# Ben Huggins

> Design Lead, NotebookLM @ Google Labs

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/benhuggins

## Work Experience
### Design Lead, NotebookLM @ Google
Jan 2025 – Present

### Sr. Staff Designer, Applied AI @ Google
Jan 2024 – Jan 2026

### Principal + Founding Designer @ birdmurder ˟
Jan 2022 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area
Helping seed-stage startups elevate design, build fast, and hire smart at birdmurder.co

### Principal Product Designer @ Retool
Jan 2022 – Jan 2023

### Head of Design @ Humu
Jan 2018 – Jan 2022
Led strategic vision for product and brand from MVP through series C. Started as solo designer, building out a multidisciplinary design team and defining processes to build quickly at high quality.

• Took product from MVP to configurable platform including a suite of products for individual employees, HR and admin users — contributing over 60% of IC work while also building team
• Shaped leadership and XFN ideas and objectives into cohesive, focused product vision of “what’s next” every 4-6 months
• Interim responsibility to to define and drive alignment on product direction. Then established goals and built process to hire first PM
• Coached XFN partners (engineering, science) on product process and thinking to empower them to act as project leads in PM-like roles
• Led and deployed 2 internal rebrand efforts, driven by stakeholder workshops and validated with research.
• Built and managed high-impact team of 3 full-time designers, 3 contract designers across both product and marketing
• Evangelized for and hired first UX Researcher
• Managed an engineer (at their request) who wanted coaching on how to build great product

See some of our work at https://humu.com and https://dribbble.com/humu

### Design Lead, YouTube on TV @ YouTube
Jan 2016 – Jan 2018
Led design for YouTube's fastest-growing screen: the app for smart TVs and game consoles.

### Design Lead, YouTube Premium and Commerce @ YouTube
Jan 2014 – Jan 2016
Led the UX team for YouTube Commerce: all things that involve money on YouTube, outside of Ads.

• Launched YouTube Premium — YouTube's first ever paid subscription product
• Designed tools to help video creators fund their craft. Did extensive early vision work on what would become the "Creator Economy" and transactional behavior on YouTube.
• Developed foundational browse and purchase UX for Movies and TV shows across devices

### Product Designer @ Nest Labs
Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco Bay Area
Worked on small UX team (pre-acquisition by Google) to design next-generation mobile apps for connected home devices. 

Graduate school internship, with full-time offer extended.

### Founding Designer @ Highlight Hunter
Jan 2011 – Jan 2012
Highlight Hunter is software that helps camera owners find the best moments in their video footage. Featured in TechCrunch and GeekWire. GoPro’s own production team found our product “invaluable.”

Designed desktop app to make processing footage simple and intuitive, especially for first time users. Also created marketing materials for print and web.

### Director of Product, National Brands @ SCVNGR
Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 | Boston, MA
SCVNGR is a social-mobile game that engages consumers with scriptable brand experiences at the places they visit. 

Defined product offering for major national brands (Coca-Cola, Sony Pictures, Subway, Nike) to translate business goals into interactive location-based games for customers. Built and managed award-winning team that launched over 120 branded game experiences.

### General Manager @ GrooveBoston
Jan 2005 – Jan 2010
GrooveBoston transforms campus venues into concert-scale nightclub experiences for students. 

Transformed the brand from an "all-occasions" DJ company to a market leader in the university event space with event contracts over $35,000.

### Broadcast Freelancer @ Arnold Worldwide
Jan 2006 – Jan 2006
Assistant producer position offered upon completion of internship in
broadcast department. Worked primarily on McDonalds TV and radio
spots.


## Education
### B.A. Psychology in Concentrations in Media & Entrepeneurship
Tufts University

### Master of Science (MS) in User Experience Design (HFID)
Bentley University


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/benhuggins
- Portfolio: http://www.hugg.in

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Source: https://flows.cv/benhuggins
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/benhuggins/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-13