Design Manager Jobs in Illinois

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What You'll Do

You are a creative coder, an inventor, and a technical artist. You are the person who hears an ambitious idea and immediately starts thinking about how to build it. As a Creative Hybrid (Creative AI Technologist) Manager at BCG Design Studios, you sit at the heart of the creative team, working with directors, designers, and strategists to apply technology in ways that change what the work can be. Code is your primary craft.

You build the prototypes, experiences, and tools that bring our most imaginative concepts to life. You move fluidly from fast, AI-assisted “vibe-coding” for quick conceptual sketches to production-ready frameworks like React and Next.js when structure matters. You are driven by creative curiosity, thrive on collaboration, and are tuned into what is happening at the edges of technology, brand, and culture.

You operate as the studio’s R&D engine. You proactively explore, test, and master emerging technologies, from generative AI and creative coding frameworks to AR/VR and physical computing, and share what you discover to raise the bar for everyone around you. You have a sharp instinct for where technology makes the work better and where it gets in the way. That instinct is what makes you genuinely useful, not just technically capable.

You also work directly with clients and BCG case teams. You translate technical possibilities into ideas people get excited about. You lead workshops, shape narratives, and help organisations understand not just what AI can do but how to make it work inside their actual creative process.

Day to day, you will:

• Build and manage end-to-end creative pipelines, not single artefacts, using prompt chains, agentic workflows, and node-based systems to generate high-fidelity, on-brand creative at scale. You know the difference between a tool and a pipeline and you build the latter
• Design AI-enabled systems where the output improves with every run. That means defining evaluation criteria, building quality gates, and creating feedback loops between what gets made and what actually works
• Audit and redesign creative workflows end-to-end, finding the places where a well-built system saves hours of manual work without sacrificing craft
• Translate creative and strategic briefs into working prototypes, whether that is a real-time 3D visualisation, a prompt-driven generative tool for designers, an interactive brand experience, or something that did not exist as a category until you built it
• Bring new capabilities into the studio before anyone asks for them. You evaluate models, APIs, and platforms, form a view on what matters, and build the proof of concept that makes the case
• Support live project teams on technically complex client work, developing bespoke digital solutions and AI-powered tools in direct response to what the brief demands
• Build capability across the studio. You run workshops, share discoveries, and help designers, producers, and consultants understand what is possible and how to use it well
• Communicate complex ideas clearly and with enthusiasm, to creative directors, to clients, to a room full of people who have never touched a model. You make the technical feel accessible without making it feel smaller

YOU’RE GOOD AT

• Turning a vague brief into a working prototype before the meeting is over
• Writing inventive code across the full range, from a fast vibe-coded sketch in Cursor or Claude Code to a production-grade React or Next.js application, and knowing which mode the moment calls for
• Working with current frontier-model tooling across text, image, video, and audio, Claude, GPT, Gemini, Flux, Veo, Runway, ComfyUI, v0, and connecting them into systems rather than reaching for them one at a time
• Building agentic workflows where models, APIs, and tools are stitched together into something that reasons, evaluates, and iterates. You are at home in node-based systems and you can explain why the architecture is clever
• Knowing when to prompt-engineer, when to fine-tune, and when to build a deterministic step. You understand the trade-offs and you make the call
• Moving between creative and technical contexts without losing the thread of either. You think like a maker in both rooms
• Explaining what is technically possible in a way that gets non-technical people genuinely interested, not just nodding along
• Balancing experimentation with delivery, knowing when to push and when to ship

What You'll Bring

• A degree in Computer Science, Creative Technology, Engineering, Media Arts, or a related field
• 6 to 10 or more years working in creative technology, digital innovation, or a hybrid role, ideally in an agency, innovation lab, or media and technology environment
• Fluency in Python, JavaScript, or similar, with a track record of building things from idea to working execution
• Real, working experience with generative AI tools and platforms, such as Runway, Flux, ComfyUI, or similar, applied in a creative context
• Experience building agentic systems and pipelines: prompt taxonomies, evaluation rubrics, multi-step workflows, API orchestration. You understand RAG, tool use, and context windows at a working level
• Experience with automation frameworks, systems integration, and the judgment to know when to build versus when to connect
• An understanding of how brands work and how digital moments can create something people remember
• Confidence presenting to and working with clients, and the ability to lead a session, shape a narrative, and guide a review

Who You'll Work With

As part of Design Studios, you will collaborate with global designers and colleagues across BCG to bring design expertise and capabilities to clients as well as internal teams. GDS comprises a diverse group of talented design professionals across video, content, digital design, and more—all working collaboratively to deliver the most cutting-edge design solutions.

Additional info

We are Design Studios, an in-house creative agency comprised of cutting-edge professionals creating premium designs. We are a global, multidisciplinary team of design strategists, creative leaders, and digital experts. We craft powerful design stories for BCG to deliver inspiring solutions to our clients’ challenges. As part of BCG, Design Studios partners with consultants and clients to shape our brand by elevating our work through the power of design. We offer guidance and orientation through a strategic and audience-centric approach, and apply design, technology, and media solutions to take BCG’s achievements to the next level.

As bold design leaders, we are fresh, punchy, and playful, while committed to delivering premium business excellence. We recognize how to transform complex ideas into compelling visual experiences, and how to activate new commercial opportunities at the intersection of business and design. We value innovation, co-creation, inspiration, and the business impact that design achieves. We believe in the art of the possible and in applying creative solutions to business challenges. We believe we can advance the world by conquering its complexity through a universal human language—design.

At BCG, our people and relationships are at the heart of everything we do. We believe that in-person collaboration plays an important role in our culture, mentorship, and professional development.

For this role, you will generally be expected to work from a BCG office or in person with clients on a regular basis (typically around 50% of working time), depending on business needs and in line with local policies and practices.

We aim to provide a dynamic and collaborative environment that fosters connection and teamwork.

*** For US locations only ***

In the US, we have a compensation transparency approach.

Total compensation for this role includes base salary, annual discretionary performance bonus, retirement contribution, and a market leading benefits package described below.

• The base salary range for this role in Chicago is $99,000.00 - $137,000.00.

This is an estimated range, however, specific base salaries within the range depend on various factors such as experience and skill set. It is not common for new BCG employees to be hired at the high-end of the salary range. BCG regularly reviews its ranges to ensure market competitiveness.

In addition to your base salary, your total compensation will include a bonus of up to 20% and a generous retirement contribution that starts at 5% and moves to 10% after 2 years.

All of our plans provide best in class coverage:

• Zero dollar ($0) health insurance premiums for BCG employees, spouses, and children

• Low $10 (USD) copays for trips to the doctor, urgent care visits and prescriptions for generic drugs

• Dental coverage, including up to $5,000 in orthodontia benefits

• Vision insurance with coverage for both glasses and contact lenses annually

• Reimbursement for gym memberships and other fitness activities

• Fully vested Profit Sharing Retirement Fund contributions made annually, whether you contribute or not, plus the option for employees to make personal contributions to a 401(k) plan

• Paid Parental Leave and other family benefits such as elective egg freezing, surrogacy, and adoption reimbursement

• Generous paid time off including 12 holidays per year, an annual office closure between Christmas and New Years, and 15 vacation days per year (earned at 1.25 days per month)

• Paid sick time on an as needed basis

Boston Consulting Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under national, provincial, or local law, where applicable, and those with criminal histories will be considered in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws.