Creative Director - Expression

Uber is hiring a Creative Director to lead the Product Expression team and define how Uber comes to life through illustration, motion, design language, visual storytelling, and moments of delight.

Responsibilities

• Define Uber’s product expression by establishing and evolving a creative vision for illustration, motion, visual storytelling, and moments of delight across Uber’s products
• Set an exceptional craft bar by developing a clear point of view on quality and helping teams consistently meet it without sacrificing speed or scalability
• Lead hands-on by exploring concepts, prototyping, creating visual and motion direction, and working alongside designers when direct involvement benefits the work
• Lead and grow the Expression team by inspiring, coaching, and developing designers across illustration, motion, and visual design
• Build a team culture of experimentation, critique, and exceptional craft
• Create systems, not only moments by converting strong creative ideas into reusable principles, patterns, tools, and scalable systems across products, teams, markets, and use cases
• Partner closely with Product Design and Design Systems to ensure expression is an intentional part of the experience rather than an added layer at the end
• Navigate a matrix organization by building relationships across Product, Brand, Marketing, Engineering, and Design and aligning teams with different priorities while keeping a coherent creative vision
• Connect Brand and Product by translating Uber’s brand into meaningful product experiences, while accounting for expression-specific needs, constraints, and opportunities
• Lead through influence by building excitement around creative direction, communicating the rationale, and aligning senior leaders and cross-functional partners without relying on organizational authority
• Champion experimentation by encouraging broad exploration, quick prototyping, and unexpected ideas before converging on solutions that scale
• Direct creative reviews by leading critiques, working sessions, and creative explorations that strengthen the work and make feedback principles clear
• Move between long-term vision and detail, including timing of animations, illustration composition, and interaction details that feel distinctly Uber

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in creative direction, product design, visual design, motion design, illustration, or related disciplines
• Significant experience leading creative teams and setting creative direction for large-scale digital products, brands, or experiences
• Portfolio showing exceptional craft and creative leadership across multiple forms of expression, with particular strength in areas such as motion, illustration, visual design, or interactive experiences
• Demonstrated ability to remain hands-on while leading and elevating the work of others
• Exceptional visual, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate creative decisions and build alignment with creative and non-creative audiences

Preferred qualifications

• Experience defining or evolving an expressive design language across a large product ecosystem
• Deep expertise in one or more creative disciplines, particularly motion, illustration, visual design, or interactive storytelling, with strong judgment across the others
• Experience building creative systems that balance consistency with expression, enabling distinctive experiences without fragmenting the broader product
• Proven ability to operate in a highly matrixed organization and influence senior partners across Product, Engineering, Brand, Marketing, and Design
• Experience collaborating with design systems teams and translating creative direction into scalable components, patterns, guidance, and tooling
• Strong understanding of how motion and illustration can serve functional purposes, including guiding attention, communicating state, creating understanding, celebrating moments, and building emotional connection (not only decoration)
• Experience using emerging technologies, prototyping tools, and AI to expand how creative teams explore, create, and scale their work
• Ability to connect creative ambition with customer needs, product strategy, and business outcomes
• Experience designing for global products, including how expression adapts across cultures, markets, accessibility needs, and contexts
• A strong point of view with low ego, advocating for quality while inviting critique, evolving ideas, and improving through collaboration

Compensation

• San Francisco, CA onsite: USD 241,000 - 268,000 per year

Benefits

• Eligible to participate in Uber’s bonus program (for all US locations)
• May be offered an equity award and other types of comp
• 401(k) plan eligibility for all full-time employees
• Various benefits

Workplace / Remote requirements

• Unless approved for full remote work, employees must spend at least 50% of their time in-office
• Some roles (for example, those at greenlight hubs) require full-time in-office presence