Design Director

The opportunity Frame.io, an Adobe Company, is changing the future of how creative work gets done by helping over 1 million creative professionals seamlessly collaborate from all over the world. We have built a product creatives recognize and love through constant innovation and incredible attention to detail. We're looking for a Director of Design to lead a core part of our product design organization and drive both vision and execution for how creative professionals collaborate at a pivotal moment. Creative workflows and tools are rapidly evolving with the advent of generative AI and new technologies like Frame.io’s Camera to Cloud. In this role, you'll lead and inspire a team of talented design managers and individual contributors, setting the creative bar for our product experiences while partnering closely with leadership across product, engineering, and research. This is a role for an accomplished design leader who combines exceptional strategic thinking with a genuine passion for craft. You'll be equally comfortable defining multi‑year product vision, developing organizational capability, and regularly rolling up your sleeves to provide hands‑on creative direction. You should possess deep expertise in product design, proven ability to build and scale high‑performing teams, and an unwavering commitment to design excellence. Your leadership will shape the future of Frame.io, pioneering new experiences that shape how millions of creatives work in the next era of creativity. What you'll do Build, mentor, and grow a world‑class design team. You’ll attract exceptional talent, develop design managers and senior individual contributors, and create a culture and process where designers thrive and do their best work. Shape strategic direction across Frame.io and Adobe. You’ll partner with executive stakeholders to translate business objectives into compelling design vision, identify emerging opportunities in creative collaboration, and ensure our product roadmap reflects deep user understanding and market insight. Provide creative direction and uphold design excellence. You’ll set and maintain the highest standards for design quality. You’ll provide hands‑on creative direction on key initiatives, conduct design reviews that elevate the work, and ensure every product experience reflects Frame.io's commitment to extraordinary craft and attention to detail. Partner closely with product, engineering, research, and marketing leadership. You’ll work cross‑functionally to ensure seamless collaboration and aligned execution. You’ll advocate for design thinking throughout the organization, influence strategic decisions, and build strong relationships that unlock the team’s full potential. Ensure deep customer empathy drives every design decision. You’ll establish frameworks for integrating user research throughout the design process, personally engage with customers to understand their needs, and inspire your team to build products that truly serve creative professionals. Stay on the bleeding edge of creative technology. The creative collaboration landscape is rapidly evolving with generative AI, new production tools, and shifting creative processes. You’ll immerse yourself in these innovations, identify opportunities to shape Frame.io and Adobe’s direction, and provide visionary leadership that keeps us at the forefront of our category. Serve as the champion and storyteller for your team’s work. You’ll represent design in executive forums, craft compelling narratives that bring design decisions to life, and build consensus across leadership. Through excellent presentations, clear communication, and strong relationships, you’ll ensure your team’s contributions are understood and valued, translating design work into business impact. What you need to succeed 5+ years of design leadership, experience managing managers and leading design organizations, plus 10+ years of hands‑on product design experience. You’ve successfully built and scaled design teams at companies that ship high‑quality digital products. Exceptional creative direction capabilities. You have an outstanding aesthetic sense and ability to provide clear, actionable creative direction. You have impeccable taste, know what great looks like, and can articulate a compelling vision that inspires teams to push beyond good to exceptional. A desire to stay in the work. While you’re an experienced leader, you maintain a strong desire to be close to the work and the details. You thrive when you can provide hands‑on creative direction, review designs thoughtfully, and ensure the highest standards of craft are upheld across all touchpoints. People leadership excellence. Track record of building and developing exceptional design teams. You’re a natural coach and mentor who helps designers at all levels grow, establishes the conditions for teams to do their best work, creates psychologically safe environments, and can identify and execute performance management situations when necessary. Proven ability to think strategically about product design at scale. You understand how to balance long‑term vision with near‑term execution and translate business objectives into cohesive design strategies. You understand how to balance qualitative and quantitative insights, know when to validate versus explore, and ensure user needs drive design decisions. You also know how to establish processes that provide clarity, predictability, and accountability without creating bureaucracy, to uphold both high quality standards and work velocity. Excellent storytelling and presentation skills, with the ability to influence senior leadership. You can distill complex design thinking into compelling narratives, present with confidence to executives, and advocate effectively for design investments and strategic initiatives. Proven ability to build strong partnerships with product management, engineering, research, and other disciplines. You create alignment through influence rather than authority, navigate ambiguity with grace, and bring out the best in cross‑functional teams. You can engage meaningfully with engineering partners about implementation and feasibility. An outstanding portfolio. A strong, highly crafted portfolio that demonstrates both your evolution as a design leader and your continued commitment to excellence and craft. Your work should showcase thoughtful problem‑solving, high‑quality execution, and the impact of your creative direction on shipped products. 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 $175,600–$327,800 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. Equal Employment Opportunity 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. #J-18808-Ljbffr