# Dawa Riley > Director of Product Design | AI Infrastructure, Web3, Platform Systems | Player-Coach | ex-Google, McKinsey & Company Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/dawa Director of Product Design operating across AI infrastructure, Web3, and product ecosystems. I have built and led high-performing design teams, scaling from 0 to 15, and partner with founders and executives to define product vision, strategy, and execution across complex, multi-product ecosystems. My work spans consumer, enterprise, and developer ecosystems, with a focus on systems thinking, product quality, and shipping at speed. I operate as a hands-on player coach and founding designer, owning product direction, vision, and execution while staying close to the work. Advocate for user research, having built and scaled research teams that inform product strategy, de-risk decisions, and drive measurable impact. Led design at Shiba Inu, Intercom, Curve.com Google, AI Startups, McKinsey & Company, and Booking.com. ## Work Experience ### Founding Designer | AI @ Sapiom Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 | San Francisco Bay Area Sapiom is building a Developer-first platform that makes it simple and secure for AI agents to transact. ### Design Director | Hands-on | Web 3 | Blockchain | Cryptocurrency | AI @ Shiba Inu Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | United States Hands-on Product and Design Leader at Shiba Inu, driving vision, UX/UI, and execution across 20+ decentralized products—Wallet, Rewards, Identity, DAO, DEX, Multichain Bridge, Liquidity Pools, ShibTorch, Shibarium, Dev Portal, NFT Marketplace, B2B Portal, Payments, Messenger. Focus Areas: • Leading end-to-end design and product for the major Shib.io redesign and ecosystem launch. • Partnered with C-suite and engineering to drive product vision, strategy, and execution. • Scaled up the design team, hiring across Product Design, Visual, Copywriting, Motion, and Illustration. • Guest speaker at industry events, including Blockchain Futurist Conference and Web3 podcasts. ### Sr. Group Design Manager @ Intercom Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | Dublin • Led a 53-person design team at Intercom, driving product design for the flagship Messenger product. • Implemented process improvements and led workshops to enchance team efficiency and creativity. • Successfully recruited top design talent, to deliver the nextgen Messenger product. ### Head of Product Design @ CleverCards Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 • Leading strategic vision and Product Design direction. • Product execution for a global payments solution + digital wallet. • Mentorship and Design Leadership of the Product Design team. • Led the Redesign/Rebrand of the CleverCards app, mobile first experience, onboarding + customisation. • Launched the first unified Design System across web, mobile, consumer and business applications. • Led the scale-up of CleverCards’ products into EMEA and US markets and to enterprise. ### Principal Product Designer, Mobile @ Booking.com Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | London, United Kingdom Leading end-to-end UI/UX Design for Mobile first experience. • Data driven and research led Design. • Extended Booking.com Design System to RentalCars.com. ### Principal Designer - Banking Apps @ Receipt Bank Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Remote • Supporting the team's mission to make Bookkeeping effortless • Responsible for Product Design of new reconciliation tools and Bank workspace • Design leadership • User Research to better understand primary use cases • Core contributor to new design system ### Head of Design Interim @ Curve Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | London • Leading UX and championing user centered design practises • Conducting in-depth user research and applying insights to iterative design improvements. • Designing new product features and improving existing user experience on Curve's platform. • Mentoring product design team members by providing feedback and leading critiques. ### Head of Design @ Hypothes.is Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area • Leading and delivering on complex UX/UI challenges for the Hypothesis client. • Interviewing and interfacing with external publishing clients. • Developing brand configuration settings and improving the universality of Hypothesis. • Presenting design work at academic conferences and publishing industry events. • Leading user testing and surveys to gain product feedback and insights. ### Mobile UX/UI Design Lead - Nest @ Google Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area • Lead Designer at Nest, shaping mobile and cross-platform smart home experiences. • Collaborative design, review and ideation of Nest Secure Home and Thermostat Products. • Regular feedback and review with Design, Eng, PM and Senior Directors @ Nest. ### User Experience Lead @ Yubl Ltd Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | London, United Kingdom • Mobile first social networking application. • Design Lead on a suite of tools including content/asset management, analytics reporting and data visualisation tool. • Design Team Lead and Product Owner for content moderation tool. • Performed extensive user testing of core product across mobile and web. ### Design Leader - McKinsey Digital Labs @ McKinsey & Company Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 • Created user journey maps and digital prototypes for clients in emerging markets - worked onsite with a large banking client in Brazil. • Part of the digital labs team. Worked with McKinsey business consultants to deliver quick, high-value and cost-effective custom digital prototypes and designs across mobile and desktop using the latest cloud, mobile and big data technologies. • Facilitated workshops and design hackathons to better understand the client/end user needs. ### Senior Product Designer @ Google Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Zürich Area, Switzerland and San Francisco • Conducted extensive user research with internal sales and external customers to better understand user needs with regards to video ad metrics. • Designed ad analytics dashboards and reporting tools to allow users to compare cross platform effectiveness. • Evangelised research findings and UX best practise across cross functional Google Ad, TV and YouTube teams at Google. ### Lead Interaction Designer @ Alfresco Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | London, United Kingdom • Lead UX Architect and Designer at an open source enterprise CMS company. • Delivered detailed wireframes and schematics of the user flow and application screens and behaviour for cloud based SAAS product. • Worked closely with Visual Designers, Product Managers and UI Developers to ensure user centered and best practise UX. • Maintained detailed specifications of the application on an internal wiki. • Created user personas to inform the user centered design process. • Conducted customer interviews for persona validation, and to ensure user centered design for MVP. • Key role in product requirement and detailed feature set definition, sprint planning and scoping requirements. ### Mobile UX Designer @ Intel Corporation Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco Bay Area • Part of the smart devices innovation team, responsible for designing innovative experiences for media/imaging applications for current and next generation mobile phones and tablets. • Lead UX Designer for a native Android (mobile and tablet) social gallery app. • Created a prototype and ran user testing sessions to gain product feedback. • Part of a sprint team designing current product features for native Android apps. ### Sr. Interaction Designer @ SapientRazorfish Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | London, United Kingdom • Led mobile and web UX design initiatives for high-profile clients including Audi, McDonald's, and Amnesty International. • Collaborated with creative directors, business analysts, and developers to produce client-ready specifications and designs. • Delivered final assets, design specifications, and site maps tailored to project requirements, enhancing user experience and client satisfaction. ### UX/UI Design Lead - Contract @ CrossCurrent, Inc. Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | Portland, Oregon Area • UX/UI Design Lead at a medical billing software start up in Portland in a cross functional team of software developers and business analysts. • Provided visual designs for the final product - task management, reporting and dashboard application. • Worked in an Agile environment to deliver features and assisted with implementation in Microsoft Expression Blend. • Prepared user research test scripts to validate product design decisions with end users. ### Mobile Lead UX Designer @ Bupa Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | London, United Kingdom • UX Design Lead for a 'Smart Running'/Fitness iOS app for major UK Healthcare company. • End to end design of the final product including user journeys and final UX Design specifications. • Worked alongside team of iPhone developers to build a prototype and oversee implementation. • Performed user testing against paper prototype for the iPhone application. • Performed an audit and evaluation of UX best practices across all digital platforms across Bupa. • Conducted stakeholder interviews across the global organization to improve brand and UX standards. ### Senior UX Designer Mobile @ Vodafone @ SapientNitro Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Vodafone UK • Designed mobile-web customer service application for major UK telco company Vodafone. • Delivered hi fidelity wireframes for mobile usage and billing application. • Wireframed account migration and subscription services for Vodafone.co.uk ### User Experience Researcher @ MTV UK, Northern & Eastern Europe Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | London, United Kingdom • Planned and conducted user research with Ovo Usability Lab Software and Tobii eye tracking for MTV's new Video On Demand service. • Delivered detailed usability reports to MTV of findings and recommendations. • Planned and conducted stakeholder workshops including diary studies for MTV. • Planned and conducted web-based quantitative surveys for Sky and MTV, analyzed results and delivered detailed reports and recommendations to clients. • Taxonomy and UX Audit for BBC Radio 3. ### Sr. Interaction Designer @ CMD Agency Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | Portland, Oregon Area • UX Designer for ASUS laptop microsite. Deliverables included storyboards, sketches and hi-fidelity wireframes of core user journeys, landing and sub pages for the microsite. • Wireframed revised email communications for the Intel Software development group. Conducted stakeholder interviews with key business units, wrote report and recommendations brief. ### Sr. Interaction Designer @ Skype Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 • Interaction design and UX for the redesign of Skype.com • Produced site architecture map, wireframes and user flows. • Worked on a pricing configurator for Skype’s Pay As You Go plans and redesigned Skype Mobile pages to incorporate new carriers and handsets. ### Sr. UX Designer - Contract @ DWP Digital Jan 2009 – Jan 2009 | London, United Kingdom • Internal UX consultant at DirectGov, for mobile and web products across government. • Design and Prototyping from concept -> launch for UK Government Linked Data initiative. • DWP: Designed their first job Search mobile app ### Sr. Experience Designer @ Adobe Jan 2009 – Jan 2009 • Re-designed the desktop AIR application and notifer for Acrobat.com's online word processor and document management tool. • Designed the upgrade experience in ConnectNow, a virtual meeting room/collaboration space. • Deliverables included user flows, storyboards, sketches, hi-fidelity wireframes and visual design comps. • Team members included Product Managers, Visual Designers, Technical Architects, User researchers, Product Marketing and Experience Leads. ### Senior UX Designer @ Avenue A Razorfish Jan 2006 – Jan 2008 • Planned and conducted user research for the ‘Build Your Own Card’ product customization tool for Capital One. Delivered a comprehensive deck of wireframes, site maps and story boards. • Rethinking/Redesigning Capital One’s consumer banking and account services/online bill pay. • Prudential Retirement/401k plan management dashboard and mentorship of junior UX Designer. • UX Design Lead for Conde Nast social networking site and Facebook application. • Concepting and wireframes for Disney.com and Disney Honeymoon re-design. ### UX Designer @ Avenue A Razorfish Jan 2005 – Jan 2006 | San Francisco Bay Area • UX Design and Information Architecture at Modem Media (now Publicis) • Worked on the overhaul the information/interaction design for Safeway.com. • Deliverables included task flows and wireframes for the check out, shopping cart, registration and delivery booking. • Conceptual development for a MS Vista product advisor and Enbrel.com pharmaceutical portal’s patient support initiative. ## Education ### MA in Design for Interactive Media Middlesex University ### Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Psychology UCL ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/dawariley --- Source: https://flows.cv/dawa JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/dawa/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13