A

Adobe

Global software company delivering Creative Cloud

Head of Design - Adobe Creative

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
$131.5k - $286.6k/yr+ Annual Incentive Plan + New-hire equity award
Expert
San Francisco, CA, USA+2 moreMore locations: Los Angeles, CA, USA | New York, NY, USA
In Person
Art, Graphics & Animation

About the job

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

About the company

Adobe offers software for creating and managing digital content across media, organized into Creative Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Document Cloud. Its products run on desktop and mobile apps that sync with cloud services, letting users create, edit, share, and optimize content across devices. Adobe differentiates itself with a broad, integrated ecosystem that covers design, marketing workflows, and document management, backed by a large user base and scalable enterprise solutions. Its goal is to help people and organizations produce and improve digital content at scale.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

San Jose, California

Founded

1994

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Q2 FY2026 revenue hit $6.62 billion, up 13%, and guidance rose June 11.
  • Firefly audio tools became generally available August 20, 2026, broadening AI monetization.
  • Adobe expanded free AI access in September 2026, widening the funnel before conversion.

What critics are saying

  • Shantanu Narayen and CFO Dan Durn exits in 2026 prolong strategy uncertainty.
  • The Foundry trademark lawsuit filed March 12, 2026 threatens Firefly Foundry branding and damages.
  • Copyright suits over Firefly training data expose Adobe to injunctions, payouts, and creator backlash.

What makes Adobe unique

  • Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere remain entrenched standards across professional creative workflows.
  • Firefly AI Assistant, launched April 15, 2026, embeds Adobe inside daily creation loops.
  • Adobe's subscription ARR reached $27.1 billion in Q2 FY2026, locking recurring revenue.

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Benefits

  • Company Equity
  • 401(k) Company Match

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

2%

1 year growth

2%

2 year growth

2%
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