Overview
Head of Design Jobs in San Francisco, USA at ello.com
About the role
We’re looking for an experienced creative leader who thrives at the intersection of imagination and execution. You’ve shipped beautiful, high-impact products and built teams and AI‑enabled systems and processes that made that possible. You’re excited about working in person in San Francisco. You’re hands‑on when needed, and you see AI as critical leverage for your craft. Most of all, you care deeply about creating joyful, meaningful experiences for kids.
Note:
this role is scoped at the Director level, but we’re open to hiring anywhere from Senior Manager to Senior Director — the title and scope will reflect the experience and leadership background you bring. If your experience doesn’t match perfectly, we still encourage you to apply.
Responsibilities
Company‑Wide Creative Direction & Design Culture
- Uphold, institutionalize, and elevate Ello’s creative direction and principles across product and marketing
- Maintain a high‑quality visual bar and ensure consistency across illustration, animation, and interface design
- Lead team critiques and feedback loops to foster continuous improvement
- Build and strengthen Ello’s design culture, including training, upskilling, and mentoring team members outside the design team (e.g., engineering and marketing)
- Champion design excellence across the company and help instill design best practices cross‑functionally
Design Leadership across Product and Marketing
- Collaborate closely with Product and Engineering leadership to shape product direction and user experience
- Collaborate closely with Marketing leadership to shape our go‑to‑market and lifecycle marketing
- Champion a deep understanding of our users—their needs, motivations, and challenges—and ensure every experience we design is intuitive, purposeful, and grounded in real customer insight.
Creative Operations & Production Strategy
- Set the strategic direction for how creative production is structured — including how AI tools are embedded into illustration, animation, and asset workflows — and ensure the pipeline runs smoothly, scales efficiently, and reflects our design standards
- Maintain visibility across creative timelines and flag risks before they become blockers, serving as the connective tissue between design, engineering, product, and marketing
- Provide oversight on briefs, scopes of work, and delivery standards for contract teammates and vendors, ensuring quality and consistency across all production output
Required Experience
- 7+ years of experience in creative production, preferably across mobile apps, games, or interactive experiences
- Demonstrated ability to lead a team through multiple product cycles, from concept to delivery
- A practiced leader of visual storytelling with a strong portfolio in illustration, animation, and UI
- Comfortable managing and mentoring creative teams while being hands‑on when needed
- Experienced in coordinating cross‑functional teams, including artists, animators, PMs, engineers, and marketers
- Deeply organized and proactive with excellent project management skills
- Exceptional written and visual communicator with high emotional intelligence and collaborative energy
- Expertise with tools like Figma, Linear, Notion, and Drive, as well as genuine curiosity about and engagement with AI design tools
Nice‑to‑haves:
- Experience designing for kids, families, or in edtech, consumer apps, mobile gaming, publishing, or animation
- Prior success in building and scaling creative pipelines
At Ello, diversity is a moral imperative and a competitive advantage. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, skin color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We plan and structure our interviews to assess skills and experience directly. If you need accommodations throughout the interview process, please contact
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Title: Head of Design
Company: ello.com
Location: San Francisco, USA
Category:
