Design Leadership at Scale

DLSCA01 - April 2024

DLSD01 – Alpha – 2024

DLSE03 - February 2024 - Executive

DLS01 – Alpha Cohort – August 2023

DLS Director is for established design leader positioning themselves for future executive roles.

DLSD04 - Delta - 2024

DLSCS02 - October 2024

DLSD02 - Beta - 2024

DLSE04 - June 2024 - Executive

DLSD03 - Gamma - 2024

DLSE05 - Dec 2024 - Executive

DLS02 – Beta Cohort – November 2023

October 1-10, evening PT, morning next day, APAC

Cohort 2

DLSCS01 - September 2024

Cohort 1 – October 2024

Cohort 03

[moved] - Feb 2025

Cancelled - Mar 2025 - Executive

Cohort 04

Cohort 05

DLSD Q1 2025

DLSE07 – Q1 2026

DLSE08 – Q2 2026

DLSAI01

DLSE06 – June 2025

DLSCS03 - H1 2026

DLSAI02

Designers who craft user experiences, interfaces, and visual design.

Day-to-day people management — 1:1s, feedback, performance management, hiring, and team operations.

Leading organizational AI adoption — change management, strategy, and building AI-ready teams.

Your role is evolving. This is the playbook.

Chief Design Officer | Advisor | Author

Rachel Kobetz

Chief Design Officer, PayPal

The AI-Native Leader

Associate Design Director

VP Experience 

Head of Product Design, Business Suite, SAP SE

Senior UX Product Designer

Senior Head of Design

Senior Product Designer

Sr Director, Head of Product Design

Senior Manager

SVP, Design

VP, Design & Research

Shape the future of business. Develop the vision, strategy, and influence to make design a critical driver of transformation.


Samsung

Amazon

Bank of America

Expedia Group

PayPal

Chief Design Officer @ PayPal


A two-week cohort program for Senior Directors, VPs, SVPs, and CDOs ready to lead at the strategic level — not catch up to it. Build the position, influence, and operating model that AI and organizational pressure now demand from design leaders at the top.1. Lock in your strategic positionAlign design to business priorities so your role as a strategic driver (not a service function) is unambiguous.2. Drive high impact business outcomesConnect design decisions to measurable outcomes. Demonstrate design impact in the terms that drive budget and investment.3. Lead organizational change, not just design workBuild the cross-functional influence and stakeholder relationships that let you drive transformation.4. Build an operating model that scalesStructure your team, systems, and rhythms so design delivers at scale — without the whole thing depending on you.5. Lead into what’s nextLead in territory that didn’t exist before, where roles are blurring, design is moving upstream, and human and AI systems are working side by side.Includes 2 Office Hours with Rachel for personalized guidance on your leadership challenges.

The leadership bar has moved. DLS: Executive is built for what it requires now.

Lead the next evolution of design

Turn design decisions into business results

Drive transformation across the organization

Build an operating model for what’s next

Lead your career with the same intention

Senior Design Leaders: Senior Directors and VPs ready to lead beyond the work and position design as a strategic business driver.

Senior Design Executives: VPs and SVPs leading large teams through AI, shifting org structures, and rising C-suite expectations.

Design C-Suite: SVPs and CDOs using design to lead the business through what’s next — not just respond to it.

Learn the core principles of effective design leadership in scaled enterprises in this rigorous two-week course for established design leaders positioning themselves for future executive roles. / Course Content /This course will focus on making the transition from leading functional teams or programs, to leading a cross-functional organization with enterprise-wide impact. Content will include:• Identifying your core leadership qualities and superpowers• Mapping your organization and understanding key cross-functional relationships• Learning the signals of mature design organizations• Measuring and articulating the value of design to your business• Increasing your impact and influence across the enterprise This course will deliver a wide range of curricular content through a variety of live and asynchronous learning experiences:• Pre-recorded video lectures• Reading assignments• Live group discussions• Q&amp;A with guest speakers from the industry• Hands-on project work• Collaborative small group working sessions• Office hours for specific questions and deep dives / Time Commitment /The course is a blend of “live” sessions (on zoom), along with asynchronous pre-recorded videos, reading material, and lightweight projects. Most students spend a total of 16-20 hours over the course of the 2 weeks. All sessions are recorded, so it’s usually not a problem to miss a session.

Establish yourself as a leader 


Course syllabus

If your events are recurring and at the same time, it might be easiest to use a single line item to communicate your course schedule to students

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Feel free to type out dates as your title as a way to communicate information about specific live sessions or other events.

May 7, 2022

Schedule items can also be used to convey commitments outside of specific time slots (like weekly projects or daily office hours).

Weekly projects

Course schedule

Design Directors&nbsp;leading teams in highly matrixed environments where influence across, up, and down is crucial for success.

Senior Design Managers leading functional teams in complex organizations, and positioning themselves for future roles.

Design Program Managers&nbsp;leading operations across multiple teams.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

Understanding of the core principles of design leadership


Examining of the components of mature design organizations


Developing insights into increasing impact and influence to drive business impact


Learning the keys to measuring and articulating the value of design to the business


Learn the core principles of effective design leadership in scaled enterprises


Doug Powell


Executive Design Leader, former IBM & Expedia


An advanced-level course for senior and rising design leaders ready to address the most common challenges Design Leaders face. Learn how to build your durable design operating system to withstand scale, restructuring, evolution, and growth. Establish mechanisms and high-leverage activities that maintain quality and effectiveness for your teams and for the business. Course Topics + Content Build and activate high-impact teamsApply effective organizational design, strategic planning, and performance measurement Define and optimize your operating systemEstablish rhythms and rituals, shape a positive design culture, streamline processes and workflows, and build a robust reporting and communication strategy Identify the most effective design team structuresLearn how to choose the right team structures for your organization Activate your team’s strengths through organizational designAnticipate common challenges within and across teams and learn strategies for effectively addressing them Create your organization’s ideal design teamTogether, we’ll design and build your design team and organization 7 Live, Interactive Sessions, with timezone-friendly options for most APAC/EMEA/AMER locales - One Welcome Kickoff Session- Three Live, Interactive Learning Sessions including Q&amp;A sessions with guest experts- Two Office Hours / Q+A sessions with Kristin for personalized guidance- One Reflection/Wrap-up Session

Design Your Organization's Operating System 

Directors+ of Design and Operations leading teams across a portfolio of products and services.

Senior Leaders and Practitioners who are establishing, evolving, and leading a Design Organization or Operations practice.

Operations leaders who want to sharpen skills, learn new approaches and methods, and accelerate their organizations.

You'll learn how to establish mechanisms, routines, and high-leverage activities that maintain and enhance culture, quality, and community as you grow.

Best practices to build infrastructure that scales

<ul><li>Design and structure a high-performing design organization.</li><li>Effectively prioritize and plan work to maximize impact.</li><li>Utilize visual staffing tools to manage resources efficiently.</li><li>Implement accountability measures to maintain high-quality standards.</li></ul>

Build and activate high-impact teams

<ul><li>Establish effective rhythms and rituals that enhance team productivity and alignment.</li><li>Shape a positive design culture that fosters innovation and collaboration.</li><li>Optimize processes and workflows for greater efficiency.</li><li>Develop and implement robust reporting and communications</li></ul>

Define and optimize your operating system

<ul><li>Learn approaches and tactics that address common organizational and team challenges</li><li>Mitigate these challenges via a fixed vs. flexible framework</li><li>Gain new strategies to keep your team focused and thriving</li></ul>

Identify and anticipate the most common team and organizational challenges 

Guest Experience: Experienced leaders will join to share their stories and give examples of how they navigated similar challenges Instructor Experience: You'll learn directly from Kristin's first-hand experience establishing and leading multiple large-scale global design orgs

Access to first-hand experience and guidance customized to your unique situation

Included are multiple, moderated Q&amp;A sessions with Kristin and other industry leaders so that you can get expert advice on your unique challenges and aspirations.

Q&A Sessions with industry experts

Learn best practices to build a durable design organization operating system.

Kristin Skinner


Executive career frameworks and decision tools to define your path, increase leverage, and make intentional next moves as a design leader.

Chief Design Officer, PayPal


Chief Experience Officer, &GSD

Design Leadership at Scale: Career Strategy is for senior design leaders seeking clarity, leverage, and momentum.This immersive includes 6 hours of live instruction, combining lectures, facilitated breakouts, applied exercises, and two in-depth office hours with Rachel and Kristin focused on your specific career decisions and next moves.Grounded in real executive hiring and leadership experience, the course draws on frameworks used to define senior roles, assess leadership readiness, and hire thousands of designers at global companies. This is not generic career advice—it’s executive-grade career strategy for design leaders operating at scale.Whether you’re advancing within your organization or evaluating what’s next, you’ll leave with a clear, defensible career blueprint.// Course ContentArchitect Your Career<ul><li>Define senior-level leadership paths</li><li>Clarify what differentiates you</li><li>Benchmark your strengths</li><li>Build a forward-looking career strategy</li></ul>Advance Your Impact<ul><li>Identify high-leverage growth areas</li><li>Define success on your terms</li><li>Create a long-range career roadmap</li><li>Make intentional career moves</li></ul>Bonus<ul><li>How senior leaders evaluate roles and companies</li><li>Two live office hours for tailored guidance and Q+A</li></ul>

Shape a design career that provides you growth, development, and success.


Define a clear, defensible career strategy

Assess your leadership readiness at senior levels

Clarify what differentiates you as a design leader

Make intentional, well-calibrated career moves

Build leverage and reduce career drag

Leave with a concrete career blueprint

Ambitious Senior Managers, Directors, and VP-level design leaders&nbsp;in both startups and large technology product companies.

It's ideal for those planning on staying and growing at your current company for the next 3+ years or are thinking of changing companies.

This course is&nbsp;not&nbsp;for aspiring design managers and early-career design managers. It does not focus on the detailed steps of skill-building.

Doug Powell

Kristin Skinner

Bob Baxley

How Top Design Leaders Influence At Scale

Gagan Biyani

How Design Leaders Stand Out in a Competitive Market

Team Tactics for Increasing Influence + Impact

Org Design For Your Design Org

Design in Context: Mapping Your Role in a X-functional Org

Designing Your Design Team

Chief Experience Officer at &GSD. Author. Global VP Design.

12 Qualities of Effective Design Teams

How Design Leaders Stand Out In A Competitive Market


Strategic Design Leadership: Essential Questions for Design Executives


AI isn’t replacing what we do — it’s expanding what’s expected of us. New mandates, new org structures, and a fundamental question: what does leadership become when AI compresses execution and judgment is the whole game?Every week I talk to senior leaders navigating this in real time. The questions are consistent: How does my mandate evolve? How do I position my team as essential, not optional? What does leadership look like when traditional EPD roles are blurring?Most of the advice out there is either too tactical (learn the tools) or too abstract (just be more strategic). Neither helps when your org is being restructured around you.This 1-day intensive is built for senior leaders who want to lead the evolution — with frameworks, honest conversation, and the perspective of a sitting CDO who’s navigating it too. You’ll leave with a concrete plan you can put to work Monday morning.

Senior Directors, VPs, and Heads of Design rethinking how their team operates and how to position design’s value as EPD roles converge.

Senior product and experience leaders figuring out what leadership looks like when traditional role boundaries blur in the AI era.

Design executives who want unfiltered CDO perspective and connection with peers navigating the same moment.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Design Leadership at Scale

Courses

Design Leadership at Scale: Executive

Design Leadership at Scale: Director

Design Leadership at Scale: Operations

Design Leadership at Scale: Career Strategy

Workshops