Creative Lead - Visual Merchandising

Spotify; Stockholms kommun; Hybrid; SEK 1,556,622 - 2,334,933; Full time

Job summary

Spotify is seeking a visionary Creative Lead for Visual Merchandising, based in London or Stockholm. You will shape the global visual language across artwork, visual systems, and brand expression, guiding senior teams and collaborating with product and engineering to evolve creative workflows with AI-driven enhancements.

You will mentor a high‑performing team, manage budgets, and ensure our visuals stay culturally relevant in 180+ markets while maintaining a strong global brand presence.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience leading creative work across design, art direction, branding or visual storytelling for consumer brands.
• Proven ability to build and develop high-performing creative teams in inclusive environments.
• Experience applying emerging technologies, including generative AI, to strategy and production.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve Spotify's global visual merchandising vision for artwork and brand expression.
• Lead and optimize creative workflows, leveraging AI to boost quality, speed and scalability.
• Partner with Product, Engineering and Design leadership to align merchandising with product innovation.
• Champion a globally relevant visual strategy that respects local nuance across 180+ markets.
• Establish scalable creative principles and standards for teams to deliver world-class visuals at scale.
• Collaborate with internal teams, agencies, illustrators, photographers and freelancers to expand capabilities.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing Senior Visual Designers team.
• Own operating budget and prioritize investments with meaningful creative and business impact.
• Use audience insights and performance data to improve effectiveness of visual merchandising.
• Represent Visual Merchandising as a trusted creative partner to senior stakeholders.

Skills

Creative leadership

Team building

Visual storytelling

Cross-functional collaboration

AI in creativity

Job description

The Platform team creates the technology that enables Spotify to learn quickly and scale easily, enabling rapid growth in our users and our business around the globe. Spanning many disciplines, we work to make the business work; creating the infrastructure, tooling, frameworks, and capabilities needed to welcome a billion customers.

Visual Merchandising shapes how content looks and feels across the Spotify experience. We create the artwork, visual systems, and creative frameworks behind Spotify Playlists, Share Cards, Video Titles, Podcasts, and Audiobooks—bringing the world's largest audio platform to life for hundreds of millions of listeners every day.

As AI transforms how creative teams imagine, develop, and produce work, we're looking for a visionary Creative Lead to define what's next. This is an opportunity to shape the future of visual storytelling at Spotify by combining world-class creative leadership with emerging technologies, ensuring every visual experience remains unmistakably Spotify while inspiring audiences around the world.

What You'll Do

• Define and evolve Spotify's global visual merchandising vision, setting the creative direction for artwork, visual systems, and brand expression across the Spotify experience.
• Lead the continued evolution of our creative workflows, identifying how AI can elevate creativity, quality, speed, and scalability while maintaining exceptional craft.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Design Platform, and R&D leaders to ensure merchandising and product innovation evolve together.
• Champion a visual strategy that keeps Spotify culturally relevant across more than 180 markets while balancing global consistency with local expression.
• Establish creative principles, standards, and scalable systems that empower teams to deliver world-class visual experiences at scale.
• Build strong partnerships with internal creative teams, external agencies, illustrators, photographers, and freelance talent to expand Spotify's creative capabilities.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team of Senior Visual Designers by creating an environment built on trust, inclusion, curiosity, feedback, and creative excellence.
• Own the team's operating budget and prioritize investments that deliver meaningful creative and business impact.
• Use audience insights, experimentation, and performance data to continuously improve the effectiveness of Spotify's visual merchandising strategy.
• Represent Visual Merchandising as a trusted creative partner across Spotify, influencing senior stakeholders through thoughtful creative leadership.

Who You Are

• You have 10+ years of experience leading creative work across design, art direction, branding, editorial, advertising, or visual storytelling for a consumer-facing brand.
• You have experience building, leading, and developing exceptional creative teams while creating an inclusive environment where people can do their best work.
• You understand how emerging technologies—including generative AI—are transforming creative strategy, production, and design systems, and you're excited by the opportunities they create.
• You bring exceptional visual craft together with strategic thinking, balancing creativity, business goals, and customer needs.
• You have experience collaborating across product, design, engineering, marketing, and executive leadership teams to deliver ambitious creative outcomes.
• You are comfortable using data, experimentation, and audience insights to inform creative decisions without compromising creative quality.
• You have experience working across global markets and understand how to build creative work that respects cultural nuance while maintaining a strong global brand.
• You care deeply about mentoring others, raising the creative bar, and fostering a culture of continuous learning and collaboration.
• You’re naturally curious about design, music, culture, technology, and storytelling, and you're motivated by creating work that reaches millions of people every day.

Where You Are

• This role is based in London or Stockholm
• We offer you the flexibility to work where you work best! There will be some in person meetings, but still allows for flexibility to work from home.