The Design Leadership Pipeline Challenge
Why Fewer Designers Want to Lead — And How We Can Change That
Leadership in UX and web design is at a crossroads. For years, the expected career path was clear — grow your skills, become a senior designer, and eventually step into management. But today, that path seems to be less and less appealing.
Burnout, disillusionment with leadership roles, and shifting career priorities have created a leadership pipeline problem. You may have seen the articles about “conscious unbossing” — many experienced designers are actively avoiding leadership, and younger designers generally don’t even see it as an option worth considering.
According to recent research from talent solutions firm Robert Walters:
52% of Gen-Z professionals don’t want to be middle managers
72% Gen-Z would choose an individual route to progression over managing others
69% of Gen-Z say middle management is too high stress, low reward
89% of employers still think that middle managers play a crucial role in their organization
This leaves companies scrambling to fill leadership roles, sometimes promoting designers who don’t want the job, or worse — letting non-designers dictate design decisions.
So why is this happening? And more importantly, what can organizations do about it?
Why Designers Are Rejecting Leadership Roles
For many designers, leadership looks like a never-ending battle of meetings, alignment discussions, performance reviews, and justifying design decisions to stakeholders who don’t understand or prioritize UX. The higher up you go, the less time you spend actually designing.
A common perception is instead of crafting user experiences, design leaders spend their time navigating politics, chasing buy-in, and managing expectations across product, engineering, and executive teams. While those are valuable skills, they’re not what most designers signed up for when they entered the field.
The job also comes with a significant weight of responsibility. A designer’s success is often tied to the quality of their own work. A design leader, however, is accountable for an entire team’s performance, career growth, and well-being. Many designers don’t want to make that trade.
Another challenge is the constant battle for UX investment. Leaders often find themselves fighting for headcount, budget, and resources — always having to justify why design matters. For those who love the craft, stepping into a role that feels more about defending design than doing it can be discouraging.
The Shift Away from Traditional Management
A major shift is happening among younger professionals, especially Gen Z. Many of them see what leadership looks like and consciously opt out. I’ve personally been turned down multiple time when offering a management promotion to Sr. Designers, and heard similar stories from peers.
Lucy Bisset, Director of Robert Walters North, summarized it perfectly in an interview with Forbes: “Gen Z isn’t turning away from leadership. They’re turning away from a specific type of leadership. They want to lead in ways that align with their values — through expertise, collaboration, and personal growth.”
This trend reflects a movement away from traditional management roles. More young professionals are choosing entrepreneurship, consulting, or specialist roles rather than moving into leadership.
In individual discussions and a poll I ran on LinkedIn I hear three top hesitations over and over. First, they don’t want to manage people — performance reviews, salary discussions, and team dynamics are layers of responsibility they’re just not interested in.
Second, they see management as a high-stress, low-reward position, filled with bureaucracy and political battles rather than meaningful work. They also value autonomy over hierarchy and would rather have control over their own projects than be responsible for managing others.
And the third biggest reason designers hesitate to enter leadership is the fear of losing creativity. Most leadership paths they see remove them from hands-on design, and that’s a dealbreaker. The assumption is that moving into management means giving up the work they love most.
The Career Growth Ceiling in UX Leadership
Another deterrent is that UX leadership often lacks a clear long-term growth path. Unless you’re looking at a design firm or large tech company, design leadership tends to plateau at the director level.
Once you’re a design director, where do you go next? Some pivot into product leadership, but that moves them further from design. Others aim for executive creative or experience leadership roles, but those positions are rare. Many simply feel stuck.
Without clear opportunities for advancement, leadership can feel like a one-way ticket to career stagnation. If designers don’t see a future in leadership, why would they take the risk?
The Risks of a Weak UX Leadership Pipeline
When designers reject leadership, it doesn’t just affect individuals — it weakens entire organizations. Without strong design leadership, product and engineering teams often start making design decisions themselves.
This leads to UX being deprioritized or executed poorly. Junior designers suffer without experienced mentors to guide them, and overall design quality declines. High turnover also becomes a problem. Talented designers leave when they don’t see strong, inspiring leadership above them, and gaps in succession planning mean the disruption of a manager exit is exponentially larger.
If leadership remains unappealing, the industry will struggle to develop the next generation of design executives. Without skilled leaders at the helm, companies risk eroding the impact of design altogether.
Rethinking UX Leadership: Making the Role More Appealing
One of the biggest misconceptions about leadership is that it removes designers from creative work. In reality, leadership is still a form of design — it just happens at a different scale.
A good design leader doesn’t stop solving problems. They just shift from designing screens to designing teams, processes, and systems. Coaching designers is a lot like art direction. Structuring a design organization is an exercise in system design. Advocating for design within a company requires creative storytelling and strategy.
The shift is not away from design but toward shaping the conditions that allow great design to happen. Organizations need to show designers that leadership is an extension of design thinking, not an exit from it.
Another way to make leadership more attractive is by improving its structure. If leadership is a constant grind of meetings, internal politics, and budget fights, no one will want the job. Companies need to reduce unnecessary stress by limiting back-to-back meetings and creating better support systems for design leaders.
Offering hybrid leadership roles can also help. Some designers might want to mentor and guide teams while still contributing to high-level creative work. Structuring leadership so it allows for both strategic oversight and hands-on contribution makes the role more appealing.
What Companies and Designers Can Do Now
For companies, the first step is to stop treating leadership as the only way for designers to grow. The second is to fix the reality of the role — if leadership is miserable, no one will want it. Investing in mentorship, leadership coaching, and structural changes that make leadership more sustainable will go a long way in reversing the trend.
For designers considering leadership, the key is to recognize that leadership can still be creative and fulfilling. If the traditional model of leadership doesn’t appeal, look for hybrid roles that allow for influence without completely stepping away from design. Finding a mentor who has successfully transitioned into leadership without losing their passion for design can also provide valuable perspective.
Defining Clear Career Paths Beyond Management
One of the biggest blockers to strong UX leadership is the lack of well-defined senior roles. If leadership is going to be an attractive path, designers need to know where it leads.
Companies need to build clearer career paths for design leaders, giving them options that go beyond middle management. That could mean roles like VP of Experience, Chief Experience Officer, or Executive Creative Director. It could also include strategic IC paths like Principal Designer, where designers can have broad influence without direct reports.
Fixing UX Leadership for the Future
The leadership pipeline crisis isn’t just a business problem — it’s a design industry challenge. If companies don’t rethink leadership structures, they’ll struggle to build strong, strategic design organizations.
The future of design leadership depends on making it a path worth taking. Designers don’t need to be forced into management, but they do need to see it as a role where they can still create, solve problems, and make an impact.
The best design leaders aren’t the ones who walked away from design. They’re the ones who figured out how to design something bigger.
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I write weekly articles for designers and design leaders who want to grow their impact, lead with clarity, and build careers that actually feel sustainable.