Creative Director - Expression

Uber; United States; On-site; USD 241,000 - 268,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Equity

401(k) plan

Job summary

Uber Design seeks a Creative Director to lead the Product Expression team, shaping illustration, motion, and storytelling across our products. You will set a compelling creative vision and work hands-on with designers to elevate craft.

You’ll partner across Design Systems, Brand, Marketing, Engineering, and Product to scale a distinct Uber language globally, while guiding a multidisciplinary team through critique, exploration, and execution.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in creative direction and related disciplines.
• Significant experience leading creative teams for large-scale digital products.

Responsibilities

• Define Uber’s product expression across illustration, motion, and storytelling.
• Lead and grow the Expression team with a culture of critique and craft.
• Develop reusable systems, patterns, and tooling for scalable product expression.
• Direct creative reviews and collaborate with Design Systems and Product teams.

Skills

Creative direction

Visual design

Motion design

Illustration

Design systems

Cross-functional leadership

Critical storytelling

Tools

AI prototyping tools

Job description

About the Role

Uber Design is dedicated to creating experiences that are not only functional and intuitive, but distinctive, expressive, and memorable. We design for people of all backgrounds and abilities across the globe, shaping experiences that move between the digital and physical world every day.

Uber is seeking a Creative Director to lead our Product Expression team, responsible for defining how Uber comes to life through illustration, motion, design language, visual storytelling, and moments of delight across our products.

This is a senior creative leadership role for someone who can establish a compelling creative vision and also get close to the work. You’ll lead and inspire a multidisciplinary team while staying close to the work—developing and prototyping new creative concepts and systems, working directly alongside designers to explore and refine ideas, and providing a high bar for craft. You’ll lead through both direction and making, helping push the work from good to exceptional.

You’ll work across Design Systems, Product Design, Brand, Marketing, Engineering, and Product to create an expressive language that is distinctly Uber while building the systems that allow it to scale across a global product ecosystem.

This role requires exceptional taste, creative judgment, strong visual and motion craft, systems thinking, and the ability to influence within a complex matrix organization. You should be equally comfortable setting a multi-year creative direction, presenting to senior leadership, leading a critique, and opening the tools to explore an idea yourself.

What You Will Do

1. Define Uber’s product expression. Establish and evolve a clear creative vision for how illustration, motion, visual storytelling, and moments of delight show up across Uber’s products.


2. Set an exceptional bar for craft. Develop a strong point of view on what great looks like and help teams consistently reach that bar without sacrificing speed or scalability.


3. Be a hands‑on creative leader. This is not a role that directs exclusively from the sidelines. Explore concepts, prototype ideas, create visual and motion direction, and work alongside designers when the work benefits from your direct involvement.


4. Lead and grow the Expression team. Inspire, coach, and develop designers across illustration, motion, and visual design while building a culture of experimentation, critique, and exceptional craft.


5. Create systems, not just moments. Turn strong creative ideas into reusable principles, patterns, tools, and systems that can scale across products, teams, markets, and use cases.


6. Partner deeply with Product Design and Design Systems. Work closely with product and systems teams to make expression an intentional part of the experience rather than a decorative layer added at the end.


7. Navigate and influence a matrix organization. Build strong relationships across Product, Brand, Marketing, Engineering, and Design. Create alignment across teams with different priorities while maintaining a coherent creative vision.


8. Connect Brand and Product. Help translate the Uber brand into meaningful product experiences while recognizing that product expression has its own needs, constraints, and opportunities.


9. Lead through influence. Build excitement around a creative direction, communicate the rationale behind it, and bring senior leaders and cross‑functional teams along without relying on organizational authority.


10. Champion experimentation. Encourage the team to explore broadly, prototype quickly, and pursue unexpected ideas before converging on solutions that can scale.


11. Direct and participate in creative reviews. Lead critiques, working sessions, and creative explorations that make the work stronger while helping teams understand the principles behind the feedback.


12. Move fluidly between vision and detail. Be comfortable shifting from long‑term creative strategy to reviewing the timing of an animation, the composition of an illustration, or the details that make an interaction feel uniquely Uber.

Basic Qualifications

1. 10+ years of experience in creative direction, product design, visual design, motion design, illustration, or related disciplines.


2. Significant experience leading creative teams and setting creative direction for large-scale digital products, brands, or experiences.


3. A portfolio demonstrating exceptional craft and creative leadership across multiple forms of expression, with particular strength in areas such as motion, illustration, visual design, or interactive experiences.


4. Demonstrated ability to remain hands‑on while leading and elevating the work of others.


5. Exceptional visual, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate creative decisions and build alignment with both creative and non‑creative audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

1. Experience defining or evolving an expressive design language across a large product ecosystem.


2. Deep expertise in one or more creative disciplines—particularly motion, illustration, visual design, or interactive storytelling—with strong judgment across the others.


3. Experience building creative systems that balance consistency with expression, allowing teams to create distinctive experiences without fragmenting the broader product.


4. Proven ability to operate successfully within a highly matrixed organization and influence senior partners across Product, Engineering, Brand, Marketing, and Design.


5. Experience collaborating closely with design systems teams and translating creative direction into scalable components, patterns, guidance, and tooling.


6. Strong understanding of how motion and illustration can serve functional purposes—guiding attention, communicating state, creating understanding, celebrating moments, and building emotional connection—not simply decoration.


7. Experience using emerging technologies, prototyping tools, and AI to expand how creative teams explore, make, and scale their work.


8. Demonstrated ability to connect creative ambition with customer needs, product strategy, and business outcomes.


9. Experience designing for global products and understanding how expression needs to adapt across cultures, markets, accessibility needs, and contexts.


10. A strong point of view paired with low ego: someone who can advocate passionately for quality while inviting critique, evolving ideas, and making the work better through collaboration.

Ready to Ride?

This isn't the kind of place where you follow a playbook — it's where you help write one. If you're driven by impact, energized by challenge, and ready to shape how the world moves — we'd love to hear from you.

You may be eligible for bonuses, equity, and other compensation, as well as a range of benefits. Explore our benefits.

Offices remain key to collaboration and Uber's culture. Unless approved for full remote work, employees must spend at least 50% of their time in-office. Some roles, like those at greenlight hubs, require full-time in-office presence. Ask your Recruiter for details about this role's requirements.

Uber is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.

For New York City, NY-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD $241,000 per year - USD $268,000 per year.

For San Francisco, CA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD $241,000 per year - USD $268,000 per year.

For Seattle, WA-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD $241,000 per year - USD $268,000 per year.

For all US locations, you will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of comp. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits.