Sr Director of Design, Firefly

The opportunity

Adobe Design is looking for an AI native, product-minded design leader to join our Adobe Design team to lead design for Firefly. This role will define the future of AI-powered creativity for creatives and creators.
Firefly operates in one of the most dynamic and competitive spaces in technology. New generative AI capabilities reach market daily. Our differentiation comes from being commercially safe, agnostic of models and deeply integrated, workflow-level experiences that make AI genuinely useful inside the tools that creatives and creators rely on. 

This is not a role for someone who leads from behind the team. We are looking for a builder who leads builders - a hands-on strategic leader who combines product intuition, design craft, competitive fluency, and growth accountability to move Firefly’s experience forward with speed and conviction. You will own experience outcomes, not just design outputs.

This is a unique opportunity for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, 0-to-1 product environment and is energized by the challenge of shipping AI-native products at scale - pushing the boundaries of what’s possible while delivering measurable business impact.

Who you are

You are an experienced leader with a track record of building and shipping AI-native consumer grade products, preferably catering to creative markets. Your lead product thinking from the design seat. You bring a strong point of view to every room you enter, grounded in deep understanding of user behavior, competitive dynamics, and understand business mechanics. You know how to translate business goals into design strategy and design strategy into shipped products. You know how to influence business goals that you don’t own. 

You are a steadying force in ambiguity. When market dynamics shifts and priorities evolve, you can contextualize this for the organization so your team stays focused and energized. You earn trust across functions through the quality of your judgment, showing prototypes of ideas that work, and follow-through on commitments.

You are driven by action and results. You take full ownership of your responsibilities and embody an entrepreneurial spirit that learns from failure and moves forward.

In this role, you will:

Own Product Experience Outcomes

• Define and drive design strategy for Firefly tightly coupled to MAU growth, retention, and competitive differentiation - not as abstract vision, but as prioritized, actionable design initiatives with measurable goals.

• Bring a clear, defensible point of view on which problems to solve, how to differentiate at the workflow level (Home, Boards, Mobile, Studio), and how design decisions map to business levers.

• Drive fast, data-informed decision-making with clear experimentation loops. Balance intuition-led patterns with a test-and-learn approach grounded in user data, competitive analysis, and growth metrics.

Elevate Craft and Velocity Simultaneously

• Personally lead regular design reviews that raise the quality bar across Firefly surfaces. Own workflow cohesion and proactively address UI debt. Even better institute organizational practices that allow us to get ahead of creating UI debt. 

• Increase execution speed by making decisions in the room, unblocking teams quickly, and creating clear pathways forward rather than surfacing blockers without solutions.

• Guide non-designer builders (PMs, engineers experimenting with AI-generated UI) to shape their explorations into coherent, high-quality user experiences.

Drive Cross-Functional Alignment Through Influence

• Show up as a decisive, strategic thought partner with Product Management, Engineering, Data Science, and Research leaders. Lead alignment conversations—don’t delegate them or defer to resourcing discussions.

• Work with other design leaders who are responsible for Firefly’s agentic experiences and others who are contributing to the Firefly charter through dotted line relationships. 

• Build tighter cross-functional rhythms that result in faster decision-making and clearer accountability. When decisions are made in leadership forums, reliably communicate and cascade them to the design team.

• Navigate Adobe’s matrixed organization with agility, working across multiple teams, functions, and structures to drive incremental, decisive progress.

• Present frequently to SVPs, VPs, Senior Directors, and executive teams. Bring exceptional executive presence to influence senior stakeholders and C-staff through compelling storytelling and evidence-based design rationale.

Build and Develop World-Class Talent

• Hire, grow, and retain exceptional designers. Develop team members who think in terms of growth, competitive differentiation, and data in addition to their existing superpower of design craft. 

• Lead with purpose: help designers overcome complex challenges, set career goals, and develop the product leadership muscles the team needs at this stage of Firefly’s maturity.

• Foster an inclusive, empowering environment where feedback flows openly, ambiguity creates way to clarity, and the team stays focused on delivering impact.

Maintain Continuous Competitive Fluency

• Operate with continuous competitive awareness—not episodic updates from PM. Know the landscape deeply enough to identify workflow-level differentiation opportunities and articulate them to the team and cross-functional partners.

• Stay hands-on with emerging AI tools, methods, and processes. Champion and scale the use of AI-assisted design and coding tools within the team to accelerate output and experimentation.

What you need to succeed

• Leadership: Proven experience leading and managing design teams at the Senior Director level or above, including managing multiple levels of managers. You inspire teams to act on behalf of better user and business outcomes.

• Product Orientation: Demonstrated history of driving product experience strategy, interaction design, and craft for v1 or early-stage products. You’ve owned experience outcomes (activation, adoption, engagement, retention) - not just design deliverables that support these goals.

• AI-Native Fluency: Deep, hands-on experience building AI-native or generative AI product experiences. You understand the design patterns, constraints, and opportunities unique to AI-powered workflows. This is not a nice-to-have for the AI product you would be leading. 

• Cross-Functional Influence: Ability to collaborate with and influence multiple SVPs, VPs, and Senior Directors. Exceptional executive presence and storytelling skills. You lead alignment as you see gaps. 

• Organizational Agility: Proven ability to navigate highly matrixed organizations, working across multiple teams, functions, and structures with decisiveness and clarity.

• Craft Excellence: Superb visual and interaction design sensibility. Extensive knowledge of user-centered design principles, information architecture, and UX/UI methodologies. You actively raise the bar, not just set it.

• Communication: Excellent written, oral, presentation, and storytelling skills. Ability to sell design strategy through to senior leadership and drive alignment through compelling narratives and evidence.

• Steady Leadership: Demonstrated ability to provide calm, focused direction during periods of ambiguity and organizational change. You filter complexity for your team rather than amplifying it.

About Adobe Design

Adobe Design is the multidisciplinary, global organization behind Adobe experiences. Our full-stack team includes design researchers, design engineers, experience designers, brand designers, content strategists, and program managers dedicated to delivering exceptional experiences for Adobe users.

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours. 

Let’s Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email [email protected].

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.

 

Expected Pay Range:

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several  U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $188,600 -- $385,900 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.

 

In California, the pay range for this position is $248,200 - $385,900

At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans.  Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California:

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

Colorado:

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.