Design Operations Manager

Vuori•Carlsbad, CA

About The Position

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.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in product or creative management, operations, or a related field within the apparel industry.
Must have a strong understanding of cross-functional product pipeline processes, calendar management, and creative team workflows.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a strong ability to articulate details and updates.
Highly adaptable, solution-oriented, and proactive problem-solver who thrives in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
A systems thinker who brings structure, clarity, and process discipline to complex workstreams.
A collaborative partner who can balance creative needs with operational efficiency.
Must have proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, with strong skills in Illustrator.
Experience with Smartsheet and Lucid (or similar visualization and workflow tools) required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Figma is a plus.

Responsibilities

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.
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 that programs alignment 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.
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.
Organize Design team events, offsites, and collaborative sessions that strengthen culture and connection.
Coordinate travel logistics for Design leaders and team needs when relevant.
Foster a culture of operational excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement within the Design organization.
Act as a thought partner to the Associate Director of Design Operations in shaping the long-term vision and maturity of the Design Ops function.
Support team onboarding and knowledge sharing by developing documentation and playbooks that promote consistency and clarity.
Drive inclusive collaboration practices across creative and technical teams, ensuring diverse perspectives are integrated into decision-making.