Design Manager, Production Design

Details

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, Hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.

The Community You Will Join

Airbnb’s Design team is seeking a Design Manager, Production Design to lead and evolve our production design practices, refine our design systems, and ensure our products meet the highest standards of quality, accessibility, and efficiency. This role will be instrumental in elevating our design language through systematic thinking, precise execution, and strong cross-functional collaboration. This role will report to a Senior Design Manager.

The Difference You Will Make

As a Design Manager, Production Design, you will play a key leadership role in shaping how Airbnb’s design systems are implemented at scale. You will be responsible for defining production best practices, ensuring seamless execution across platforms, and building a strong foundation for consistency and efficiency in our design process.

You will oversee a team of skilled production designers and work closely with cross-functional partners—including Product, Engineering, Research, Marcom and UX Writing—to bridge the gap between vision and execution. Your leadership will drive high-quality experiences that are intuitive, accessible, and aligned with Airbnb’s brand standards.

A Typical Day

• Lead and manage a team of production designers, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and precision.
• Oversee the implementation, maintenance, and evolution of Airbnb’s Design System, ensuring consistency, scalability, and adherence to accessibility and globalization standards.
• Partner with Experience Design, Product, Marcom, and Engineering teams to refine production processes and streamline workflows.
• Guide the development of high-quality design specifications, redlines, and detailed assets across platforms (iOS, Android, web, mobile web).
• Ensure pixel-perfect execution and parity between design and engineering through QA processes and close collaboration with developers.
• Establish and document best practices for production design, creating resources, templates, and guidelines that support efficiency and clarity.
• Contribute to new components, iconography, and UI patterns, ensuring they align with our system and meet brand, accessibility, and usability standards.
• Advocate for automation and tooling improvements to enhance production design efficiency.

Your Experience

• 10+ years of experience in Production Design, Design Systems, or a related field, with at least 3+ years in a leadership role.
• Strong expertise in design systems, UI production, asset optimization, and systematic thinking for consumer-facing digital products.
• Deep proficiency in Figma (components, tokens, shared libraries, branching), as well as other relevant tools (Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator).
• Experience with design QA, redlining, and ensuring implementation fidelity in collaboration with engineers.
• Strong understanding of accessibility and globalization best practices.
• Experience working in cross-functional teams, collaborating with Product, Engineering, Research, and Content.
• A track record of mentoring and managing designers, fostering growth, and driving high standards.
• Familiarity with prototyping tools (Principle, InVision, Framer, Figma) is a plus.

Why This Role?

• You’ll set the foundation for Airbnb’s production design discipline and drive high-impact design execution at scale.
• You’ll collaborate closely with top-tier design and engineering teams to deliver polished, high-quality experiences.
• You’ll influence and refine Airbnb’s design systems, ensuring consistency and innovation across all platforms.
• You’ll work in an inclusive, design-driven culture that values craft, precision, and thoughtful execution.

Your Location:

This position is US - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a state where Airbnb, Inc. has a registered entity.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

How We'll Take Care of You:

Our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs and market demands. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for bonus, equity, benefits, and Employee Travel Credits.

Pay Range: $192,000 — $236,500 USD