# Alex Wilcox Cheek > Product & Design Leadership; Former Professor Location: New York, New York, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/alexwilcoxcheek Seasoned product and design leader with experience in zero-to-one and enterprise-level strategy and transformation. I’ve worked across many industries and led teams in design, product, and research. I began my career as a professor, teaching HCI, Information Systems, Product Development, and Design. My most recent team has been solving problems related trust and data protection in agentic AI experiences, and relevance and measurement solutions for the future of ads for billions of people. ## Work Experience ### UX Lead for Design, Research, and Content @ Google Jan 2022 – Present | New York, New York, United States Worked on teams across Google: Core Privacy, Safety & Security; Privacy Sandbox; Chrome Web Ecosystem; Google Ads Platform ### Advisor @ Stellic Jan 2017 – Present Advisor to the Founder & CEO on operations and product strategy. ### Head Of Design @ SigFig Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco, California, United States I directed design in the product organization at SigFig (later rebranded as Tandems), a consumer-facing and B2B robo investment advisor. Led direction on the company’s move from individual products to a platform, including new product integrations, branding, and consolidating dashboards. I also led the creation of a single design system. Based in Material UI, our team forged a new visual language for SigFig’s product expansion. ### Senior Group Director @ Northwestern Mutual Jan 2017 – Jan 2021 | New York, New York, United States As Senior Group Director for Product Design, I led design and strategy for Northwestern Mutual’s digital platforms, financial products and services, and led integrated design teams of experience designers, visual designers, researchers, and content strategists. The design teams spearheaded the digital transformation for the parent company, integrating tools, workflows, and products for our financial advisors — practical solutions to significant pain-points and enormous complexity. I was the leading advocate for a cohesive platform experience to unite financial advisors and back-office staff, open up new efficiencies and cost savings, reducing tech debt, and modernizing work for thousands of employees. I had a wide range of responsibilities: digital and business strategy with senior leadership, exploratory work to spin up new initiatives, aligning existing work to a unified direction, delivery of new products and services, and design team management and growth. In all, I brought together dozens of teams across Northwestern Mutual to collectively shape an integrated and collaborative reinvention of the company. (formerly Learnvest, a Northwestern Mutual company.) ### Visiting Faculty, Human-Computer Interaction Institute @ Carnegie Mellon University Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania I began my teaching career in the HCI Institute and finished it back in HCI, teaching graduate-level studio courses. ### Head of the Design Studies Track & Minor @ Carnegie Mellon University Jan 2010 – Jan 2016 ### Assistant Professor, Design & Information Systems @ Carnegie Mellon University Jan 2009 – Jan 2016 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States For ten years, I was affiliated with several departments across Carnegie Mellon: Design, English, Computer Science, Information Systems, and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. I taught more than 850 students over 13 years. As one of the earliest faculty members at Carnegie Mellon in Qatar (2009–13; 2014–16), I led the track in design and architecture studies for undergraduates at the branch campus. Original course development for undergraduate and graduate levels included interaction studio (5), industrial design (4), information design (12), service design (4), human-computer interaction (3), research methods (4), design history and theory (6), design for behavioral change (1), business design (4), and international management (2). I managed the undergraduate track in design and architecture and taught executive education courses in design to community professionals. The position also included research and grant funding, project development, student advising, independent studies, external client partnerships (governments, NGOs, multinationals, start-ups), cross-department collaboration, community outreach, and professional practice. Projects I founded and co-founded received over $1MM in grant funding from Google, The National Science Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Heinz Endowments, Innovation Works, and Qatar Foundation. ### Professor of Practice, Tepper School of Business @ Carnegie Mellon University Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | Doha, Qatar ### Graduate Instructor, School of Design @ Carnegie Mellon University Jan 2007 – Jan 2009 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States ### Co-Founder @ Macromicro Jan 2010 – Jan 2017 | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Macromicro creates data visualizations and interactive tools for human resources management and organizational analysis. The platform blends big data and d3.js to provide a new perspective on large workforces. As CDO, I oversaw all product development and user experience design from the early phases of conceptual design to development and evolution. Macromicro emerged out of a partnership with Nokia and NSN. Winner of the 2016 SAP Sapphire Award for Product Development and nominated as HR Tech’s 2013 Most Innovative Startup in Europe. ### Co-Founder @ Skale Co. Jan 2015 – Jan 2017 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Skale is a food community and mobile app that supports transparent discussions about food and wellness. Scan items into a virtual pantry, rate products, and share insights with community groups. I led Skale’s design efforts that included conceptual phases, prototyping and user research, production, beta testing, launch, and iteration. This involved hands-on involvement in all aspects of the startup, from onboarding and managing developers, collaborators, and partners to product management, roadmapping, and strategy. Finalist for the 2017 Pittsburgh Create Festival, Best of the Creative Industries, Interactive Category. ### Adjunct Faculty @ Rochester Institute of Technology Jan 2005 – Jan 2007 ### Intern @ U.S. House of Representatives Jan 1998 – Jan 1999 | District of Columbia, United States ## Education ### School of Design Carnegie Mellon University ### Department of English Carnegie Mellon University ### School of Design Rochester Institute of Technology ### Centre College ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/arwcheek - Portfolio: https://arwc.xyz --- Source: https://flows.cv/alexwilcoxcheek JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/alexwilcoxcheek/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-30