Job Details

Weekly Hours: 40

Role Number: 200644172-0836

Summary

Apple’s tvOS Design team is seeking a Product Design Manager to lead system-level design for the Apple TV platform. This role focuses on shaping core tvOS experiences, ensuring clarity, consistency, and long-term coherence across the system.

You will lead a team of designers working on foundational patterns and platform initiatives, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, and Human Interface. The ideal candidate brings strong design judgment, clear communication, and experience guiding teams through complex, cross-functional work at scale.

Description

Join the tvOS design team and play a pivotal role in shaping the evolution of the Apple TV platform. In this role, you will lead design for core tvOS system experiences, helping define how the platform grows, scales, and stays coherent across devices, contexts, and future capabilities.
As a design manager, you will guide a team of designers working across system surfaces, foundational patterns, and platform-level initiatives. You’ll be responsible for setting a clear design direction for tvOS, ensuring experiences feel intuitive, consistent, and unmistakably Apple — while evolving thoughtfully over time. This includes close partnership with Product, Engineering, Human Interface, and other design teams to align system behaviors, interaction models, and visual language across the ecosystem.

This role requires strong creative and people leadership. You’ll mentor and grow designers, foster a culture of collaboration and craftsmanship, and create an environment where high standards and thoughtful exploration coexist. You’ll balance hands-on design direction with strategic oversight, helping the team navigate complex system problems while maintaining clarity, focus, and momentum.
You will also lead and refine design processes that support platform-scale work — from early concept exploration to execution and long-term maintenance. Clear communication is essential, as you’ll regularly translate system-level design thinking to both technical and non-technical partners, aligning teams around shared goals and tradeoffs.

Success in this role means balancing multiple priorities across short-term delivery and long-term platform health. You’ll be expected to think holistically about tvOS — from interaction patterns and navigation models to typography, motion, and visual cohesion — ensuring the system remains elegant, extensible, and resilient as it evolves. A people-first mindset, strong judgment, and deep attention to detail will be critical to delivering high-quality, durable system experiences.

Minimum Qualifications

• Portfolio demonstrating leadership in product design, complex problem solving, and collaboration across disciplines.

• 10+ years of experience in product design, with work spanning system, platform, or large-scale product surfaces.

• Proven ability to lead and communicate design strategy and vision to designers, engineers, product managers, and leadership through clear writing, visuals, and presentations.

• Experience translating complex ideas into sketches, wireframes, high-fidelity designs, and prototypes.

• Strong design judgment, with the ability to balance user needs, business goals, and technical constraints.

• Track record of solving complex interaction and system-level design problems across platforms.

• Understanding of inclusive design and accessibility, with a commitment to continued learning.

• Experience designing tools or software for professional or advanced users.

• Proficiency with industry-standard design tools such as Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, and Keynote.

• Comfortable working in ambiguous environments and adapting to change.

• Commitment to Apple’s values, including privacy, trust, and a high standard of customer experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing or leading design for system-level platforms or operating systems.

• Experience designing scalable tools that support complex workflows or data-rich experiences.

• Demonstrated success leading teams with a design-first mindset while partnering closely with cross-functional stakeholders.

• Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to influence across organizations.

• Ability to operate independently while maintaining high standards of quality and craft.

• Experience evolving design systems, interaction patterns, or foundational UI frameworks over time

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf) .