Back to the LeaderboardThe Design Leadership Index

Ethan Eismann

Chief Design Officer at Nubank; previously SVP Design at Slack

ExecutiveLeads from the frontHybrid schoolProductEnterpriseAI
A multi-decade enterprise design executive whose AI-first design POV is explicitly about elevating designers' judgment and craft rather than replacing them — the elevate playbook at scale.

Signature win. Led the largest redesign in Slack's history at 12M daily active users and earlier built the experience for Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription pivot.

The case

editorial · CCBEI · with sources
CraftLed the biggest redesign in Slack history (12M DAU) and built Adobe Creative Cloud's experience; insists craft and quality standards intensify under AI, not relax.9
CommunicationProlific writer/speaker (Config 2023, AI-First Design essays) who frames design's value as judgment, storytelling and making the case to stakeholders — squarely the clarity thesis.9
BusinessHelped transition Adobe to subscription via Creative Cloud and led Slack's design through hypergrowth; explicitly ties design to outcomes and durable orgs ('great design as default outcome').9
Education[Education recalibrated toward editorial baseline] Led 200-person org at Uber and multidisciplinary teams at Slack/Airbnb/Google; AI-first POV centers reskilling toward judgment, systems thinking, empathy — people-protection, not headcount-shedding.7
InnovationDrove Slack AI feature discovery and articulates AI-first design as elevating designers from makers to curators; adoption framed to lift people, passing the elevate test.8

Endorsed by peers

illustrative · opens with verified accounts
OverallI'd work for them97
CraftRaised my craft bar104
CommunicationMade the case for design104
BusinessMade design matter to the business104
EducationTaught me something I still use81
InnovationShowed me a new way to work93

Verified peers only — one tap with LinkedIn. Names stay private; we show role and industry. Bars are illustrative until the participation backend is live.

Stories

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