Senior Manager, Design Technology

Zillow

About the team

The Zillow Experience Design (ZxD) team is a fast-paced, collaborative, and driven product design team. We’re a tight-knit, fun-loving, and upbeat group. Meet us and learn more at https://www.zillow.com/careers/design.

We are a multidisciplinary team. Our roles include product design, content design, experience research, design systems, and design operations.

We build useful, usable, and innovative experiences for Zillow customers. These experiences live across web, mobile, and internal software platforms.

Our team cares deeply about solving problems for real people – customers, co-workers, and everyone else. We seek to make everything a little better than we found it.

About the role

We are seeking an experienced and forward-thinking Senior Manager of Design Technology and AI to lead a high-performing team of design technologists and technical product designers. This role is ideal for a strategic leader who thrives at the intersection of design, engineering, and applied research and is passionate about advancing innovation through functional prototyping and experimentation. You will guide the team in delivering immersive, data-informed experiences that accelerate learning, inform product strategy, and bring emerging technologies to life. Looking ahead, this role will play a critical part in scaling the team's influence through a horizontally embedded operating model—amplifying the impact of design across the organization by enabling others through prototypes, tools, and shared methods. As a champion of rigorous inquiry, deep collaboration, and purposeful exploration, you will help shape Zillow’s future by transforming ambiguity into durable customer insight and business value.

What You’ll Do

  • Lead and grow a high-performing team of design technologists and technical product designers, fostering a culture of curiosity, creativity, and experimentation.
  • Set and articulate a clear vision for the role of prototyping and technical design in shaping Zillow’s future customer experiences.
  • Partner closely with Design, Engineering, Research, and Applied Science to explore, prototype, and validate new capabilities at the intersection of emerging technology and customer need.
  • Scale the team’s influence through a horizontally embedded model, enabling other teams by developing platforms, tools, and reusable methods.
  • Guide the team in producing rapid, high-fidelity prototypes across web, mobile, and internal platforms that elicit insight, validate assumptions, and inspire product direction.
  • Drive operational excellence through agile practices, sprint planning, and a continuous planning process that adapts to evolving business needs.
  • Evangelize a “build to learn” mindset across the org, advocating for experimentation as a pathway to customer understanding and innovation.
  • Create clarity out of ambiguity—helping teams connect the dots across initiatives and functions, identify risks, and proactively remove obstacles.
  • Represent the Design Technology and AI function in senior-level discussions, helping shape cross-functional strategy and roadmap decisions.

This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions.

In California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $187,100.00 - $298,900.00 Annually. This base pay range is specific to California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state, and Washington DC and may not be applicable to other locations.

In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location.

Who you are

You’re a seasoned technical design leader who brings both systems-thinking and deep empathy to your work. You know how to lead through influence, unlock clarity in complex environments, and help others thrive.

You also have:

  • 10+ years of experience building at the intersection of design and engineering, including leadership of hybrid technical/design teams.
  • A strategic and hands-on leader with a strong background in technical product design, design technology, or front-end engineering.
  • Deeply fluent in prototyping tools and practices (e.g., HTML/CSS/JS, React, Swift, ProtoPie), with a passion for turning ambiguity into tangible learning artifacts.
  • Comfortable navigating emergent technologies (AI/LLMs, personalization, multimodal interaction) and translating them into actionable opportunities.
  • Skilled at working in complex systems and ambiguity, balancing long-term innovation with near-term priorities.
  • Experienced in agile development, sprint operations, and continuous delivery within cross-functional teams.
  • A proven ability to run complex, cross-functional initiatives and drive alignment across diverse stakeholders
  • An inclusive leader and coach who prioritizes team development, psychological safety, and growth.
  • An effective communicator who can synthesize complex ideas and align diverse stakeholders at all levels.

Bonus if you have:

  • Experience building and scaling reusable design or prototyping platforms, tooling, or internal frameworks.
  • Background in entertainment technology, creative coding, or human-computer interaction.
  • Familiarity with live experimentation, AI red teaming, or behavioral research at scale.
  • Experience embedding technical design roles across product teams through a federated or matrixed model.

Get to know us

Zillow is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people.

As the most-visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates help movers find and win their home through digital solutions, first class partners, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences. Millions of people visit Zillow Group sites every month to start their home search, and now they can rely on Zillow to help make it easier to move. The work we do helps people get home and no matter what job you're in, you will play a critical role in making home a reality for more and more people.

Our efforts to streamline the real estate transaction are supported by a deep-rooted culture of innovation, our passion to redefine the employee experience, a fundamental commitment to Equity and Belonging, and world-class benefits. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, and disability coverages as well as parental leave, family benefits, retirement contributions, and paid time off. We’re also setting the standard for work experiences of the future, where our employees are supported in doing their best work and living a flexible, well-balanced life. But don’t just take our word for it. Read recent reviews on Glassdoor and recent recognition from multiple organizations, including: the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equity Index, and TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

Zillow Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact your recruiter directly.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable state and local law.

Applicants who receive job offers from Zillow Group will be asked to sign a Proprietary Rights Agreement which includes confidentiality, intellectual property assignment, customer and employee non-solicitation, and non-competition provisions. If you are contacted for a role at Zillow Group and wish to review a copy of the Proprietary Rights Agreement prior to receiving an offer, you may request a copy from your Recruiter.

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Confirmed 12 hours ago. Posted 12 hours ago.

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