Group Design Manager

Overview

Intercom is the AI Customer Service company on a mission to help businesses provide incredible customer experiences. Our AI agent Fin, the most advanced customer service AI agent on the market, lets businesses deliver always-on, impeccable customer service and transform their customer experiences. Fin can be combined with our Helpdesk to form the Intercom Customer Service Suite, which provides AI enhanced support for more complex or high touch queries that require a human agent.

Founded in 2011 and trusted by nearly 30,000 global businesses, Intercom is setting the new standard for customer service. Driven by our core values, we push boundaries, build with speed and intensity, and consistently deliver incredible value to our customers.

Why you should join Intercom today

AI is transforming everything—fast. We're at the forefront, shaping the AI Agent category and redefining customer service with Fin. Soon, Fin will handle the vast majority of customer interactions, setting a new standard for support. Design is changing rapidly in the age of AI, and our designers at Intercom are at the forefront of defining this new role.

This shift isn't just changing what we build—it's changing how we work. We're not a startup, but we move like one–there's urgency, pace, and energy. Our team is constantly evolving, integrating AI into design, development, and go-to-market strategies.

At Intercom, design is in our DNA. With 60+ designers across R&D and Brand—and two co-founders from design—you'll never have to fight for your place at the table. Here, designers lead from the start, shaping products that millions of people interact with daily. If you want to work on cutting-edge AI experiences that push the boundaries of product design, there's no better place to be.

Why this role exists

This year, we're doubling down on craft, execution, and design leadership. In a world where it's easier and easier to get software off the ground and to 75% built, it's the last 25% that really matters. We're tearing up old playbooks. Shipping faster. Going deeper on detail. And raising the bar on everything we put in front of a customer.

We're hiring a Group Design Manager to lead a high-performing design team that's building the future of AI Customer Support. This is not a maintenance role. It's a build-and-scale role. Our goal is nothing less than breakout success in the major new category of AI Agents for Customer Support. You'll partner directly with your product and engineering counterparts to define and ship what's next — not what's already been done before.

We need leaders—people who will raise the quality bar, bring a spark of creativity, drive best-in-class interaction and visual design, and push execution excellence across our most strategic product areas. This is not a strategy or people-management only role. We need a maker, a doer, a leader. Somebody who loves to partner with designers and is able to jump into Figma, Loveable, Cursor etc.. as and when needed.

Must Have Experience

• Leading and growing high-performing design teams in product-first companies.
• Hiring, coaching, and developing designers at all levels — from IC to senior leads.
• Owning execution across a portfolio of product areas and driving design excellence through every detail.
• Partnering deeply with Product and Engineering leadership to align on priorities, make tradeoffs, and move fast.
• Thriving in ambiguous, fast-changing environments — and turning chaos into clarity.
• A track record of shipping great software, not just making decks about it.
• Strong visual sensibility, high standards for craft, and an eye for detail.
• Demonstrated product taste — you know what great looks like, and you can help teams get there.

Who This Role Is Not For

• People who need certainty, full specs, or clear org charts to get started.
• Leaders who lean back and wait for direction, rather than leaning in and making things happen.
• Those who are satisfied with "good enough" — this is a role for someone who sees the extra 10% that makes a product unforgettable.
• Anyone wedded to structures and systems that worked five years ago. We're rewriting how software gets built — and you'll help define what the next 10 years look like.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

What you'll be doing:

• Lead, coach, and inspire a team of designers working across multiple product surfaces.
• Partner with your Group PM and Group EM counterparts to lead a product group — aligning strategy, driving decisions, and unblocking delivery.
• Set and uphold an extremely high bar for craft — from UX flow to pixels to polish.
• Solve problems from first principles, not templates.
• Help your team make hard decisions, move fast, and focus on outcomes over process.
• Be a design quality amplifier — noticing the details others miss, and pushing the work to where it needs to be.
• Build a healthy, high-trust team culture grounded in feedback, growth, and ownership.
• Stay hands-on in the work — reviewing designs, jumping into critiques, and driving clarity.

What Success Looks Like

You'll know you're successful if:

• Your team is delivering high-quality product work at speed — consistently.
• You've hired exceptional talent and helped your existing team grow.
• Product managers and engineers love working with you — you unlock forward progress and raise the ambition.
• Your designers are solving meaningful customer problems and sweating the final 10% of craft.
• You're a key player in shaping how Intercom builds product in the AI era — not following playbooks, but writing new ones.

Interview Process

We understand that interviewing for a new role is both time and energy consuming—we aim to be thorough, speedy and transparent in our approach. You should expect the entire process to be no more than 4 weeks from start to finish. You'll meet with various members of our team and have the opportunity to fully validate that Intercom and the role is the right fit for you.

Ready to build something great?

If you're driven to push the boundaries of product design and have the craft, autonomy, and taste to make a real impact, we want to hear from you.

Benefits

We are a well-treated bunch, with awesome benefits If there's something important to you that's not on this list, talk to us

• Competitive salary and equity in a fast-growing start-up
• We serve lunch every weekday, plus a variety of snack foods and a fully stocked kitchen
• Pension scheme & match up to 4%
• Peace of mind with life assurance, as well as comprehensive health and dental insurance for you and your dependents
• Flexible paid time off policy
• Paid maternity leave, as well as 6 weeks paternity leave for fathers
• Cycle-to-Work Scheme with secure bike storage
• MacBooks are standard, with options to get whatever equipment helps you get your job done
• Intercom has a hybrid in-office policy (3 days per week in the office)

Equal Employment Opportunity

Intercom values diversity and is committed to an Equal Employment Opportunity policy. Intercom will not discriminate based on race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, or any other legally protected basis under federal, state, or local law.

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