Creative Director

Persons in these roles are expected to work from our offices in Seattle.

Our base salary range is $188640 $282960 and in addition we have generous bonus plans to provide a competitive compensation package.

Who You Are:

Ai2 is looking for a visionary Creative Director to lead our design strategy visual identity and user experiences that sets Ai2 as a leader in AI. In this role you will lead a team that transforms complex AI concepts into visually compelling and intuitive experiences. You will drive highimpact projects mentor a team of talented designers and collaborate crossfunctionally to shape the future of AI products. This role blends strategic vision handson and team leadership requiring someone who can set the creative direction while still owning specific design deliverables. If you thrive in a fastpaced innovative environment and can balance strategic vision with handson wed love to hear from you.

You are a bold visionary and creative leader with a strong visual design portfolio a deep understanding of design principles and an entrepreneurial mindset. You have a keen eye for design aesthetics impeccable attention to detail and an ability to transform complex technical concepts into intuitive and visually compelling experiences. You combine a strategic mindset with handson and excel in a fastpaced environment. You can both deliver highquality highfidelity designs as well as help establish Ai2 as a designforward organization.

Who We Are:

Ai2 is a worldleading AI research and development institute that builds breakthrough AI to solve the worlds biggest problems. We deliver realworld impact through largescale open models data artifacts and AI agents. We are a team of designers within Ai2 that defines how real users interact with our AI models and products. We own the Ai2 Playground that enables users to understand and inspect the inner workings of large language models. We are also working on designs and interaction patterns for the future of AI agents and developing an Earth System platform. We are a small collaborative team that thrives on diverse perspectives open communication and a shared commitment to pushing the boundaries of AIdriven design and technology.

Your Next Challenge:

Key responsibilities of the role include:

Strategic Leadership & Vision

• Own defining a creative vision design library and assets that align with Ai2s brand and strategy.
• Develop longterm design strategies that elevate our brand and experiences.
• Represent the creative team in strategic meetings with senior leadership providing insights that shape company direction.

HandsOn Visual & Product Design

• Own endtoend deliverables for key workstreams with a focus on visual design
• Establish and maintain comprehensive design systems style guides and UI/UX patterns for consistent visual storytelling.
• Translate complex AI concepts into intuitive usercentric designs that enhance usability and engagement.
• Utilize datadriven insights and user feedback to refine and iterate on design solutions.

Team Management & Mentorship

• Directly manage and mentor senior product designers and UX researchers fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.
• Establish and lead a design review process to ensure highquality deliverables and continuous improvement.
• Facilitate team workshops and brainstorming sessions to drive creative problemsolving.
• Lead team both directly and indirectly through second level managers.

Collaboration & CrossFunctional Coordination

• Work closely with research engineering program management marketing and partnership teams to ensure design deliverables meet company goals and user needs.
• Lead initiatives that bridge the gap between design and technology ensuring creative solutions are both innovative and technically feasible.
• Work with our external PR agency and external business partners as necessary to support project goals.

Project & Process Management

• Oversee multiple design projects from ideation through to ensuring adherence to deadlines and quality standards.
• Manage team budget and resource allocation including staffing priorities budget planning and approving method changes
• Conduct postproject reviews to capture insights and foster continuous process improvement.

What Youll Need:

• 15 years of experience in visual design UX product design and/or related field including 5 years in a leadership role setting and leading creative direction.
• 5 years of management experience leading a multidisciplinary design team with multiple direct reports.
• Bachelors degree in a related field is preferred.
• Track record of delivering groundbreaking creative campaigns that span multiple media.
• Demonstrated success in a senior creative leadership role in the tech or consumer industry.
• Proven ability to balance strategic oversight with detailed handson design work.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills with the ability to influence across various levels and teams in an organization.
• Passion for technology innovation and design with an aptitude for translating complex AI concepts into intuitive visual experiences.
• Strong leadership capabilities and experience mentoring senior designers.
• Exceptional visual design skills with expertise in industrystandard tools (eg. Adobe Creative Suite Figma etc).
• Creative thinker spy and thrives in a fastpaced innovative environment.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• The ability to observe details at close range.
• Can work under deadlines.

A Little More About Ai2:

Ai2 is a Seattle based nonprofit AI research institute founded in 2014 by the late Paul Allen. Our mission is building breakthrough AI to solve the worlds biggest problems. We develop foundational AI research and innovation to deliver realworld impact through largescale open models data robotics conservation and beyond.

In addition to Ai2s core mission we also aim to contribute to humanity through our treatment of each member of the Ai2 Team. Some highlights are:

• We are a learning organization because everything Ai2 does is groundbreaking we are learning every day. Similarly through weekly Ai2 Academy lectures a wide variety of worldclass AI experts as guest speakers and our commitment to your personal ongoing education Ai2 is a place where you will have opportunities to continue learning alongside your coworkers.
• We value diversity We seek to hire support and promote people from all genders ethnicities and all levels of experience regardless of age. We particularly encourage applications from women nonbinary individuals people of color members of the LGBTQA community and people with disabilities of any kind.
• We value inclusion We understand the value that peoples individual experiences and perspectives can bring to an organization and we are building a culture in which all voices are heard respected and considered.
• We emphasize a healthy work/life balance we believe our team members are happiest and most productive when their work/life balance is optimized. While we value powerful research results which drive our mission forward we also value dinner with family weekend time and vacation time. We offer generous paid vacation and sick leave as well as family leave.
• We are collaborative and transparent we consider ourselves a team all moving with a common purpose. We are quick to cheer our successes and even quicker to share and jointly problem solve our failures.
• We are in Seattle and our office is on the water! We have mountains we have lakes we have four seasons we bike to work we have a vibrant theater scene and we have so much else. We even have kayaks for you to paddle right outside our front door. We welcome interest from applicants from outside of the United States.
• We are friendly chances are you will like every one of the 200 (and growing) people who work here. We do.

Ai2 is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race religion color national origin sex (including pregnancy childbirth or related medical conditions) sexual orientation gender gender identity gender expression transgender status sexual stereotypes age status as a protected veteran status as an individual with a disability or other applicable legally protected characteristics. You may view the related Know Your Rights compliance poster and the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision by clicking on their corresponding links.

This employer participates in EVerify and will provide the federal government with your Form I9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If EVerify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you including terminating your employment. Employers can only use EVerify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I9.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities to the full extent required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you feel you need a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the ADA you are encouraged to contact us at .

Benefits:

• Team members and their families are covered by medical dental vision basic life insurance basic accidental death and dismemberment insurance shortterm disability longterm disability and an employee assistance program.
• Team members are able to enroll in our voluntary life insurance program our voluntary accidental death and dismemberment program our health savings account plan our healthcare reimbursement arrangement plan and our health care and dependent care flexible spending account plans.
• Team members are able to enroll in our companys 401k plan.
• Team members will receive $125 per month to assist with commuting or internet expenses and will also receive $200 per month for fitness and wellbeing expenses.
• Team members will also receive up to ten sick days per year up to seven personal days per year up to 20 vacation days per year and twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• Team members will be able to receive annual bonuses and can participate in the longterm incentive plan.

Note: This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the team members(s) of this position. Team members will be required to follow any other jobrelated instructions and to perform any other jobrelated duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully the team member(s) will possess the skills aptitudes and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge skills or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract implied or otherwise other than an at will relationship.