WHAT DOES AN INTERIOR DESIGN MANAGER DO?

Published: Oct 02, 2025 - The Interior Design Manager leads and develops teams to deliver high-quality, cost-effective home furnishing solutions that reflect brand identity and exceed customer expectations. This role drives creativity and commercial relevance by translating insights into functional and aesthetic designs, maintaining knowledge of trends, and coordinating with cross-functional teams to support business growth and profitability. The manager also oversees recruitment, competence development, and succession planning while contributing to national networks and ensuring design excellence across all store areas.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Interior Design Manager

1. Interior Design Manager Duties

  • Team Leadership: Lead, inspire and challenge to strengthen the uniqueness of the IKEA identity in range presentation and home furnishing solutions such as room settings, homes, vignettes and sales support areas
  • Customer Insight: Improve their knowledge of people's lives at home and translate this knowledge into relevant, functional, aesthetic and commercial home furnishing solutions
  • Showroom Development: Support in creating a Showroom matrix that reflects a wide variety of styles, living situations and price levels to create a good tempo with distinct visual impressions
  • Global Adaptation: Coach and support in using global tools and solutions and make the global solutions locally relevant
  • Trend Knowledge: Inspire the team with up-to-date knowledge about home furnishing, retailing and trends
  • Business Planning: Actively support the development of the country's business plan and Com&In action plan with interior design initiatives that are focused on growing the business and supporting long-term profitability
  • Cross Collaboration: Contribute with deep knowledge and home furnishing competence in working together with the Com&In team and other functions
  • Opportunity Management: Act quickly to exploit commercial opportunities and understand the impact of Com&In actions on the financial results
  • Network Contribution: Actively contribute to the global Interior Design network and share global directions and tools
  • Talent Development: Secure succession planning by constantly searching for potential candidates
  • Visitor Focus: Keep visitors in mind and minimise disruption when working on the shop floor

2. Interior Design Manager Details

  • Aesthetic Alignment: Collaborate with Design Lead to define and maintain an on-brand project aesthetic appropriate to the market, neighborhood, and program
  • Layout Development: Collaborate with the Project Team Architect to develop layout(s)
  • Brand Compliance: Collaborate with the Design Lead to ensure the project design intent follows WW brand standards and best practices
  • Concept Execution: Collaborate with the Design Lead on the design concept/mood and how to successfully implement from the concept phase through project execution
  • Vendor Selection: Identify and select products and vendors that meet brand standards
  • Schedule Management: Work closely with FF&E Sourcing Lead and Logistics Lead to generate and manage FF&E project schedules and track FF&E supply chain (lead times, quantities, finishes)
  • Documentation Support: Substantial involvement during Documentation and Pre-construction/Bidding to convey design intent and finalize the selection of products and vendors
  • Installation Oversight: Substantial involvement during the Staging and Closeout Stages to ensure design intent is maintained through project installation

3. Interior Design Manager Responsibilities

  • Consultant Management: Assist in the management of the interior design consultants and the interior design process to ensure design excellence and quality, and that deliverables meet company standards and project briefs
  • Scope Development: Assist the Director in the development of the interior design scope for the interior design consultants' selection and appointment process
  • Program Coordination: Coordinate with the interior design consultants for the incorporation of the required program in the interior design
  • Design Studies: Assist with required in-house design studies
  • Project Management: Design and manage in-house projects
  • Submission Review: Assist in the review of interior designers' milestone submissions on quality and adherence to Design Briefs and coordinate with the operators
  • Material Evaluation: Assist in the review and comment on material samples, mood boards and contractors' submissions
  • Fabrication Monitoring: Assist in monitoring the quality of off and on-site fabrication from a design perspective and reporting of the progress of interior design work on projects
  • Cost Control: Assist in the management of project FF&E costs and schedule
  • Operations Interface: Work closely with the appointed consultants during all stages of projects to ensure practical, effective and durable designs at the indicated budgets, interfacing with internal and external Operations Management
  • Requirement Integration: Ensure timely incorporation of operational requirements within the project design
  • Issue Resolution: Conduct regular site walk-throughs and resolve design issues that arise during construction
  • Site Inspection: Conduct site and factory visits with the Interior Design Consultants to ensure implementation and compliance with approved design intent and direction

4. Interior Design Manager Job Summary

  • Team Leadership: Lead and manage a team of Interior Design co-workers and inspire and challenge them to strengthen the uniqueness of the IKEA identity in range presentation and home furnishing solutions in room settings, homes, vignettes and sales support areas
  • Customer Insight: Responsible for gathering and translating insights from home visit interviews into locally relevant, functional, aesthetic and commercial home furnishing solutions that exceed customer expectations and reflect home furnishing the IKEA way
  • Showroom Development: Lead a team of Interior Design co-workers in creating the store's Showroom matrix that reflects a wide variety of styles, living situations and price levels that create a good tempo with distinct visual impressions
  • Quality Assurance: Ensure that interior design co-workers execute home furnishing solutions with high quality, simplicity, cost-effectiveness and efficiency using global tools and best practices
  • Trend Knowledge: Maintain deep and up-to-date knowledge about home furnishing, retailing and trends to support the Com&In manager to facilitate workshops that generate creative directions that inspire and surprise visitors with strong visual impressions
  • Business Support: Actively support the department action plan with interior design initiatives that are focused on growing the business and supporting long-term profitability and executing agreed plans together with the Com&In team and other functions
  • Talent Development: Responsible for the recruitment and competence development of Interior Design co-workers and securing succession planning by constantly searching for potential candidates
  • Opportunity Management: Act quickly to exploit commercial opportunities and ensure the Interior Design co-workers understand the impact of Com&In actions on the financial results
  • Visitor Focus: Ensure the team always keeps visitors in mind, disruption is minimized and communicate changes when working on the shop floor
  • Network Contribution: Actively contribute to the national Interior Design Managers network and share national directions and global tools with the Interior Design co-workers in the store

5. Interior Design Manager Accountabilities

  • Project Delivery: Managing fundamental aspects of project delivery during construction administration
  • Plan Review: Reviewing building plans and design documents for appropriateness and constructability
  • Team Coordination: Assigning, coordinating, and reviewing the work of project teams, including interior design, architecture, engineering and specialty consultants
  • Client Interface: Interfacing with client contacts and their representatives
  • Meeting Leadership: Leading and coordinating project meetings, including the development of meeting agendas and record-keeping
  • Meeting Participation: Attending internal and external meetings
  • Staff Mentoring: Working with junior staff to help guide, mentor, and delegate
  • Document Development: Responsible for initiating and developing construction document drawings through completion for assigned projects in conformance with the requirements, applicable codes, and design criteria established by the project’s discipline leaders
  • Design Execution: Complete design assignments of limited to moderate complexity
Relevant Information
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