Senior Design Manager, Adobe Firefly Platform

Adobe•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

Changing the world through digital experiences is what Adobe’s all about. We give everyone—from emerging artists to global brands—everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences! We’re passionate about empowering people to create beautiful and powerful images, videos, and apps, and transform how companies interact with customers across every screen. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and are committed to creating exceptional employee experiences where everyone is respected and has access to equal opportunity. We realize that new ideas can come from everywhere in the organization, and we know the next big idea could be yours! The opportunity Are you passionate about the future of creativity and the role of Generative AI in that journey? Adobe is looking for a Senior Design Manager for Firefly Platform to lead the team that is designing the best next-generation experiences for creativity. We are seeking someone with exceptional visual and interaction design skills, impeccable aesthetic judgement, and an unreasonably high bar for design quality. This person will have the ability to guide a team of designers through a strong design process and quickly orient themselves to different projects, immediately adding value to product designs that inspire delight and bring clarity to the experience. The team you will manage is responsible for high quality intuitive designs and diplomatically balancing inputs from multiple partners while representing a strong and confident customer-centric POV. You and your team will be partnering closely with many cross-functional stakeholders defining the future where generative technology will accelerate human creativity, not replace it. What you’ll do As a leader with a vision on our team, you will be an integral part of designing comprehensive experiences to transform the future of Firefly. Because what we do involves many partner teams, we need someone who is motivated by collaboration and driving progress toward the best solutions through leadership and innovation. You need to be flexible and adaptable, finding ways to proactively move forward through ambiguity.

Requirements

A deep understanding of creative workflows and personal experience working as a creative with deep connections to the creative community.
4+ years of creative leadership experience, with a proven track record of leading teams through large-scale, innovative projects that delight.
A deep understanding of design, prototyping, and the development process across desktop, mobile and platforms.
Experience influencing and championing user-centric design across functions.
Ability to effectively collaborate with other cross stakeholders by influence.
Empathetic leadership to cultivate an inclusive and empowering environment for the designers to do innovative and impactful work.
A track record for working with leadership on ambiguous problems and crafting big-picture strategies driven by design.
Excellent instincts for balancing creative vision with team dynamics and business objectives.
The ability to facilitate collaboration across product/design/engineering teams in the early stages of strategic projects. This may sometimes involve driving design thinking workshops.
A degree or equivalent experience in a design-related field (HCI, interaction, visual).
Deep expertise in problem framing from customers’ point of view and solving problems through storytelling and high design craft.
Comfort mentoring all levels of designers, while encouraging an inclusive and empowering environment for other designers to do innovative and impactful work.
A demonstrated ability to deliver exceptional visual and UI design execution.
High level of proficiency with Figma and Adobe creative tools.
Embodying a learner's mentality. AI and new technology are always changing!

Nice To Haves

A background in leading a platform team and succeeding within a matrix organization.
Prior experience in design systems and a track record of solving complex design problems with elegant, intuitive, and performant solutions.

Responsibilities

Lead and mentor a high-performing team in crafting and owning a cohesive, innovative, intuitive and scalable experience.
Attract design talent to the team, and hire, grow and retain talent.
Jump in on key work streams, being responsible for the strategy and execution for high-impact projects.
Partner cross-functionally with teams across Adobe Design, product, engineering, marketing, research, and content to envision the possibilities and opportunities for future technology.
Drive a high volume of projects ranging in complexity, balancing macro and micro perspectives and company priorities with a strategic approach.
Work across a complex product space, serving as a champion for cohesive workflows and empowering your team to drive alignment among collaborators.
Influence and be a key partner to design leadership in conceptualizing the future of our product surfaces; focusing on long-term vision and near-term goals.
Socialize new insights and ideas with design rationale grounded in user research and business goals.
Inspire the team to push creative boundaries through critique, storytelling, and by example.
Build an impactful collaborative environment and encourage deep partnerships with cross-functional teams, setting a high bar for design craft, conceiving, defining, and driving design strategy.