# Adam Elman > Principal AI Behavior Designer/Conversation Designer with ​>20 years experience designing language-centric user experiences and agentic AI experiences that are useful, usable, and make customers’ lives better. Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/adamelman I've been designing language-centric user experiences for more than two decades, through several major technological shifts from simple grammars to natural-language understanding (NLU) to Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI. My superpower is the ability to understand complex technology systems and identify how to best use their capabilities to solve actual customer problems, at every level from strategy to implementation details. My primary mission in my career is to unlock the power of technology to make customers' lives better, and I'm proud to have worked towards that goal across companies small and large. ## Work Experience ### Principal Conversation Designer - Alexa @ Amazon Jan 2019 – Jan 2025 | Sunnyvale, CA Led conversation design for many Alexa features (e.g., weather, timers, alarms, calendar). Significant contributor to internal Alexa VUI design guidelines and conversation design training. Defined conversation quality standards and conversation design approach for Alexa+ as we shifted to LLM- based experiences. * Led the creation of conversation design guidance for core Alexa capabilities including question answering and proactive behaviors. Guidance became standard training for knowledge engineers and designers * Spearheaded the creation of design frameworks that defined significant Alexa features including communications capabilities, notes/memories, and calendaring, leading to new feature programs * Defined criteria for evaluating Alexa+ responses to enable tuning data creation and prompt improvements,resulting in significant improvements via both prompt engineering and fine-tuning * Revamped conversation design process and deliverables for LLM technologies, producing a new standard operating procedure for conversation designers in Alexa+ ### Sr UX Designer - Alexa @ Amazon Jan 2016 – Jan 2019 | Sunnyvale, California Designed features and functionality for Alexa, focused on voice/conversational UI for features such as general Q&A and weather. * Built modules and taught in Voice Design training program, training around 200 UX designers and product managers on the basics of voice/conversation design * Created feature designs for flight status and public transit navigation * Significantly improved error responses for non-understood requests * Facilitated the creation of a design style guide for Alexa conversation design used extensively by Alexa designers for over 5 years ### Sr. Interaction Designer @ Intel Corporation Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 | Santa Clara, California Designed experiences for next-generation hardware and software capabilities including natural user interface, authentication and security, and advanced wireless capabilities. * Mentored junior designers and developed team skill sets in interaction design * Designed full setup experience for Wireless Docking reference design * Created design guidance for multimodal gaming with Intel RealSense * Collaborated with teammates to develop a design process based on realistic scenarios and customer personas ### Sr Voice/Multimodal User Experience Designer @ Microsoft Jan 2007 – Jan 2013 | Mountain View, CA Designed and prototyped applications for multimodal speech applications across mobile phone, automotive, tablet/PC, and TV screens. * Designed voice information system including navigation and traffic information for Ford SYNC, working closely with Ford team to ensure high client satisfaction and a successful customer launch * Developed guidance for multimodal applications for mobile * Developed design guidance and prototyped voice UI experiences for Xbox Kinect gaming system, recommending key feature improvements (voice control for media playback) and future directions ### Voice UI Designer @ Tellme Networks Jan 2001 – Jan 2007 | Mountain View, California, United States Designed voice-centric user interfaces for telephone-based customer service and information services using voice-recognition technology. * Designed IVR systems for Orbitz, American Airlines, SBC/AT&T, working closely with clients to understand their business and customer requirements. External clients were highly satisfied with my work. * Developed heuristic analyses and best practices for speech application design. * Analyzed usage data to discover user and customer insights, resulting in up to 10-20% improvements in business metrics such as call automation. * Conducted user research and usability tests and applied insights to improve user experience and business performance of IVR systems. ### Software Developer @ Eazel Jan 2000 – Jan 2001 | Mountain View, California, United States Created software architecture for Eazel web services, designed to enhance the Linux desktop experience. * Built an online software catalog and cloud storage services using Java and Python. * Created and released an open-source Python module for using APIs via the SOAP protocol. ### Project Manager / Systems Architect @ HighWire Press Jan 1996 – Jan 2000 * Designed core system architecture and interaction design for a web publishing system that served over 100 online scientific journals, and was in service for two decades. * Managed the program, including client interactions, software architecture and UX design work, to bring the first web version of the Oxford English Dictionary online. * Defined product requirements and initial UX designs for Highwire Bench>Press, an online paper-submission system for scientific journals. ## Education ### Master of Science - MS in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Stanford University ### Bachelor of Science - BS in Computer Science Stanford University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/vuiadam - Portfolio: https://adamelmancxd.online --- Source: https://flows.cv/adamelman JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/adamelman/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13