How to interview a senior design leader when you're not a designer
As a design leader, I’ve led five searches, each leading to excellent hires that went on to change the game for their teams. And I’ve been on the receiving end of design interviews.
If you’re hiring or getting ready to hire a design leader, this post is for you.
Focus on leadership first
This is counter-intuitive — an experienced designer has to have the best portfolio, right? No. Leadership is about organizational understanding, strategic growth, team and succession planning, and operations. Even the most talented designers struggle to perform in these roles if they don’t have the training, experience, or willingness to learn fast.
When I entered my first design leadership role, my coach told me “You’re not a designer anymore. Say goodbye to fonts and colors.” Needless to say, this came as quite a shock. But she was right. My world went from long stretches at the computer, reading briefs and exploring concepts, to translating senior leaders’ goals into design strategies, supporting individual contributors’ career growth, and supporting design reviews with dozens of different teams. And decks, so many decks.
Ask these questions to assess a candidate’s leadership capability:
What kind of leader are you? Tell me about an experience that showed this philosophy works.
In a previous role, which other leader did you work with most closely and why? How did this relationship support the organization’s goals?
If I told you our long-term strategy was x, how would you operationalize design to support that?
Then look at design
If a design leader has held leadership roles in the past, and has many years of contributing under their belt, then their creative skills are probably up to snuff. Remember, you’re not hiring a Creative Director, that’s a different animal. Their work needs to be good, but not great.
Ask these questions to assess their design talent:
What are the three most important things you will look at when assessing a candidate’s design portfolio?
How would you structure weekly design reviews?
How have you used your own design skills to support the work of designers reporting to you?
There’s a thread in the design leadership community that leaders, when interviewed, should not be asked about their portfolio. The job is not to deliver design, but to structure its process. While I agree in theory, I’ve never see a designer leadership interview pass without a look at the work. I think in part it’s because design contributors have a hard time following someone who hasn’t worked hard to polish their own craft.
