# Samantha Warren > Senior Director of Design | AI, Generative UX, Platform Strategy | Org Builder | Adobe Firefly Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/samanthawarren Over 15+ years, I’ve led design for creative and AI-first products, translating emerging technologies into intuitive, high-quality user experiences. My work focuses on simplifying complex systems, accelerating workflows, and enabling new forms of creativity through thoughtful UX and product strategy. At Adobe, I’ve built and led teams ranging from small, senior groups to multi-pillar organizations of 60+ designers, scaling organizations nearly 3× across Creative Cloud Services and Firefly. In highly matrixed environments, my teams are known for setting the standard in cross-functional partnership across product, engineering, research, marketing, and business leadership. I operate at the intersection of strategy, craft, and organizational leadership. I partner closely with executives to define product direction, raise the quality bar, and ensure design drives measurable impact. I’m particularly focused on how AI can meaningfully transform end-to-end workflows, reduce friction, and unlock new capabilities for users without sacrificing control or clarity. I build teams with high standards, strong culture, and clear accountability, creating environments where designers do their best work and innovation scales across products, platforms, and global audiences. ## Work Experience ### Sr Director of Design, Adobe Firefly @ Adobe Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States I lead design for Adobe Firefly, a GenAI-first product for creators, taking it from a 0→1 experimental project out of Adobe’s MINT team to a fully scaled product. Over the past year, I have helped reimagine Firefly with a new monetization model and innovative GenAI features that are transforming how creators create. I also grew and developed a high-performing design team 2×, fostering psychological safety and cultivating high-caliber talent to navigate rapid growth, organizational transformation, and the fast-evolving AI landscape, while leading with authenticity. Key initiatives under my leadership: Redesign & Reboot: We developed intuitive interfaces for generative AI features and created a forward-focused visual language that reflects a future-oriented AI product, driving improved usability and engagement. Firefly Boards: The team designed and launched this AI-first collaborative surface for ideation, taking it from public beta to general availability. Impactful Innovation: We designed solutions that meet user needs and drive business impact, empowering the next cohort of creators with intuitive GenAI capabilities. ### Sr Director of Design, MINT (Machine Intelligence and New Technology) @ Adobe Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States Firefly, Horizontal GenAI, and Emerging ### Director of Design, MINT (Machine Intelligence & New Technologies) @ Adobe Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco Bay Area My team designs the end-to-end experience for: #AdobeFirefly, GenAI, Emerging, and Extensibility ### Director of Design, Creative Cloud Product and Services @ Adobe Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area Built and scaled the Creative Cloud Services design org nearly 3× into a five-pillar organization of 60+ designers, leading core platform products while becoming a benchmark for cross-functional collaboration across design, product, engineering, marketing, and major Creative Cloud business units in a highly matrixed environment. ### Senior Experience Design Manager, Creative Cloud Services @ Adobe Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area Fonts, Extensibility, Assets & Collaboration. ### Senior Experience Design Manager, Adobe Stock and Adobe Fonts @ Adobe Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area Building the future of how people use fonts, photos, templates, videos, and design assets to take their creations to the next level. I proudly lead and manage a team of 10+ product, visual, and experience designers who focus on web experiences, growth, and horizontal initiatives around how creatives use assets within Adobe applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and XD. I pride myself on being a people-focused design leader who blends business savvy with user insights to get results. ### Experience Design Manager @ Adobe Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco • Serves as the design team lead to work with executives and champion the vision for Adobe Stock and Typekit across Adobe’s Creative cloud. • Designs, implements, and maintains team processes to work in an agile environment with regular customer feedback while leading workshops and design sprints to set the tone for the long term vision for the product. • Creates a diverse and inclusive culture that is human-centric; focussing on elevating and empowering Adobe’s users to achieve their creative goals. ### Experience Design Lead @ Adobe Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area • Worked with business, product, and technical leadership to shape the vision and ship v.2 of Adobe Stock. • Led Stock design team by organizing team meetings, workshops, giving feedback, and serving as a mentor and advocate while also getting into pixel level detail of the product. • Coordinated research efforts to deliver a comprehensive view of user needs and psychology. • Set deliverables, deadlines, and schedules for the design team to work with engineering and product on iterative sprint cycles. ### Product Design Lead and Brand Consultant @ Samantha Warren Design Jan 2012 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco, CA Creating experiences and products that empower people while sharing with the community. • Leading product design for OneRoom, a video education platform. Responsible for UX, brand, and UI design while contributing to the product vision and creative direction. • Consulting for Sequoia Capital on their corporate brand and design system. • Speaking at conferences and teaching workshops on design thinking, process, and systems. ### Senior Designer, Lead Communications Platform @ Twitter Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 Led digital communication, strategy, and brand experiences as the senior designer on the Corporate Marketing team. Responsible for designing and championing the connective tissue between Twitter marketing and products. • Led the visual and UX design of Twitter’s marketing and brand experiences in addition to designing the global publishing product that powered all of the vertical websites. • Championed the adoption of responsive design across all marketing and communication websites. • Provided strategic guidance, art direction, and managed contractors and design agencies. • Served as a liaison who rallied cross-functional teams across the organization to collaborate. ### Director of Design @ Phase2 Jan 2009 – Jan 2012 | Washington D.C. Metro Area and San Francisco Led and managed Phase2's multidisciplinary design team while overseeing creative for client services and the Phase2 brand. Over the course of almost three years, I built the design team to offer product and brand experiences that connected with consumers, elevated creative storytelling, and pragmatically reached business goals for a diverse portfolio of clients and products. • Led and mentored a team of visual designers, UI developers and UX designers; while guiding design with key agency partners. • Delivered high quality digital products that met business and user goals for marketing, product, and client services. • Partnered with Product, Project Management, Marketing, Engineering and Executives across brand and client initiatives. • Managed a large client portfolio and various stakeholders in a fast-paced, high stakes environment. ### Web Designer @ Viget Labs Jan 2008 – Jan 2009 Led design and developed digital products and experiences for a large portfolio of global clients. • Crafted design that met user and business goals for National Geographic Magazine and Choice Hotels. • Developed digital strategies and brand design for Viget corporate products. • Coached and consulted local startup accelerator companies on visual and UX design. ### Interactive Designer @ Social@Ogilvy Jan 2007 – Jan 2008 Art directed web initiatives for Quaker Snack Bars, Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Dupont, The Heart Truth Campaign, and the internal branding for Ogilvy Digital Influence. ### Web Designer @ SYColeman/ L-3 Communications-- US Army Jan 2004 – Jan 2007 Art directed and designed the Interactive Reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg, tribute websites, and a commemorative site for Post-War Japan. Led IA, design, and front-end functionality for army.mil. ### Museum Exhibit Designer @ 1717 Design Studio Jan 2003 – Jan 2004 | Richmond, Virginia Area ## Education ### Bachelor of Fine Arts - BFA in Graphic Design James Madison University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthawarren - Website: http://www.samanthawarren.design --- Source: https://flows.cv/samanthawarren JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/samanthawarren/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-07