Senior Design Manager, Adobe Firefly Platform

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.

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.

• 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. Your leadership will incite the team to take action for better user and business outcomes. You will need to have excellent written, oral, presentation and storytelling skills to be successful; with the ability to tailor a presentation to any audience, from interns to executives.

• 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.

Must-haves:

• 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.

To be considered for this role, please submit your resume and portfolio. We'd especially like to see strong systems thinking, elegant design solutions, how you collaborate across teams, including engineering & product, and a proven ability to adapt your designs based on what you learn.

Adobe Design creates tools that amplify the world's ability to create and communicate. We're a distributed team of designers, researchers, prototypers, content strategists, program managers, and more who work across Adobe's three product lines: Creative Cloud, Document Cloud and Experience Cloud

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 accommodations@adobe.com or call +1 408-536-3015.

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:

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.