Head of Design Operations

Want to do the best work of your life? With 24 million customers in 6 countries, make your mark at Europe's leading media and entertainment brand. A workplace where you can proudly be yourself; our people make Sky a truly exciting and inclusive place to work.

As Head of Design Operations in our Digital Customer Experience team, you'll serve as the operational backbone for the design organisation, enabling teams working on web, app and self-service optimisation. You'll establish governance frameworks, lead operational efficiency initiatives and ensure design practice is embedded into delivery models at scale.Reporting to the Director of Digital Experience, you'll sit at the heart of our Customer Experience Centre of Excellence, contributing to CX strategy and design leadership across the UK & Ireland. From first-time visitors to long-term customers, you'll help ensure every digital interaction reflects Sky's brand and ambition to deliver outstanding customer experiences.

What you'll do

• Lead Design Operations across Digital, aligning with Assisted Ops and wider CX strategy to ensure seamless delivery, consistent governance, accessibility compliance and inclusive practices across all customer touchpoints.
• Partner across CX, Product and Tech to ensure teams have clear workflows, governance, and to embed design ways of working into Agile and SAFe models.
• Provide operational frameworks tools and processes that where customer insights and behavioural-science research inform processes, decisions, and delivery, and empower designers and researchers to deliver efficiently.
• Lead tooling strategy including evaluation, adoption and optimisation of product design, content design, service design & user research tools, champion automation, AI-enabled tooling and emerging operational practices that enhance efficiency and consistency.
• Own capacity planning, resource allocation, budget tracking (opex/capex) and external spend optimisation with agencies and vendors.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture that attracts, retains, and develops top design talent.

Minimum requirements

• Proven track record in senior design governance or design operations roles within large, complex organisations.
• Skilled at influencing C-level stakeholders, demonstrating design value in business outcomes and securing investment.
• Expertise in embedding design into Agile/SAFe models and establishing design governance frameworks.
• Experience managing resourcing strategies, Opex/Capex planning and vendor management/procurement across large-scale programmes.
• Expert-level knowledge of design systems and enterprise tooling (Figma, Storybook, Zeroheight etc), with proven ability to optimise adoption and scalability, and expertise in embedding accessibility and inclusive practices into operational models.
• Strong experience managing agency partnerships, procurement processes and external spend optimisation

Application Requirement:

Please include portfolio/content showing evidence of your experience across these four areas:

People - Building high-performing teams. Process - Applying scalable UCD methods that drive measurable outcomes. Position - Influencing strategy and embedding design at senior level. Product - Producing provable world-class app–first digital experiences

The Rewards:

There's one thing people can't stop talking about when it comes to #LifeAtSky: the perks. Here's a taster:

• Sky Q, for the TV you love all in one place
• The magic of Sky Glass at an exclusive rate
• A generous pension package
• Private healthcare
• Discounted mobile and broadband
• A wide range of Sky VIP rewards and experiences

How you'll work:

We know the world has changed, and we want to offer our employees the chance to collaborate at our unique office spaces, whilst enjoying the convenience of working from home.

We've adopted a hybrid working approach to give more flexibility on where and how we work. You'll find out more about what this means for this role during the recruitment process.

Your office base:

Osterley

Our Osterley Campus is a 10-minute walk from Syon Lane train station. Or you can hop on one of our free shuttle buses that run to and from Osterley, Gunnersbury, Ealing Broadway and South Ealing tube stations. There are also plenty of bike shelters and showers.

On campus, you'll find 13 subsidised restaurants, cafes, and a Waitrose. You can keep in shape at our subsidised gym, catch the latest shows and movies at our cinema, get your car washed, and even get pampered at our beauty salon.

Or

Leeds

Our spacious tech hub is less than a mile from Leeds train station. There's plenty of parking in the surrounding streets and at the nearby CitiPark.

Need a break? You can blow off steam over a game of pool or table tennis, and stay fit at our subsidised gym.

Inclusion:

At Sky we don't just look at your CV. We're more focused on who you are and your potential. We also know that everyone has a life outside work, so we're happy to discuss flexible working.

We are a Disability Confident Accredited Employer, and welcome and encourage applications from all candidates. We will look to ensure a fair and consistent experience for all and will make reasonable adjustments to support you where appropriate. Please flag any adjustments you need to your recruiter as early as you can.

Why wait?

Apply now to build an amazing career and be part of a brilliant team. We can't wait to hear from you.

To find out more about working with us, search #LifeAtSky on social media. A job you love to talk about.

Just so you know: if your application is successful, we'll ask you to complete a criminal record check. And depending on the role you have applied for and the nature of any convictions you may have, we might have to withdraw the offer.

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