Head of Product & Engineering

Head of Product \& Engineering

Company

: Design Manager, Inc., a Performant Capital Portfolio Company

Job Type:

Executive, Full-Time

Location

: US Remote (East Coast or ET working hours preferred)

About Design Manager, Inc.

Design Manager, Inc. is transforming how the interior design industry operates through elegant,

cloud-based software solutions. Our growing ecosystem—Design Manager, Design Spec,

Spexx, and Exxpeditie—powers the workflows of award-winning interior design and architecture

firms across the globe.

We are a fast-moving, startup-style team backed by decades of industry expertise and a loyal

customer base. Our platform is built on modern technologies and is rapidly evolving to better

serve creative professionals through connected workflows, automation, and AI-enabled capabilities.

Design Manager, Inc. is a portfolio company of Performant Capital, a Chicago-based private

equity firm focused on investing in emerging SaaS and tech-enabled services businesses.

Performant brings deep operational and strategic expertise to help companies like Design Manager unlock their next stage of growth.

Position Overview

Design Manager, Inc is seeking a Head of Product \& Engineering to lead the evolution of our

product portfolio and technology platform. You will own product strategy, product management,

and engineering execution across the Design Manager ecosystem, ensuring that product vision,

customer needs, business objectives, and technical capabilities remain tightly aligned.

Reporting directly to the CEO and partnering closely with the leadership team and Performant

Capital, the Head of Product \& Engineering will define product direction, prioritize investments, and lead a distributed product and engineering organization responsible for delivering innovative, scalable software solutions.

This role is ideal for a leader who comes from an engineering background, has successfully managed technical teams, and has experience and passion for product ownership and customer-centric innovation. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable discussing customer workflows and market opportunities as they are evaluating architecture decisions and development priorities.

While the product management function is currently lean, this leader will be responsible for

building product discipline across the organization, creating clarity around roadmap priorities,

and ensuring exceptional execution from concept through delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Product Leadership \& Strategy:

● Own the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the Design Manager product portfolio.

● Develop a deep understanding of customer workflows, market trends, and industry challenges to identify opportunities for innovation and growth.

● Translate company objectives into clear product priorities and measurable outcomes.

● Build a culture of transparency across the larger organization, ensuring cross-functional awareness of product direction and roadmap.

● Establish and lead product management processes, including roadmap planning, prioritization, customer feedback loops, and release planning.

● Partner closely with customers, internal stakeholders, and leadership to validate product direction and maximize business impact.

● Drive adoption of AI, automation, and emerging technologies that enhance customer value and operational efficiency.

Engineering Leadership \& Execution

● Lead and develop a distributed engineering team of approximately 15 engineers across the United States, Canada, and Argentina.

● Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.

● Ensure engineering efforts are aligned with product priorities and strategic business objectives.

● Modernize and maintain software architecture and infrastructure to support scalability, security, reliability, and performance.

● Champion engineering best practices across development, testing, deployment, and operational support.

● Establish and monitor key product and engineering metrics to drive visibility, predictability, and execution excellence.

● Manage engineering budgets, vendor relationships, and resource allocation effectively.

Cross-Functional Leadership

● Serve as the primary bridge between customer needs, business strategy, product development, and engineering execution.

● Collaborate closely with the CEO and leaders in Sales \& Marketing, Customer Experience, and Operations to ensure alignment on priorities and outcomes.

● Communicate roadmap decisions, product strategy, and delivery progress to broader team, as well as executive stakeholders and investors.

● Help shape organizational processes that support scale, efficiency, and long-term growth.

Technical Environment

Technology Stack

: .NET/C#, JavaScript (React/Angular)

Infrastructure

: Microsoft Azure Cloud

Focus Areas

: SaaS, workflow automation, AI integration, cloud-native modernization, customer

experience

Qualifications

● 10\+ years of progressive experience in software development, product development, or technology leadership roles.

● 5\+ years leading engineering teams, with demonstrated success managing distributed

organizations.

● Proven track record of bringing to life delightful product experiences for customers,

preferably within the interior design or adjacent creative industry.

● Strong technical foundation in modern SaaS platforms, cloud architecture, and software development practices.

● Experience owning or significantly influencing product strategy, roadmap development, and prioritization.

● Proven ability to balance customer needs, business goals, and technical considerations

when making product decisions.

● Demonstrated success delivering software products in growth-stage or rapidly evolving environments.

● Experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing stakeholders across all levels of an organization.

● Hands-on technical credibility with the ability to engage deeply with engineering teams and architectural decisions when needed.

● Strong communication, leadership, and organizational skills.

● Experience with AI-enabled products, workflow automation, or productivity-focused software solutions is highly desirable.

● Familiarity with the interior design, architecture, creative project management, or adjacent software markets is preferred.

● Experience in growth-stage SaaS businesses is a plus.

● Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, Business, or a related field; advanced degree is a plus.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 12–18 months, the Head of Product \& Engineering will:

● Establish a clear product vision and roadmap aligned with customer and business priorities.

● Create stronger alignment between product strategy and engineering execution.

● Improve delivery predictability and product development velocity.

● Advance platform modernization initiatives while maintaining operational stability.

● Introduce meaningful AI and automation capabilities that improve customer outcomes.

● Strengthen customer engagement and feedback mechanisms to guide product investment decisions.

● Build a high-performing culture focused on ownership, innovation, and measurable results.

This role represents a unique opportunity for a product-minded technology leader to shape the

future of a market-leading SaaS platform serving a passionate and growing customer base.