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Design Manager Jobs in Alabama (NOW HIRING)

The Truss Design Manager is responsible for the success of the design team. This will include achieving and maintaining design goals and department objectives while working with the sales and truss ...

The Truss Design Manager is responsible for the success of the design team. This will include achieving and maintaining design goals and department objectives while working with the sales and truss ...

Senior Design Manager

Birmingham, AL · On-site

$95K - $102K/yr

Lead and manage the full design lifecycle-from creative concept through detailed design and production handover. * Oversee multidisciplinary design teams (concept artists, CAD technicians, 3D ...

Leads and manages design resource for project/s. * Manages daily operations for project/s design resource /managers. * Leads and presents management review data/key performance indicators (KPIs) to ...

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Design Manager information

See Alabama salary details

$38.1K

$103.8K

$182.6K

How much do design manager jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 26, 2026, the average yearly pay for design manager in Alabama is $103,773.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $75,700.00 and $130,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a design manager?

Design Managers are professionals responsible for overseeing the design process within a project or organization. They coordinate and lead design teams, ensure design objectives align with business goals, and manage timelines, budgets, and resources. Design Managers often act as a bridge between creative teams and other departments, facilitating communication and ensuring that the final product meets both aesthetic and functional requirements. Their role can span across industries such as architecture, graphic design, product design, and digital media.

What does a design manager do?

A design manager oversees a design team during a project and typically works in the construction and architecture industries. As a design manager, you may work for specialty companies that contract out to construction firms on a per-project basis. Or, you may spend your career working as an in-house design manager for a construction company or architect firm. Regardless of the location of your job as a design manager, your duties revolve around supervising the design of a building project and include adhering to legislation and codes, eliminating safety and financial risks, and advising clients during development.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a design manager?

To thrive as a Design Manager, you need a strong background in design principles, project management, and leadership, typically supported by a degree in design or a related field and several years of design experience. Familiarity with design software such as Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and project management tools like Asana or Trello is essential. Exceptional communication, team leadership, and problem-solving skills help distinguish top performers in this role. These skills and qualities are crucial for effectively leading creative teams, delivering high-quality design outcomes, and meeting client or organizational goals.

How does a design manager typically balance creative vision with project deadlines and client expectations?

A Design Manager is responsible for guiding their team's creative direction while ensuring projects are delivered on time and within budget. This often means carefully prioritizing tasks, setting clear milestones, and communicating regularly with clients and stakeholders to manage expectations. They serve as a bridge between creative teams and project managers, helping to resolve conflicts and maintain a productive workflow. By fostering open collaboration and providing constructive feedback, Design Managers help ensure both the creative vision and practical project requirements are met.

What is the difference between Design Manager vs Graphic Designer?

AspectDesign ManagerGraphic Designer
Required CredentialsBachelor's degree in design, management experienceBachelor's degree in graphic design or related field
Work EnvironmentLeads design teams, oversees projectsCreates visual content, works independently or in teams
Industry UsageUsed in corporate, agency, and studio settingsCommon in advertising, publishing, branding

The main difference between a Design Manager and a Graphic Designer lies in their responsibilities and scope. Design Managers oversee design teams and strategic project planning, while Graphic Designers focus on creating visual content. Both roles require relevant design credentials, but Design Managers also need leadership experience. Understanding these distinctions helps in choosing the right career path or job search focus.

What degree do you need to be a design manager?

A design manager typically holds a bachelor's degree in design, graphic design, industrial design, or a related field. Many also pursue a master's degree or additional certifications to enhance their skills and qualifications for leadership roles in design teams.

What does a design manager earn?

A design manager's salary varies depending on experience, location, and industry, but typically ranges from $80,000 to $150,000 annually. They often oversee design teams, coordinate projects, and use tools like Adobe Creative Suite or CAD software, with higher salaries generally associated with larger companies or senior roles.

What is the highest paying career in design?

In design, executive roles such as Creative Director or Design Director tend to have the highest salaries, often exceeding six figures, especially in large corporations or agencies. Specialized fields like UX/UI design, product design, and design consulting can also offer high compensation, particularly with extensive experience and advanced skills in tools like Adobe Creative Suite or Sketch.

What are the most commonly searched types of Design jobs in Alabama?

The most popular types of Design jobs in Alabama are:

What job categories do people searching Design Manager jobs in Alabama look for?

The top searched job categories for Design Manager jobs in Alabama are:

What cities in Alabama are hiring for Design Manager jobs?

Cities in Alabama with the most Design Manager job openings:

Infographic showing various Design Manager job openings in Alabama as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 84% Full Time, 12% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 81% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 17% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $103,773 per year, or $49.9 per hour.

Federal Design Manager - Design-Build Focus

Huntsville, AL


Parsons
Civil Engineering Construction • 10K+ employees

7.7

Company rating: 7.7 out of 10

Based on 46 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

267th of 450 rated engineering

People enjoy working here

Good employer

Recommended by students


Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 17 days ago


Job description

In a world of possibilities, pursue one with endless opportunities. Imagine Next!At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what's possible.

Job Description:

The Federal Design Build Manager is responsible for leading and managing the design execution process on federal projects delivered through design-build or other integrated delivery methods. This role is accountable for the oversight, coordination, and integration of the contractor's design efforts, ensuring compliance with contract requirements, federal criteria, and client expectations from project startup through final design, construction, commissioning, and closeout.

The Design Manager serves as the primary interface between the owner, contractor, and design teams, providing technical leadership and rigorous oversight of the contractor's design development, submittals, and design changes. The role requires deep experience in design-build project delivery, including constructability reviews, design validation, and proactive resolution of design-construction interface issues.

The Design Manager operates as part of a project leadership triad with the Project Manager and the Project Engineer/Senior Project Engineer. The Design Manager is specifically responsible for:

  • Oversight and integration of the contractor's design and design-build team activities.
  • Ensuring design compliance with contract documents, federal standards, and owner's project requirements.
  • Managing design reviews, submittal processes, and design change control.
  • Leading constructability reviews and facilitating seamless transition from design to construction.
  • Providing technical direction and resolving design-related issues during construction.

A successful candidate will be able to clearly articulate, at any point in project execution, the status of design actions and decisions, ownership and due dates, affected deliverables or milestones, supporting evidence for closure, and any unresolved issues impacting scope, cost, schedule, quality, safety, security, constructability, commissioning, client acceptance, or contractual entitlement.

What You'll Be Doing:

  • Design-Build Oversight: Lead and manage the design process on design-build projects, including direct oversight of the contractor's design team, subconsultants, and specialty designers.
  • Design Integration: Integrate contract requirements, federal criteria, client direction, and design-basis information into a coordinated design-build delivery approach.
  • Design Review & Validation: Plan, coordinate, and lead design reviews, interdisciplinary checks, constructability reviews, and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) activities.
  • Submittal Management: Oversee and track design submittals, responses to comments, and resolution of design issues to ensure timely and compliant deliverables.
  • Change Control: Manage design changes, evaluate impacts, and ensure proper documentation and communication of design modifications.
  • Construction Support: Provide technical oversight and support during construction, including review of shop drawings, RFIs, field changes, and as-built documentation.
  • Stakeholder Coordination: Serve as the primary point of contact for design-related matters with the contractor, owner, federal agencies, and other stakeholders.
  • Risk Management: Identify, assess, and mitigate design and constructability risks throughout the project lifecycle.

What Required Skills You'll Bring:

  • Education: Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in engineering, architecture, construction management, or a closely related technical discipline.
  • Professional Experience: Fifteen or more years of progressive experience in design, engineering, architecture, or project delivery, with substantial responsibility for multidisciplinary design coordination and formal deliverables on design-build projects.
  • Design-Build Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading or serving in a senior design-management role on complex, high-profile, regulated, mission-critical, infrastructure, facility, or federal design-build projects.
  • Project Lifecycle Experience: Proven track record supporting projects from startup and design planning through final design, issue for construction, construction support, commissioning, and closeout.
  • Contractor Design Oversight: Experience overseeing and validating contractor's design, managing submittals, and ensuring compliance with owner's project requirements and federal standards.
  • Constructability & Integration: Strong background in constructability reviews, design-construction integration, and facilitating effective collaboration between design and construction teams.
  • Quality & Readiness: Experience planning and coordinating design reviews, QA/QC interfaces, comment disposition, package-readiness reviews, and documented exceptions.
  • US Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

What Desired Skills You'll Bring:

  • Professional Registration: Active Professional Engineer or Registered Architect license preferred; registration may be required for specific assignments.
  • Project Management Credentials: PMP, DBIA, CCM, or other relevant project, design-build, construction, quality, or safety credential.
  • Federal Delivery Experience: Experience with U.S. federal agencies, defense or civilian programs, secure facilities, complex infrastructure, or mission-critical environments.
  • Alternative Delivery Expertise: Extensive experience with design-build, engineer-procure-construct, integrated delivery, progressive design-build, or other delivery methods requiring close design-construction integration.
  • Technical Breadth: Strong understanding of multidisciplinary building, site, utility, infrastructure, systems, digital delivery, constructability, procurement, and commissioning interfaces.
  • Commercial Awareness: Experience supporting design budgets, labor forecasts, change documentation, scope clarification, entitlement protection, and recovery planning.
  • External Contributor Management: Experience integrating subconsultants, specialty consultants, vendors, utilities, reviewers, authorities having jurisdiction, and construction teams.
  • Team Development: Demonstrated success coaching, mentoring, and developing design managers, discipline leads, and emerging project leaders in a matrixed organization.
  • Secret Security Level Clearance

Security Clearance Requirement:

NoneThis position is part of our Federal Solutions team.The Federal Solutions segment delivers resources to our US government customers that ensure the success of missions around the globe. Our intelligent employees drive the state of the art as they provide services and solutions in the areas of defense, security, intelligence, infrastructure, and environmental. We promote a culture of excellence and close-knit teams that take pride in delivering, protecting, and sustaining our nation's most critical assets, from Earth to cyberspace. Throughout the company, our people are anticipating what's next to deliver the solutions our customers need now.Salary Range: $112,200.00 - $196,400.00We value our employees and want our employees to take care of their overall wellbeing, which is why we offer best-in-class benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), 401(k), life insurance, flexible work schedules, and holidays to fit your busy lifestyle!Parsons is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other protected status.We truly invest and care about our employee's wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest-APPLY TODAY!

Parsons is aware of fraudulent recruitment practices. To learn more about recruitment fraud and how to report it, please refer tohttps://www.parsons.com/fraudulent-recruitment/.



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