Director of Design & Client Services

Job Overview

We are seeking a strategic, collaborative, and visionary Director of Design & Client Services to join our senior leadership team. In this consolidated role, you will champion the entire project lifecycle—bridging the gap between frontend design strategy and backend operational execution. You will lead, scale, and mentor both our creative design organization and our specifier-facing services/project execution teams.

By overseeing the critical connections between design, specification, procurement, project management, and installation, you will ensure projects are beautifully conceived, accurately specified, and delivered with profitable excellence. As a senior brand ambassador, you will elevate design as a strategic differentiator to win business while establishing the operational standards necessary to protect margins and create a seamless, end-to-end client experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Elevate Design Strategy: Serve as a design resource in key client engagements, presentations, and strategic planning sessions; leverage deep product knowledge and market trends to position design as a differentiator in the sales process.
• A+D Partnering: Build trusted relationships with A+D firms, serving as an escalation point for complex specifications, application challenges, and project coordination needs.
• Compliance & Integrity: Ensure high standards of design integrity, product appropriateness, ADA/compliance requirements, and constructability across all furniture and FF&E specifications.
• Manufacturer Alignment: Partner with Manufacturer Partners to ensure accurate product application, pricing alignment, lead-time management, and issue resolution.
• Team Cultivation: Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team of designers, specifiers, and project leaders, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and client-centricity.
• Structured Onboarding: Direct the creation of 2-week orientation schedules and 12-week development plans for new hires, ensuring Design Managers are actively coaching and tracking progress.
• Performance Management: Conduct monthly one-on-ones using the Design Performance Matrix. Manage underperformance proactively with clear documentation, weekly one-on-ones, and Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) when necessary.
• Operational Clarity: Define roles, handoffs, and decision rights between Design, Specifier Services, and Project Management teams.
• Resource & Capacity Planning: Optimize team utilization (monitoring a minimum 85% MxT billable goal) and assign work via ZOHO Projects based on scope, product solutions, and timelines.
• Margin & Risk Management: Analyze project performance metrics (margin variance, delivery timelines, change orders, rework drivers) to implement continuous improvement initiatives and protect project margins.
• Lifecycle Execution: Ensure predictable and seamless execution across project kickoff, furniture specification, pre-installation planning, and logistics coordination.
• Enterprise Growth: Partner with sales leadership on strategic accounts to support business development, and guide teams on how to leverage dancker’s Growth Ventures (e.g., DBE, ForBuild, dePloy).

Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design, Architecture, or a related field.
• Experience: 10+ years of experience in commercial furniture, interior design, or FF&E project delivery, with at least 5 years of progressive leadership and team management responsibility.
• Industry Expertise: Deep understanding of commercial furniture systems, specification documentation, procurement, and installation processes.
• Technical Proficiency: Advanced comfort with design and project management software (CET, AutoCAD, SketchUp, BlueBeam, and ZOHO Projects or equivalent platforms) alongside the Microsoft Office Suite.
• Business Acumen: Strong financial and operational mindset with proven experience managing project budgets, resource utilization, and profit margins.
• Core Soft Skills: Exceptional communication, relationship-building, and organizational skills, with a demonstrated ability to mentor creative teams while maintaining high-level operational oversight.

What We Offer:

• Competitive Pay and Benefits.
• Opportunity to work with cutting-edge design technology.
• Thrive in a fast-paced, supportive team that values work-life balance.
• Play a key role in design operations—your impact on company growth will be evident.
• Join a culture that values your contributions and equips you with the tools to succeed.
• Be part of an innovative team that continuously learns and adapts.