Head of Design, Creative Studio

Adobe•San Francisco, CA

3d•$128,100 - $289,900•Hybrid

About The Position

Adobe empowers everyone, everywhere to imagine, create and bring digital experiences to life. We are looking for curious, ambitious makers who want to help define world-class creativity in this new era. Adobe Creative is Adobe’s in-house brand-creative engine, developing the ideas, campaigns, and assets that power Adobe’s brand and business. We are part of the broader Content & Creative (“C&C”) organization. Together, C&C commissions and produces work while equipping teams across Adobe’s Global Marketing Organization and the company to create, adapt, and distribute high-quality work with greater speed and consistency. Adobe makes the tools the world uses to create. Our own creative work should set the standard for what those tools make possible. Adobe Creative is looking for a visionary Head of Design to define design excellence for Adobe and build the practice, systems and culture that bring it to life across everything we create. You will lead design across our creative, content and experiences, from high-velocity everyday work to major global campaigns, product launches and Adobe’s most visible moments. You will raise the quality of the work at every scale, creating greater coherence without making it repetitive or predictable. Working upstream, you will establish the principles, frameworks, and practices that help teams make stronger design decisions earlier. You will translate them into tools, templates, and AI-enabled workflows that help internal teams and external partners deliver exceptional work at scale. The Head of Brand owns Adobe’s identity architecture and core brand system. You own the design practice and creative expression across the work, ensuring the brand is interpreted and brought to life with exceptional craft, intelligence and imagination. Design leadership at Adobe extends beyond traditional graphic design. It includes typography, image-making, art direction, motion, digital behavior, spatial experience, editorial thinking, emerging technology, and the creative use of AI. You are a maker first. You remain close to the tools, the teams, and the work. Your authority comes from your eyes, your judgment, and your ability to make the work better.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in design, art direction, or multidisciplinary creative leadership.
A world-class portfolio demonstrating exceptional craft across creative, content and experiences.
Significant experience as a senior design leader, Executive Creative Director, Design Director or equivalent.
Meaningful industry recognition through D&AD, Cannes Lions, The One Show, ADC, AIGA or equivalent.
Experience leading design across both high-velocity output and major flagship work.
A track record of building design practices, systems and teams, not only reviewing finished work.
Exceptional taste and the ability to explain clearly why work succeeds or falls short.
Deep expertise in typography, art direction and image-making, with strong fluency across motion, digital, spatial, editorial and emerging design practices.
Experience translating brand systems into distinctive and evolving creative expression.
Experience directing agencies, design studios, and specialist partners.
Deep fluency with Adobe Creative Cloud, Firefly and generative AI workflows.
A clear point of view on how AI changes design practice, authorship and creative scale.
A commanding presenter who can communicate the value of design to senior executives.
A genuine and current understanding of culture, design, technology, art, fashion, entertainment and creator communities.
A track record of building multidisciplinary teams, developing future leaders and maintaining a high standard through speed, ambiguity and change.

Responsibilities

Define and hold the design craft standard across Adobe Creative.
Establish a clear point of view on world-class design in the age of AI.
Build shared principles for typography, image-making, art direction, motion, interaction and emerging visual practices.
Raise the design standard across everything we make, from high-velocity work to our most visible global moments.
Ensure the work feels connected and recognizably Adobe without becoming repetitive or formulaic.
Build frameworks, tools, and working practices that enable strong design decisions from the start.
Partner with the Head of Brand to translate Adobe’s identity system into distinctive and adaptable creative expression.
Partner with Production, Operations and Creative Technology to protect craft while supporting speed and scale.
Lead design from early creative development through final execution.
Set the art direction and design craft across Adobe’s creative, content and experiences.
Shape Adobe’s most visible global campaigns, product launches, cultural moments and live experiences.
Ensure strong ideas scale across channels and formats without losing their intelligence or visual impact.
Partner with the Head of Campaigns to turn breakthrough ideas into compelling visual worlds.
Partner with the Head of Copy to develop visual and verbal expression as one connected creative system.
Direct agencies, design studios and specialist collaborators from a clear internal Adobe point of view.
Hold externally produced work to the same standard as internal creative.
Lead and develop Creative Directors, Associate Creative Directors, Art Directors, and Designers.
Build a strong leadership bench and clear pathways for makers to grow.
Recruit exceptional designers with diverse perspectives, multidisciplinary skills, and a deep commitment to craft.
Create a culture of direct feedback, high standards, experimentation, generosity, and continuous learning.
Keep senior design leaders close to the work and protect meaningful time for making.
Build flexible teams around the creative opportunity rather than fixed structures.
Connect designers across the organization, so knowledge, tools, and creative learning are shared.
Define Adobe Creative’s point of view on how AI changes design practice, craft and authorship.
Build AI-native workflows that expand creative possibility and accelerate iteration without lowering the standard.
Establish principles for evaluating AI-assisted work through originality, intention, taste, craft and brand distinction.
Define where AI can support scale and where human authorship and judgment remain essential.
Partner with Product as a creative customer zero, testing emerging capabilities through real work and translating learning into useful feedback.
Ensure teams understand responsible AI, provenance, creator rights and Content Credentials.
Represent design in executive and cross-functional forums.
Translate creative direction and craft decisions into clear, actionable choices.
Advocate for design to be involved earlier in strategic, product and creative development.
Connect design excellence to audience impact, brand distinction and business value.
Present work with clarity, confidence, and conviction.