# Carson Lau > Senior Manager - Product Design Hardware at Google Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/carsonlau I'm a product design engineer with overlapping skills in design research, industrial design, manufacturing, materials, and R&D. Having led PD projects at startups, design firms, and large companies, I know what it takes to get products manufactured and to market within different types of budgets and organizations. Several of the products I've worked on have won design awards. I have a strong background in both early design phases and mass production. Expert in 3D CAD surfacing and product architecture. 17 years of experience in designing and launching consumer products for various industries (electronics, automotive, sporting goods, toys, smart appliances, wearables, soft goods) with design consultancies, startups, and industry-leading companies. Projects have won awards by Red Dot, iF World, IDEA and Spark and have been featured in many publications such as Time Magazine, Wired Magazine, Popular Science, Fastco, I.D. Magazine. ## Work Experience ### Lead - Product Design Engineering @ Google Jan 2024 – Present | Taipei, Taipei City, Taiwan PD Tech Lead on Foldable Phones PD Manager on 1P Pixel Peripherals & Accessories ### Senior Staff Product Design Engineer - Meeting Room Hardware @ Google Jan 2017 – Jan 2024 | Stockholm, Sweden Managing the product development of next gen communication products for work space and education. Directing the PD-ME and ID teams responsible for 5 product categories. Launched 10 products in 2020 through the pandemic and 3 more in 2022. 2021 Red Dot Design Award 2021 IF World Design Award https://meetingdevices.withgoogle.com/seriesone ### Product Design Consultant @ Self-employed Jan 2009 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco, California Providing design work & development advice to small startups. Taking ideas all the way to mass production or just proof-of-concept prototypes for fundraising. I've helped groups get their product through their Kickstarter launches and incubator programs. Product categories have included general consumer electronics, power tools, wearable technology, electric vehicles, sporting goods, mobile phone accessories, and kitchen & food products. Notable partners: Vergesense - AI powered utilization analysis of work spaces Shaper - CNC handheld power tools (shapertools.com) Flo Labs - Intelligent products for the outdoors (flolabs.com) Loopd - Wearable engagement sensors for events (loopd.com) GetNoble - Redesigning the bar experience (getnoble.co) Stealth Startup - iot devices for home access Stealth Startup - connected luggage ### Creative Design Engineer / Mechanical Lead @ NIO Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco, California Working on products & experiences for the users (owners & sharers) of autonomous electric vehicles. We're designing around the future experience of a safer, self driving, self charging vehicle. Seating, safety, entertainment, last mile, sharing vs owning, etc. ### Industrial Design Architect - Home Products @ Google Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Mountain View, California Smart home products and assistant speakers ### Staff Product Design Engineer - Google [X] @ Google Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Mountain View, California Lead PD role focusing on developing new products, architectures, materials, and technologies to feed into future roadmaps and create new product ecosystems. Focus on wearables and lifestyle products. X. Secret stuff. Product Design. Mechanical Design. Occasional Industrial Design. Manufacturing. Design Research. Consumer electronics. Moonshots. R&D. Proof of concepts. Prototyping. Eating second lunches. ### Senior Product Design Engineer - Google [X] @ Google Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | Mountain View, California ### Product Design Engineer - Android @ Google Jan 2011 – Jan 2014 | Mountain View, California Expanding the Android hardware ecosystem by creating mass produced consumer hardware products outside of the phone and tablet space. Home entertainment, smart home, wearables, etc. ### Senior Product Design Engineer @ frog Jan 2009 – Jan 2011 | San Francisco, California www.frogdesign.com Lead design engineer on large-volume wearable technology device project including the device itself and other products within the ecosystem. Collaboration with manufacturing partners, multiple design disciplines (Industrial, Interaction, Visual), strategists, electrical & RF engineers. In addition to mechanical design, I was also responsible for emerging technology research, design and manufacturing feasibility studies, and design research. Projects include: - Disney MyMagic+ Ecosystem (wireless Magic Band wristbands and FastPass+ access points) - Research studies in Disney World to understand user interactions in park entries, queuing for rides, way finding, and wearable technologies. - Research studies in China to gain insights on how the rapidly growing middle class will participate in the consumer electronics market. Clients include: Disney, Samsung, HP Geographical areas of work include: China (Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Dongguan, Guangzhou), Orlando FL https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/bands-cards/ ### Product Design Engineer @ Sparkfactor Design Jan 2008 – Jan 2009 | Palo Alto, California Mechanical engineering & product management for consumer products & electronics. Projects include: - Wearable input device for PC/Mac gaming. Touch points on the fingers map to keys on a keyboard. www.theperegrine.com - Energy monitoring device with wi-fi connection running Android OS www.energyhub.com www.sparkfactordesign.com ### Senior Product Design Engineer @ Oliso Inc. Jan 2006 – Jan 2008 | San Francisco, California Lead engineer for a small product company. Prototyping & engineering innovative products for the home. We created the Auto-Lift Steam Iron and the Frisper Vacuum Sealer. The company is an offshoot of Unovo, a product design consultancy. Conducted product testing and user interaction studies to determine usability of products, competitive landscapes, product placement strategies. www.oliso.com www.unovo.com ### Product Design Engineer @ Oceanic Worldwide Jan 2005 – Jan 2006 | San Leandro, California www.oceanicworldwide.com 1st & 2nd Stage SCUBA Regulators, Rebreathers, Underwater Propulsion Vehicles, waterproof diving equipment. Worked with complex surfaces, mechanisms, metals, and plastics to create robust life-support devices for harsh underwater environments. In addition to the Oceanic brand, we also produced products under a few other brands: Aeris - www.diveaeris.com Hollis Gear - www.hollisgear.com Pelagic Pressure Systems - www.pelagicnet.com American Underwater Products - www.americanunderwaterproducts.com ### Mechanical Engineer @ Gayner Engineers Jan 2004 – Jan 2005 | San Francisco, California ### Intern Product Engineer @ Fisher-Price Jan 2003 – Jan 2004 | East Aurora, New York Worked on the latest version of the classic Bubble Mower, the Geotrax Rail & Road System, and the Little People figurine line. Heavy focus on mechanisms and design for injection-molding. www.fisher-price.com ## Education ### none in Global Engineering Education Exchange (GE3) Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Jan 2004 – Jan 2004 ### BS in Mechanical Engineering University at Buffalo Jan 1998 – Jan 2004 ### Stuyvesant High School Jan 1994 – Jan 1998 ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/carson-lau-8061152 - Portfolio: http://www.google.com - Portfolio: http://www.frogdesign.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/carsonlau JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/carsonlau/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-30