We are seeking a Director (M60) to lead the Multimodal Data Research organization within Applied Science and Machine Learning (ASML). This organization is responsible for scaling, quality, and innovation in multimodal training data—spanning image, video, and audio—that powers Adobe Firefly’s foundational generative and editing models.
The Multimodal Data Research organization sets the data foundation for Firefly’s multimodal intelligence, owning first‑party strategy and execution across ingestion, filtering, captioning, generation and editing‑centric datasets, data‑driven training experiments, and next‑generation data frameworks. By grounding model training in high‑quality, diverse, and workflow‑authentic data, the team directly shapes Firefly’s creative capabilities. This role calls for a technically deep director who can articulate long‑term vision, lead multiple senior teams, and orchestrate execution across a fast‑moving multimodal AI ecosystem.
What You’ll Do
Organizational Leadership & Strategy
- Set and own the long‑term vision and roadmap for multimodal data research across image, video, and audio.
- Define clear investment priorities across data quality, coverage, scalability, and iteration speed to support Firefly’s foundational and editing‑centric models.
- Build and evolve an organization that balances research innovation with operational excellence in data delivery.
- Lead multiple teams spanning multimodal data quality and scaling, captioning and prompt rewriting, data frameworks and infrastructure, and systematic training ablations to advance large‑scale pretraining and editing datasets.
- Establish org‑wide quality bars, taxonomies, and evaluation signals for multimodal training data.
- Partner across Adobe and drive adoption of shared tooling, data frameworks, and best practices to reduce duplication and accelerate iteration.
People Leadership & Talent Development
- Lead, mentor, and grow senior managers, staff‑level ICs, and emerging leaders.
- Build a culture of technical rigor, ownership, and thoughtful risk‑taking.
- Attract and retain top talent in multimodal data, ML systems, and applied research.
What You Need to Succeed
Technical & Domain Expertise
- 10+ years of experience in machine learning, data systems, or applied research, with significant exposure to large‑scale ML training data.
- Deep understanding of how data quality, composition, and labeling affect generative and editing model behavior.
- Experience working with multimodal data (image, video, audio) and large‑scale data pipelines.
- Strong intuition for balancing research exploration with production constraints.
Leadership & Strategy
- Proven experience leading multi‑team organizations in technically complex environments.
- Ability to set long‑term vision while driving near‑term execution.
- Strong cross‑functional leadership skills, with experience influencing research, product, infrastructure, and executive stakeholders.
- Excellent communicator, able to synthesize complex technical and organizational tradeoffs.
Education
- Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field preferred.
About Adobe
Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.
Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.
** Let’s Adobe together**
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Expected Pay Range:
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $192,700 -- $392,500 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.
In California, the pay range for this position is $271,000 - $392,500
At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).
In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.
State-Specific Notices:
California:
Fair Chance Ordinances
Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.
Colorado:
Application Window Notice
If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.
Massachusetts:
Massachusetts Legal Notice
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.