Location: San Fransisco, CA
Discipline: UX / Product Design
Experience: 4+ years
Compensation: TBD
In this Design Manager role at Cottage, you'll own the start-to-end design experience as it relates to finishes. You will drive the continuous improvement of design deliverables and associated tooling, helping bridge our proprietary products with the design process. The ideal candidate will level-up Cottage’s ability to integrate interiors in our built projects, drive our clients towards decisions in a balance of choice and ease, while ensuring aesthetic selections are grounded in feasibility, procurement ease for our GC partners, and installation constraints. Our goal is to create a best-in-class Homeowner 360 design journey that is immersive, realistic, and enjoyable across architecture and interiors.
You will work closely with the Growth & Operations teams to ensure all homeowner-facing materials showcase a transparency-first approach and a high caliber of design quality. You will also grow to collaborate with the Product & Engineering teams to establish a consistent client experience from their first website visit through Schematic Design, Design Development, and final Finishes Selection. You will lead the development of our interior design collateral throughout the Homeowner journey, bring in a strong command of details and accuracy, and ensure timely coordination with relevant teams each step of the way. Close coordination with our Delivery team will help you propose interior solutions that align with our GC partners cost assumptions, installation methods and suppliers. We’re an early stage startup and looking for someone who’s excited to roll up their sleeves and step out of their comfort zone to offer a best-in-category homeowner experience. This is a unique opportunity to be part of the early team at Cottage, reporting to the Head of Architecture and working cross-functionally. You’ll gain experience in a tech-empowered design practice unlike any other, and learn from people with a broad range of backgrounds(read: non-architects!).
What You'll Do
Help develop a comprehensive Cottage Design journey where the Homeowner is in the driver’s seat
Build upon our existing interior finish and appliance selection tooling, expanding the Cottage catalog through specification research at local and national showrooms while producing efficient outputs that can be used by our internal teams and GCs alike
Contribute to the development of a Homeowner Finishes platform and inform the evolution of our design and documentation process accordingly
Engage with the Growth & Delivery teams to understand market trends, adoption for specific finishes and interior items, and procurement methods. Advise on platform, format, and timing to surface them to relevant stakeholders
Work closely with our Delivery team to propose interior solutions that align with our GC partners cost assumptions, installation methods and suppliers. Ensure proper design implementation of finishes during construction, and close the feedback loop to further develop our finishes selection tools in alignment with GC/Client procurement needs
Co-own the development and improvement of our design deliverable stack
Support our business development efforts with branded project collateral that reflect our interior design skills and unique offering
Collaborate with the Product team to enable Homeowners to make design decisions using Cottage’s existing and upcoming tech products. Support conception, rollout, and implementation of new tools for project development
Re-imagine Homeowner-facing design deliverables as they pertain to Interiors & Finishes, for each project stage, to increase scalability, cross-functional adoption, and reduce platform-based limitations
Build & harness design technology
Improve how we address interiors and FF&E in all of our design deliverables, from marketing, sales & Schematic Design through Permit & Construction Documents
Support our BIM teammates in the development of view templates, families, and other tools to provide a streamlined, consistent interior design experience for our clients, and surface their decisions to relevant stakeholders (cities, GCs, suppliers) along the way
Implement new standards to raise the bar for all design deliverables, with a strong focus on details, graphics and architectural quality
What You'll Need
4+ years of experience in the architectural design/interiors/construction industry; residential design and/or early/growth-stage tech environment are pluses
Experience with FF&E specifications or interior design on projects of any scale required
Experience with manufacturing / supply-chain / procurement / construction administration is a big plus
Proficiency in Revit, Adobe CS + willingness and ability to learn new tools quickly
Comfort navigating online databases, CRMs and other business development tools
Willingness to constantly improve your knowledge of product and business operations best practices, and to look for answers in new situations
True client empathy, eagerness to go out of your way to support them in decision making while keeping project goals and timelines in check
A strong commitment to the quality of your work, owning its impacts on others with an awareness of dependencies
Flexibility to step in with design production for pilots / special projects and help the team keep up during surge times
A proven track record of organization, self-management, and delivering at a high bandwidth
Superb graphic, written, and oral communication skills, with sharp attention to detail
A passion for design and the intent to use your expertise to fight the housing crisis
A collaborative work style: you work well with a cross-functional team and are able to prioritize many ideas and inputs
Excitement to experiment, try new things, and be creative
Comfort with a fast-paced, rapidly changing and ambiguous (but fun!) work environment
