Design Manager

About Us IVC Evidensia is the UK and Europe’s leading veterinary care group, made up of over 900 practices and referral hospitals, united by a shared purpose of happier animals, happier owners. At IVC Evidensia, we believe careers should be built without limits. Our people are supported to make more impact, access more career opportunities, and play an active role in their local and professional communities. Through investment in learning, innovation, and wellbeing, we create environments where our teams can grow in confidence, capability, and fulfilment—at every stage of their career.

As part of Central Functions, you will be part of the teams that support and enable our network of over 2,500 practices across 20 countries, driving operational excellence, innovation, and strategic impact across the business. Our Technology teams are responsible for the systems and infrastructure that make that work - everything our healthcare professionals need to deliver world-class care.

We're growing our Design leadership team at IVC Evidensia and hiring two Design Managers:

• Design Manager – Customer — leading the experiences pet owners interact with, from bookings and accounts to communications and the wider digital customer journey.
• Design Manager – Clinics — leading the products and tools that help our veterinary professionals, receptionists and practice managers deliver brilliant care.

Both are hands-on people leadership roles, managing a team of around five Product Designers and partnering closely with Product, Engineering and a Principal Designer. You'll create the environment for designers to do their best work — developing people, managing capacity, raising quality and helping teams turn ambitious ideas into products that work. We're in the middle of a significant transformation, so you'll need to be comfortable with ambiguity, evolving priorities and plenty still left to shape.

What you'll be doing

• Lead and develop your team — coach Product Designers across different levels through regular feedback, career development and clear expectations.
• Own team health and delivery — balance priorities, capacity and wellbeing while partnering with Product and Engineering.
• Build the team — lead hiring, set a high talent bar and shape the skills and experience we need as we grow.
• Raise the quality bar — use coaching, critique and review to help the team consistently deliver brilliant, joined-up experiences.
• Represent Design — partner with Product and Engineering leadership on priorities, delivery, capacity, quality and risk.
• Stay close to the craft — this is a player-coach role. You won't design every day, but you'll jump into Figma, prototype or help unblock the team when it matters.

Which role is right for you?

• Design Manager – Customer Lead design across our customer-facing digital ecosystem, including booking, accounts, communications and the wider pet-owner experience. This is the more senior role. You'll help shape our customer strategy alongside Product and Engineering leadership, with significant autonomy and influence over where the proposition goes. We're looking for a strong Product Design background alongside approximately 5+ years' experience managing and developing Product Designers in complex digital product environments.
• Design Manager – Clinics Lead design across our Clinics ecosystem — the products supporting veterinary professionals throughout the clinical journey, alongside receptionist, practice-management and operational experiences. You'll turn strategy into brilliant products, owning the people, delivery and quality needed to make it happen. You'll bring a strong Product Design background alongside approximately 2+ years' experience managing and developing Product Designers, with the ambition to grow into broader strategic leadership.

What we're looking for

Whichever role interests you, we'd love to hear from Design Managers who:

• Have a track record of coaching and developing Product Designers, including supporting career progression and managing performance.
• Have led teams within fast-moving product organisations, balancing quality with pace and delivery.
• Think in systems and end-to-end journeys, not just individual screens.
• Can represent Design and build strong partnerships with Product, Engineering and senior stakeholders.
• Have shipped digital products themselves and remain comfortable with Figma, prototyping and modern design practices.
• Have experience hiring Product Designers and building strong teams.
• Lead with kindness, humility and authenticity while being comfortable having difficult conversations when needed.

Experience with Design Systems and AI-enabled design tools is important. Experience with consumer products at scale, multi-market organisations, growing design teams, healthcare, legacy technology or partnering with Brand/Marketing/CRM would be advantageous, but isn't essential.

Interested? Apply for the Customer or Clinics role — or let us know if you'd like to be considered for both.

What’s in it for you?

At IVC Evidensia, we’re committed to supporting your development and wellbeing. When you join us, you’ll benefit from:

• A role with real business impact supporting teams across the organisation.
• Clear career pathways with progression opportunities within Central Functions and beyond.
• Ongoing learning and development supported by tailored programmes and resources.
• A collaborative, values-led culture focused on care, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Flexible working with a remote first working policy.

Benefits

• Healthcare Cash Plan.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Green Cars salary sacrifice scheme.
• Voluntary benefits: choose from a range of benefits to suit you.
• Discounted staff pet care.
• Access to discounts/cashback with hundreds of participating retailers.

Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Belonging

At IVC Evidensia we are committed to Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Belonging, we are keen to hear from candidates from all minority and diverse groups. As a Disability Confident Employer, we are keen to hear from candidates with disabilities and long-term health conditions and would be happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments needed during the recruitment process.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.