Principal Designer, Adobe Express

The opportunity

We’re looking for a deeply innovative, strategic, and forward-thinking Principal Designer to join the Adobe Express Design team. In this role, you’ll be a champion for seamless, end-to-end user experiences that are scalable, reusable, and inclusive. You’ll help shape the future of storytelling in a world transformed by AI—rethinking workflows and unlocking new creative possibilities for our users.

About the team

Adobe Express is on a mission to help business owners, social marketers, communicators, and side hustlers create standout content in minutes. Our design team is passionate about delivering a fast, easy, and fun creative experience that empowers users to bring their ideas to life—beautifully and effortlessly.

Learn more at http://express.adobe.com

What you’ll do

• Design seamless, end-to-end experiences that cater to diverse needs, are scalable and reusable, and ensure a consistent yet adaptable user experience.
• Craft best-in-class visionary concepts for the future of cross-team creation while confidently persuading senior and executive leadership to invest in and pivot toward these strategic opportunities.
• Demonstrate a proven track record of designing and shipping products that not only meet user needs but also deliver measurable impact. You take pride in your work and ensure it serves a clear purpose.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including product managers, engineers, researchers, and other designers (within Express and across other Adobe product offerings such as Document Cloud).
• Lead design initiatives from driving strategy to concept and execution through launch, ensuring consistency and adaptability across platforms.
• Advocate for user needs and accessibility, ensuring our tools serve a diverse and global audience.
• Collaborate with researchers and cross-functional teams to explore and integrate emerging technologies—especially AI—ensuring our solutions stay innovative, relevant, and at the forefront of creative expression.

What you bring:

• Tackle complex interaction challenges with enthusiasm, visualizing and communicating ideas through sketches, storyboards, high-fidelity mockups, prototypes, or animations.
• A strong portfolio showcasing innovative and user-centered design solutions.
• Experience designing for complex, multi-platform products.
• A proactive, collaborative mindset with excellent communication skills.
• Passion for creativity, storytelling, and empowering users through design.
• A deep curiosity about the future of design and technology, especially in the AI space.

What you need to succeed

Must-haves:

• Experience: A related degree or 8+ years of equivalent experience in product design, with a proven track record of success.
• A related degree or 8+ years of experience in product design.
• Strong visual and interaction design skills across web and mobile platforms.
• Proficiency with tools like Figma and Origami, with a sharp eye for craft and detail.
• A track record of fostering inclusive, empowering environments that drive innovation.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and project management abilities.
• Confidence engaging with stakeholders at all levels—from ICs to executives.
• Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to bring clarity to complex challenges.
• Strategic thinking that bridges design and business to drive cross-functional initiatives.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience building AI related features.

Preferred Accessibility Design Skills:

• Experience designing accessible and inclusive interfaces for people with disabilities.
• Understanding of applying WCAG conformance criteria in design, specifically testing comps, wireframes, and prototypes for accessibility standards.
• Accessibility certifications CPACC, WAS, CPWA, or ADS from the IAAP preferred.

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 $173,400 -- $317,000 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.

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.