Senior Design Manager / Design BU Head
Industry: Interior Design & Renovation
Department: Design Business Unit
Reports To: Director
Location: Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Position Overview
We are restructuring our Design Department into an independent Business Unit (BU) and are seeking a Senior Design Manager to lead this transformation and drive the next phase of growth.
This is a Business Unit leadership role with full commercial accountability and operational authority not a maintenance position.
The Senior Design Manager will be accountable for:
- Driving annual Design revenue performance
- Strengthening and protecting Department Gross Profit (GP)
- Margin Protection through Commercially Viable Design & Cost-Value Alignment
- Establishing robust commercial governance and cost discipline
- Leading system development and SOP institutionalization
- Ensuring effective multi-project, fast-track delivery
- Developing design fee monetization strategies
- Optimizing resource utilization and team productivity
- Reducing design-related variation and margin leakage through disciplined validation
This role carries both creative authority and P&L responsibility, requiring strong commercial acumen alongside strategic design leadership.
The successful candidate will have the authority to:
- Restructure roles, workflow, and team responsibilities
- Recommend manpower adjustments where necessary
- Propose structural enhancements to improve efficiency, scalability, and long-term profitability
Transformation Roadmap & Performance Expectations
Transformation & Stabilization Period
Within the first 6 months, the Senior Design Manager is expected to lead a structured transformation and stabilization of the Design Business Unit, including:
Structural & Capability Review
- Conduct a comprehensive assessment of existing team capability, workflow gaps, and validation weaknesses
- Restructure role clarity and strengthen second-tier checking / approval systems
- Identify dependency risks and propose capability enhancement or manpower adjustment where necessary
System & Governance Implementation
- Implement and institutionalize Design SOP 1.0 (workflow, validation, documentation standards)
- Standardize design templates, drawing libraries, and submission protocols
- Establish clear RACI governance between Design, Sales, QS, and Project teams
- Define and track baseline metrics for variation control, efficiency, and margin impact
Operational Stabilization & Commercial Control
- Drive measurable reduction in design-related variation and rework
- Improve cross-functional coordination efficiency and response time
- Strengthen margin protection through early validation discipline
- Enhance visibility of resource utilization and workload planning
- Demonstrate operational stabilization across active and upcoming projects
The transformation roadmap, sequencing, and execution strategy will be led and proposed by the Senior Design Manager, with measurable performance outcomes aligned to Business Unit objectives.
Performance Expectation
This role requires structured leadership and strong commercial governance to build sustainable systems within the Design Business Unit.
Success will be measured not only by creative excellence, but by:
- Sustainable operational control
- Margin protection and cost-value alignment
- Team capability depth and reduced dependency risk
- Predictable project delivery performance
- Cross-functional alignment across Sales, QS, and Project
The ideal candidate is a system builder who can scale performance beyond individual contribution.
Key Responsibilities
A. Strategic Design Leadership
- Lead conceptual and technical direction across commercial & residential projects
- Ensure budget-aligned design solutions
- Prevent over-design and margin leakage
- Build scalable design systems for growth
B. Commercial & Profit Governance
- Work closely with QS on cost-value optimization
- Monitor design changes impacting GP
- Ensure buildability before costing
- Protect project margins from design inefficiencies
C. Cross-Functional Governance
- Align workflow with Sales proposal timeline
- Integrate with QS costing schedule
- Coordinate with Project for fast-track execution
- Resolve inter-department conflicts professionally
D. Business Unit & Resource Management
- Manage and lead 810 designers
- Allocate manpower across projects
- Optimize team productivity and billable efficiency
- Reduce single-point dependency risk
- Build second-line leadership depth
E. Client & Market Positioning
- Lead high-level client presentations
- Drive value-engineering discussions
- Strengthen brand positioning for premium & residential segment
Experience Requirement
- 1015 years of experience in Interior Design / Renovation Industry
- Minimum 5 years in leadership role
- Experience managing 810 designers
- Exposure to multi-project, fast-track environments
- Strong commercial awareness (not purely creative background)
- Experience in retail, commercial fit-out & residential renovation
Competency Focus
We are not hiring based on software skills alone.
We are looking for strength in:
- System building capability
- Department restructuring experience
- Cross-functional governance
- Commercial & GP control
- Risk mitigation
- Structured decision-making
- Organizational capability development
Software familiarity is expected, but not the defining criteria.
Authority Level
The Senior Design Manager has authority to:
- Approve design concepts before costing
- Reject technically unbuildable proposals
- Allocate design manpower
- Escalate margin-impacting risks
- Propose resource expansion for BU growth
Risk Accountability
Responsible to prevent:
- Over-design beyond budget
- Design errors leading to site rework
- Margin erosion due to late design changes
- Single-person validation dependency
- Unstructured workflow between departments
Who Should Apply
This role is suitable for:
- Senior Design Leaders ready to move into BU accountability
- Commercially strong designers with system-building mindset
- Leaders who thrive in fast-moving project environments
- Candidates ready to build and scale, not just manage
Why Join Us
We are restructuring into independent Business Units and seeking a Senior Design Leader to build and scale our Design BU.
This is not a maintenance role it is a leadership position with real commercial accountability and P&L exposure.
You will have the authority to build systems, strengthen governance, and drive measurable performance.
What You'll Experience
- Fast-paced commercial & residential projects
- Strong cross-functional collaboration
- Direct alignment with Director-level decisions
- Structured KPI & performance framework
- Opportunity to build a scalable, independent department
We value structured leaders who build sustainable systems and strong team depth.
What We Offer
- Base Salary: RM15,000 RM20,000
- Performance Bonus: 1 3 months
- Design GP Share: 2 3%
- Leadership autonomy in an expanding organization
High performers with strong transformation capability will find long-term growth within our expanding structure.
