Senior Manager, Components Experience Strategy

The Role The Senior Manager, Components Experience Strategy is a design leader within Human Interface Design responsible for defining how interior vehicle components contribute to a cohesive, intuitive, and distinctive customer experience. This role translates GM and Design strategy into clear direction for cockpit and cabin touchpoints, portfolio priorities, design criteria, and operating plans across programs, brands, and regions. Operating with broad latitude in a complex environment, this leader shapes enterprise initiatives, influences senior decisions, and connects component choices to customer experience, brand equity, usability, feasibility, and business outcomes. The role will help establish the future direction of physical and digital interaction across the vehicle interior while strengthening the organization’s design capability and leadership pipeline. What You’ll Do Define and lead long-term strategy for interior vehicle component experiences across major programs, portfolios, and studios, ensuring alignment with GM business strategy, customer needs, and brand direction. Establish vision and design direction for customer-facing interior touchpoints, including instrument panel elements, center stack and console components, door-mounted controls, steering wheel touchpoints, display surrounds, storage interfaces, and trim-integrated interaction points. Translate strategy into actionable component priorities, design criteria, operating plans, resource choices, and measurable objectives for teams and leaders across the organization. Lead complex, ambiguous, cross-functional challenges involving interior component integration while balancing design intent with ergonomics, human factors, packaging, engineering, manufacturing, timing, cost, and quality requirements. Define how physical component experiences work with digital and visual interaction layers to deliver a cohesive Human Interface Design strategy across hardware and software touchpoints. Use design judgment, customer understanding, data, competitive insight, and trend awareness to anticipate future-state interior component experience direction before it reaches the market. Align senior stakeholders, elevate organizational standards, develop future component design leaders, and own strategic initiatives and KPIs that improve customer experience and functional results. Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications) Extensive experience leading interior components, industrial, creative, Human Interface Design, or automotive design strategy across complex programs, portfolios, or studios. Deep expertise in interior component design visioning, portfolio thinking, and translating customer, brand, and business needs into actionable design direction. Strong understanding of how physical interior components contribute to the broader human interface, including usability, ergonomics, controls, touchpoints, and integration with digital experiences. Proven success influencing senior leaders and aligning cross-functional stakeholders in high-ambiguity, high-visibility environments. Demonstrated experience leading leaders, building teams, mentoring managers, and developing talent across multiple design disciplines or studios. Strong understanding of the interplay among design, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, brand execution, and customer experience within the vehicle interior. Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design, Transportation Design, Product Design, Human Factors, or a related field. What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications) Advanced degree in Industrial Design, Transportation Design, Product Design, Human Factors, or a related field. Experience shaping interior component strategy for global automotive brands, regions, or multi-studio design organizations. Experience establishing design operating models, governance, measurement frameworks, or KPIs for enterprise design initiatives. Strong executive storytelling and