Staff Visual Designer, Google Drive

Google; New York (NY); On-site; USD 188,000 - 274,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Bonus target

Job summary

Google is seeking a Staff Visual Designer for Drive to shape visual direction, evolve design systems, and lead enterprise-grade experiences.

You will collaborate with UX, engineering and product teams to translate complex data-heavy workflows into beautiful, accessible interfaces across multiple platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in product design or UX.
• Include a portfolio, website, or any other relevant link to your work in your resume.

Responsibilities

• Establish and advocate the visual design direction across drive, defining typographic scale and color palettes.
• Architect and govern robust design systems and component libraries for cross-surface scalability.
• Define motion design principles and choreograph transitions to clarify hierarchy and delight.
• Design visual frameworks for Gemini in drive, turning AI capabilities into intuitive experiences.

Skills

Outcome ownership

Decision making

Ambiguity handling

Stakeholder influence

Domain expertise

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Staff Visual Designer, Google Drive

Google New York, NY, USA; Boulder, CO, USA; +2 more; +1 more

Advanced

Experience owning outcomes and decision making, solving ambiguous problems and influencing stakeholders; deep expertise in domain.

The application window will be open until at least October 11, 2026. This opportunity will remain online based on business needs which may be before or after the specified date.Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: New York, NY, USA; Boulder, CO, USA; Sunnyvale, CA, USA.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 8 years of experience in product design or UX.
• Include a portfolio, website, or any other relevant link to your work in your resume (providing a viewable link or access instructions).

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience designing high-density productivity or complex data-heavy collaboration tools.
• Experience or strong fluency in designing for generative AI and agentic workflows (e.g., Gemini, conversational UI, dynamic synthesis, or contextual assistance).
• Solid understanding of front-end implementation constraints, accessibility standards (WCAG), and engineering handoff processes.
• Proven track record architecting, evolving, and governing enterprise-scale design systems, component libraries, and design tokens across platforms.
• Strong background in motion design, interaction prototyping, and defining functional animation principles to enhance usability.
• Proven ability to operate autonomously, manage multiple workstreams, drive cross-functional alignment, and mentor other designers.

About the job

At Google, we "Focus on the user and all else will follow." Our Visual Designers weave space, typography, color, and iconography to help people successfully navigate our products, ensuring they are beautiful and accessible. You will join our multi-disciplinary UX team, collaborating with Engineering and Product Management, to leverage user insights and create industry-leading products.

As a Visual Designer, you will rely on user-centered design methods to craft industry-leading user experiences from concept to execution. You will collaborate with your design partners to leverage and evolve the Google design language to build beautiful, innovative, inspired products that people love to use.

As a Staff Visual Designer on the Drive UX team, you will shape how billions of users visually organize, access, and interact with their digital worlds. We are seeking a highly motivated, self-driven designer with strong proactiveness and a collaborative mindset to lead the visual evolution of Google Drive.

In this role, you will define drive’s visual north star, elevating product aesthetics, motion choreography, and design systems for both high-density enterprise workflows and everyday consumer use. You will transform complex file hierarchies and emerging Gemini AI capabilities into fluid, intuitive, and trustworthy visual experiences. Partnering closely with UX, product manager, and engineering, you will bring exceptional visual craft, systems thinking, and an ownership mentality to solve ambiguous design challenges at scale.

Google Cloud accelerates every organization’s ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google’s technology, and tools that help developers build more sustainably. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems.

Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $188000 - $274000 (USD) + 20% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Establish and advocate the visual design direction across drive (Web, Android, iOS), defining typographic scale, dynamic color palettes, spatial layouts, iconography, and high-density scannability for both consumer and enterprise surfaces.
• Architect, scale, and govern robust Figma design systems and structures in close partnership with the Workspace Design System (WDS) and Carbon teams ensuring unified component consistency, theming support and cross-surface scalability across Workspace.
• Define the motion design principles and choreograph purposeful interaction transitions for drive (e.g., drag-and-drop mechanics, file preview states, loading/shimmer patterns, and navigation transitions) to clarify spatial hierarchy, orient user focus, and introduce expressive delight.
• Design next-generation visual frameworks and motion language for Gemini in drive, turning complex AI behaviors such as dynamic content synthesis, agentic workflows, and semantic search into scannable, visually trustworthy, and fluid user experiences.

Information collected and processed as part of your Google Careers profile, and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Google's Applicant and Candidate Privacy Policy.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the users we serve, creating a culture of belonging, and providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), expecting or parents-to-be, criminal histories consistent with legal requirements, or any other basis protected by law. See also Google's EEO Policy, Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal, Belonging at Google, and How we hire.

If you have a need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form.

Google is a global company and, in order to facilitate efficient collaboration and communication globally, English proficiency is a requirement for all roles unless stated otherwise in the job posting.

To all recruitment agencies: Google does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Google employees, or any other organization location. Google is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Equity is granted exclusively and discretionarily by Alphabet Inc. on the basis of an agreement concluded between you and Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is your sole contractual partner with respect to equity grants. GSU grants are not guaranteed, are discretionary, are subject to approval by the Alphabet Inc. board of directors or its delegate, the terms of the relevant Alphabet Inc. stock plan, and your grant agreement. They have no impact on statutory payments. Current or past grants do not confer an acquired right.