Senior Design Program Manager

Bridging design
vision with execution.

I partner with design, product, and engineering teams to build the systems, rituals, and clarity that let great work ship — on time and at scale.

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About

Craft meets coordination.

I'm a Senior Design Program Manager with a passion for creating the conditions where design teams do their best work. With experience spanning product design, brand, and design systems, I understand what it takes to move from ambiguity to alignment.

I specialize in building program infrastructure — from roadmap planning and cross-functional rituals to headcount modeling and portfolio prioritization — that scales with the team and the product.

Outside of work, I'm driven by good typography, thoughtful systems, and the belief that process should enable creativity, not constrain it.

Program & Operations

Roadmap Planning Portfolio Management Headcount Modeling OKR Frameworks Risk Management Stakeholder Alignment

Design Partnership

Design Systems Design Ops Product Design Creative Ops Brand Programs

Tools & Methods

Figma Jira Asana Notion Airtable Linear

Experience

Where I've done the work.

2022 — Present

Acme Corp

Senior Design Program Manager

Lead program management across a 40+ person design org spanning product design, design systems, content design, and brand.

  • Established a unified design planning process across 6 product verticals, reducing cross-functional misalignment by an estimated 30%.
  • Partnered with VP of Design on org-wide headcount planning, portfolio prioritization, and bi-annual OKR cycles.
  • Created and facilitated a weekly design leadership forum, improving visibility and decision velocity across senior stakeholders.
  • Drove the rollout of a new design QA process integrated with engineering release cycles.

2019 — 2022

Studio Delta

Design Program Manager

Managed programs and operational rhythms for a 20-person product design team at a Series B startup.

  • Built the team's first design operations function from scratch, including tooling, onboarding, and process documentation.
  • Coordinated delivery of a full app redesign across design, engineering, and marketing — shipping on schedule to 200K users.
  • Led quarterly design critiques and retrospectives, creating a culture of structured feedback and continuous improvement.

2017 — 2019

Borealis Agency

Project Manager, Creative

Managed creative production for brand and digital campaigns across a roster of 15+ clients.

  • Ran end-to-end delivery for brand identity, web, and campaign projects with budgets up to $500K.
  • Implemented an intake and scoping framework that cut project kick-off time by 40%.
  • Maintained 95% on-time delivery rate across a portfolio of 30+ concurrent projects.

Contact

Let's connect.

Whether you're building a design program from scratch, scaling an existing team, or looking for a thought partner on design operations — I'd love to talk.

Open to full-time roles, advisory conversations, and speaking opportunities.


Send a Message
Email frcoppol@gmail.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/francescacoppola
Location San Francisco, CA