Staff Design Program Manger, Etsy
Seller Experience
$170-220k
In addition to salary, you will also be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus
2 days a week in office (Brooklyn, New York)
eCommerce platform for handcrafted goods
Posted today
eCommerce platform for handcrafted goods
1001+ employees
Posted today
$170-220k
In addition to salary, you will also be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus
2 days a week in office (Brooklyn, New York)
1001+ employees
Company mission
To keep human connection at the heart of commerce.
Role
Who you are
- 8+ years in program management, design operations, or a related field within a product development environment
- A track record of owning cross-functional programs end-to-end across multiple teams, including defining objectives and building operational frameworks from scratch - not just running established ones
- Experience spanning multiple design teams or sub-groups simultaneously, with the ability to hold coherence across different priorities and working styles
- Deep familiarity with how design teams plan and ship work, including how design intersects with Product, Engineering, and Research across the product development lifecycle
- Strong data instincts: you can identify what is worth measuring, build systems to track it, and translate what you find into recommendations that help leaders make better decisions
- Experience with vendor evaluation, tool selection, and contract management for design teams
- Exceptional communication skills - you adapt depth and format to the audience, and you write with clarity whether drafting a standup update or an executive summary
- Experience on large teams (20+ person design orgs) at technology companies is preferred
- Familiarity with Jira, Figma, Notion, Claude, and Google Workspace
What the job involves
- We’re hiring a Staff Design Program Manager to own the operational foundation that powers Etsy’s Seller Experience
- This role spans three groups – Seller and Inventory, Customer Operations, and Marketplace Services – and requires someone who can hold coherence across all of them while going deep on the highest-priority initiatives
- The teams you support are modernizing core seller workflows, structuring inventory, unlocking growth through AI-assisted insights, and reducing friction across support, checkout, payments, and fulfillment
- At this level, you are defining the objectives, not just executing against them. You will identify where these teams need sharper operational systems, build the case for addressing those gaps, and own the solution. You will serve as a strategic thought partner to the design leaders you support and a credible voice in cross-functional conversations with Product, Engineering, and Research
- This is a full-time position reporting to the Director of Design Operations
- Seller Experience brings together design teams across Seller and Inventory, Customer Operations, and Marketplace Services around a shared goal: helping creative entrepreneurs build thriving businesses on Etsy while ensuring the marketplace stays healthy and competitive. These teams work at the intersection of seller tooling, operational support, and marketplace infrastructure - spanning everything from listing creation to checkout to cross-border fulfillment
- The Design Operations team is the operational backbone for this work. As the Staff DPM for Seller Experience, you will be embedded across this group, developing deep relationships with multiple design leaders and building the systems that allow their teams to focus on craft and move with clarity
- Define and own high-stakes programs: Lead complex programs that span multiple squads within Seller Experience - from cross-team planning resets to initiatives that require sustained alignment across Design, Product, and Engineering. You set the objectives, not just the timeline
- Create clarity in ambiguous spaces: Seller Experience is in active transformation. You will be asked to bring operational structure to areas where the problem and the solution are both still taking shape. You are energized by that, not slowed down by it
- Set priorities and roadmaps: Work across Seller and Inventory, Cust Ops, and Marketplace Services to help design leaders align on shared priorities, surface tradeoffs, and maintain a coherent view of the group’s work and capacity
- Build the operating model: Evaluate how the Seller Experience design org currently plans, reviews, and ships work - and introduce scalable frameworks that improve efficiency and quality across all three teams. You design systems that improve the “operating system” of the group, not just patch individual friction points
- Optimize team rhythms: Design and maintain planning cadences, review rituals, and communication structures that give teams high signal and low overhead. You evolve these as the org scales and its needs change
- Translate data into decisions: Build and maintain operational dashboards and reporting that give design leaders a clear view of team health, capacity, and progress. You translate raw data into actionable insights - not just status updates
- Lead organizational alignment: Act as the primary operational link between Seller Experience design and its cross-functional partners across Product, Engineering, Research, and Brand. You ensure design work is synchronized with product release cycles and that dependencies are visible before they become blockers
- Lead through change: Seller Experience is evolving its tools, workflows, and ways of working. You will lead the org through those shifts - building adoption through clear communication and genuine empathy for how change lands on individual teams
- Make impact visible: Develop audience-appropriate communications - dashboards, leadership summaries, cross-functional updates - that make the Seller Experience design org’s work legible and credible to partners and senior leadership
- Of course, this is just a sample of the kinds of work this role will require! You should assume that your role will encompass other tasks, too, and that your job duties and responsibilities may change from time to time at Etsy's discretion, or otherwise applicable with local law
Application process
- If you're interested in joining the team at Etsy, please share your resume with us and feel free to include a cover letter if you'd like
Our take
Created as an alternative to more corporate eCommerce sites, Etsy is a peer-to-peer (P2P) website where users buy and sell handmade crafts, vintage items, art and photography. The online marketplace works similarly to Amazon and eBay, only with an emphasis on unique items rather than mass-produced merchandise.
Since its IPO in 2015, it has managed to hold its own in an increasingly competitive eCommerce industry, including from Amazon's handmade section that launched in 2015. Further, by providing sellers with ownership over pricing and branding, the site is attractive for those wanting to set up a business on an established platform.
However, the seller-side of Etsy is not without problems. A hike in transaction fees and the introduction of mandatory marketing fees for artists with high turnovers created significant discontent amongst sellers. Despite this, Etsy continues to connect artists and consumers, attracting shoppers with its message of extraordinary, handmade and affordable products.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
8% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
May 2012
$40m
LATE VC
Aug 2010
$20m
SERIES E
Total funding: $91.7m
Company benefits
- Equity (offers vary by country)
- Performance bonuses
- Paid gender neutral parental leave
- Adoption and family planning
- Back-up care
- Volunteer time off
- Donation matching
- Employee resource groups
- Global virtual events
- Employer paid health benefits
- Fitness benefits
- Wellness programming
- Mental health benefits
- 401K matching/Pension contributions
Company HQ
Downtown Brooklyn, NY
Leadership
Josh Silverman
(CEO)Previously senior executive at eBay, CEO of Shopping.com, CEO of Skype and President of Consumer Products & Services at American Express.
Salary benchmarks
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