator who can translate ambiguity into action, build trusted cross‑functional relationships and drive sustained operational maturity.

You will manage complex tooling ecosystems, lead Figma consolidation across brands, standardise core processes and bring cohesion to the day‑to‑day and strategic operating model of the design organisation.

• Establish and lead the team operating cadence, including regular ceremonies such as design reviews, critiques, all‑hands, milestone showcases and retrospectives.
• Partner with design leadership to manage team‑wide communications, meeting structures, planning cadences and operational documentation.
• Drive visibility and accountability across strategic initiatives, design goals and cross‑functional engagements by managing progress tracking and alignment checkpoints.
• Help foster a cohesive and inclusive team culture through operational rituals, team engagement strategies and internal storytelling.
• Lead the consolidation and governance of Figma across the organisation, including shared libraries, permission models, taxonomy and maintenance practices.
• Own the strategy, configuration and administration of core design and research tools (e.g. Figma, User Testing, Miro, Dovetail, Jira, Confluence), ensuring reliability, scalability and adoption.
• Define access protocols, system roles and training resources for tool usage across multi‑disciplinary teams.
• Manage vendor relationships for design and research platforms, including contracting, license procurement, renewals and cost forecasting.
• Partner with Legal, Finance, Procurement and IT to ensure tool compliance, streamline onboarding/off‑boarding processes and optimise spend.
• Audit existing tool usage to reduce redundancy, improve ROI and guide long‑term platform strategy.
• Build and scale intake, prioritisation and workflow systems to support how design work is requested, resourced, tracked and delivered across product spaces.
• Standardise project management practices across design pods and functions, tailoring them to meet the needs of discovery, delivery and strategy teams.
• Maintain clear and current process documentation, change logs and learning resources that support team onboarding and evolution.
• Serve as a key operational partner to leaders in Product, Engineering, Brand, Franchise Ops and Research—connecting design workflows to broader planning cycles and delivery milestones.
• Anticipate and coordinate cross‑functional dependencies and roadblocks to keep execution on track and aligned with business goals.
• Help shape how the design team interfaces with the broader organisation through repeatable engagement models and shared accountability frameworks.

• 10+ years of relevant experience in design operations, program management, product ops or operational leadership within creative or digital organisations.
• Experience driving enterprise‑wide tooling consolidation (especially Figma) and managing the administration and governance of creative and research tools.
• Demonstrated success managing vendor relationships, procurement workflows, contracts and licensing budgets.
• Strong operational planning and facilitation skills—able to lead team cadences, coordinate across functions and translate vision into action.
• Deep understanding of design methodologies, product development life cycles and how to scale human‑centred design practices.
• Known for creating clarity, instilling structure and enabling others to execute with excellence and autonomy.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or equivalent experience preferred.

Salary Range:…