Head of Design, Ello

• 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 systems that made that possible.
• You’re excited about working in person in San Francisco.
• You’re hands-on when needed. And you care deeply about creating joyful, meaningful experiences for kids
• 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
• Experience using tools for design workflows & collaboration (e.g., Figma, Linear, Drive, Notion)

Desirable

• We’re looking for a Head of Design to lead Ello’s creative vision and scale our design practice across product, marketing, and content.
• You’ll shape how our AI tutor looks, feels, and behaves—guiding a growing team and ensuring design excellence at every level.
• With engineering velocity moving faster than ever, your role is critical: we need a design culture that not only keeps up with rapid iteration, but actively fuels it.
• You’ll help us build a design culture that can match the ambition of Ello’s vision for innovation and growth, raising the bar for product quality, design maturity, and cross-functional collaboration
• This is a high-impact, high-ownership role that blends creative vision, operational excellence, and people leadership.
• You will work directly with Ello’s Co-Founder & CTO, Catalin Voss, and collaborate closely with our other Co-Founders, CEO Tom Sayer and CXO Elizabeth Adams.
• In this role, you’ll serve as both a creative compass and a strategic leader—helping us imagine, define, and build magical learning experiences for kids around the world
• Company-Wide Creative Direction & Design Culture
• Define and maintain the creative direction and principles across Ello’s product and marketing ecosystem
• Uphold 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 of the design team (e.g. engineering and marketing)
• Champion design excellence across the company and help instill design thinking cross-functionally
• Design Leadership across Product and Marketing
• Collaborate closely with our Product and Engineering leadership to shape product direction and user experience
• Collaborate closely with our 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
• Project & Art Production Management
• Own creative timelines and milestone planning
• Coordinate assets across illustration, animation, and UI design workflows
• Manage and refine the art and asset production pipeline for scalability and efficiency
• Optimize the systems and processes to support smoother creative execution
• Serve as the connective tissue between creative, engineering, product, and marketing teams
• Lead clear, proactive communication across disciplines to reduce ambiguity
• Facilitate sprint planning, retros, and updates with clarity
• Anticipate and flag timeline risks, resourcing gaps, or potential blockers
• Manage contract illustrators, animators, and other vendors as needed to ensure high-quality deliverables
• Draft and oversee briefs, scopes of work, and delivery requirements for contract work