# Amir B. > Player-coach, blending AI, storytelling & systems thinking | full-stack creative | ex-Microsoft, Frog, Paramount Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/amirb Hi, I’m Amir! I'm an innovation and design leader with roots in entertainment and a home in tech. I started my career on the South Park animated series, where I learned to move fast, stay fearless, and turn bold ideas into unforgettable stories. Since then, I’ve crafted human-centered experiences across industries, helping teams at Microsoft, Chase, Walmart, and TIAA scale design systems, transform domains, launch AI solutions, and deliver effortless user experiences — even when the work behind them is anything but. From prototyping early concepts in V0 and Cursor to presenting a vision for the future of travel to Satya Nadella, I bring creativity, clarity, and technical depth to every layer of the design process. I lead by doing so I'm comfortable jumping into Figma, Mural, or a whiteboard to unblock teams and spark better ideas and processes. I'm passionate about facilitating creative collaboration across product, design, and engineering teams, and have a demonstrated ability to move teams from concept to code with a customizable process. I use AI not as a shortcut, but as a creative multiplier, always learning how the next generation of tools can expand what design teams imagine and build. It helps me coach teams in the latest workflows. Lately, I’ve been exploring AI storytelling with Runway, prototyping with code in Claude and Cursor, and designing brand systems that blur the lines between brand and product. I'm currently open to consulting roles, as well as full-time design leadership roles. Strengths: Inspiring teams with agile design practices, from early concept through launch. Building unified design systems that blend brand, product, and platform. Driving cross-functional collaboration to unlock bold, innovative solutions. Prototyping smarter and faster with the latest AI-powered tools. Mentoring and shaping the next generation of design leaders. Tools of the Trade: Figma, Cursor, V0.dev, Claude, InvokeAI, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, Sora, Runway, ChatGPT, Framer, Webflow, Storybook, Zeroheight, Adobe Creative Suite, Procreate, Miro, Notion, GitHub, Linear, Loom. Let’s build something exciting! ## Work Experience ### Head of UX @ TIAA Jan 2023 – Present Managing Director of Design Systems and Content Strategy. • Spearheaded the development and successful implementation of TIAA's design system, improving design efficiency. • Managed the creation of a comprehensive writing style guide and system documentation, reducing content development time. • Established a governance model and processes to maintain the integrity and evolution of the design system and ensure adoption, including design processes for the whole organization. • Acted as liaison between UX and brand teams to drive new brand adoption through the design system. ### Owner @ Confetti Labs Jan 2020 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area ✨ Next-Gen Solutions: We coach teams on the latest AI workflows and facilitate creative workshops with clients that include Rite-Aid, Jump Trading, Walmart Labs and more. Our core focus is on developing solutions that transcend conventional boundaries. We thrive on pushing technological frontiers, developing products and services that not only keep pace with change but go beyond the status quo. ### Innovation Experience Designer | Delivering innovative solutions for modern work built on M365. @ Microsoft Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 Co-innovating with enterprises to envision and pilot their future of work and productivity. Our work impacts the growth of Microsoft cloud assets powered by AI, and the digital transformation of industries. We take pride in jointly co-creating a tangible, vision of the future with our customers - as they continue to leverage Office 365 to empower great teams. As an innovation experience designer, I partner with our cloud customers directly to envision and design an insights-driven north star and deliver tangible end-to-end solutions in the form of a feasible MVP. ### Director of User Experience | Led grocery, gifts and other digital shopping experiences. @ Walmart Global Tech Jan 2017 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco, California Led teams through early research, service design and implementation in the area of grocery, grocery fulfillment, meal planning innovation, award-winning associate facing tools, and the redesign of Walmart's highly personalized baby registry and gifting scenarios and influenced innovation across the portfolio. ### Design Director | Designed digital wayfinding systems at the World Trade Center and malls. @ Westfield Retail Solutions (WRS) Jan 2013 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area Provided hands-on design and design direction across multiple global products, focused on innovating retail and fashion ecosystem by leveraging digital opportunities to converge online shopper with physical retail experiences. Worked with products spanning across multiple platforms, emphasizing emerging technologies and user-centered innovations such as digital storefronts and embedded displays (kiosk), natural user interfaces (Gestural), POS, and cross-screen web and native (iOs/Android) experiences. Mentored design talent mid-level design talent, and pioneered the cross-discipline (design, PM, engineering) 'war room' approach, collaboratively lead and facilitated qualitative design research. ### Adjunct Instructor | Developed the curriculum for digital design in the graphic design program. @ Academy of Art University Jan 2012 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area I pioneered the user-centered approach to design that has become best practice in the Graphic Design department. In my class, students have one project - to design their own iOs app as though they were a startup. Each week I guide them through one facet of UX design from concept development, user research, feature prioritization, IA & flow development, wireframing, visual design and user testing. They leave knowing the Apple HIG backwards and forwards. I loved to inspire my 200+ students and graduates who have gone on to kickoff careers in UX design! ### Associate Creative Director | Led brand/UX strategy for market-ready consumer banking products. @ frog Jan 2011 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco Bay Area Creative Direction and detail-design oversight for product, and user-experience (UX) design, with an emphasis on user-centered experiences for both iOs and Android. Lead multi-disciplinary teams through product strategy, concepting, branding, experience design, interaction design, visual design, motion design, prototyping, design research and storytelling. Client-facing role included client workshop planning and facilitation with a diverse set of companies from financial services to transportation. Platforms visited include mobile, tablet, consumer product and web. Managed and mentored junior talent, supervised projects and planned growth for 3+ designers. ### Senior User Experience Designer | Designed immersive, brand & content experiences. @ Microsoft Jan 2004 – Jan 2011 | Seattle, Washington Client-facing designer of cutting edge branded entertainment experiences for fortune 500 brands and advertising agency partners. Provided soup to nuts hands-on design for dozens of web, mobile and conceptual solutions, for brands ranging from Chanel & BMW to Herbal Essences & Heineken. Expert at building seamless advertising and monetization strategies into consumer experiences. Worked closely with engineers and cross-discipline in fast-paced, agile teams as the principal visual/interaction designer. ### Technical Director | Provided 3D layout for South Park television and feature film. @ Paramount Pictures Jan 1998 – Jan 2003 | Los Angeles, California Layout and texture artist, special effects specialist for multiple seasons (Season 2-6) of the Comedy Central television series as well as Paramount Pictures feature film release, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. The feature film was only the second feature film to be created entirely in CG (The 1st was Toy Story). For more details about my work in entertainment and motion graphics see my IMDB.com page. ## Education ### BFA in Focus of study: Graphic Design, Motion Design, Illustration and Digital Media ArtCenter College of Design ### Interactive telecommunications in focused on front-end code, physical computing, Arduino, etc. New York University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/amirbahadori - Portfolio: http://www.designcrimefighter.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/amirb JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/amirb/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13