Senior Manager, Digital Design Operations

Role Description

As a reflection of our current needs and planned growth we are seeking an individual to join our organization as a Senior Manager, Digital Design Operations supporting the Aspen Dental brand. The Senior Manager of Digital Design Operations is a critical leadership role responsible for overseeing a team of over 100 designers and managing 12 direct-report managers. This role blends deep operational leadership with strong technical expertise in dental or digital design, enabling the leader to both optimize end-to-end design operations and actively support, coach, and upskill managers in how digital design work is executed.

This individual will drive operational excellence while also serving as a technical thought partner to design leaders, bringing an understanding of digital design workflows, tools, standards, and production methodologies. The ideal candidate will have experience applying lean and Six Sigma principles within technical or design-driven environments, empowering teams to make data-driven decisions, and fostering a culture where bottom-up innovation and continuous improvement thrive.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations Management, Engineering, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• Preferred experience in operational leadership roles with direct people management responsibility, ideally within dental laboratory, digital design, engineering, or technical production environments.
• Demonstrated expertise in lean and Six Sigma principles, with a track record of driving measurable process improvements.
• Strong ability to inspire, mentor, and develop large technical teams, with a focus on building a culture of continuous improvement and ownership.
• Proven success in enabling decentralized decision-making and fostering team ownership at all levels of an organization.
• Excellent communication, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills.

Requirements

• Lead daily operations for the digital design organization, ensuring quality, efficiency, and scalability.
• Establish, monitor, and evolve performance metrics that align operational efficiency with design quality and customer outcomes.
• Manage resources effectively to meet demand and deliver exceptional service while maintaining sustainable team performance.
• Serve as a leader to individuals with technical knowledge of digital design processes, including design development, production workflows, design standards, and quality assurance.
• Support and coach design managers by providing insight into best practices, workflow optimization, and technical problem-solving within digital design environments.
• Partner with managers to identify skills gaps and drive technical upskilling, standardization, and design process maturity across a rapidly growing team.
• Implement and sustain lean and Six Sigma methodologies to streamline workflows and reduce variability.
• Identify opportunities for process improvement, lead initiatives, and measure impact using data-driven approaches.
• Ensure continuous feedback loops exist between designers, managers, and leadership to guide improvement efforts.
• Inspire, coach, and mentor direct-report managers, strengthening both their leadership capabilities and their operational and technical effectiveness.
• Drive a team-wide focus on professional growth, collaboration, and engagement across a large design organization.
• Develop and execute talent development, retention, and succession strategies that build long-term organizational capability.
• Cultivate a bottom-up approach to problem-solving and innovation by empowering teams to identify and implement solutions.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration to promote alignment, accountability, and knowledge sharing.
• Push decision-making authority closer to the work by building frameworks that enable frontline and manager-level teams to make data-informed decisions.
• Build standards and systems that enable frontline teams to support their operational discipline.

Benefits

• Annual Pay Range: $93-120k with bonus opportunity.
• A generous benefits package that includes paid time off, health, dental, vision, and 401(k) savings plan with match.
• Travel Percentage: Up to 25% (International and Domestic).