# James Giangola

> Conversational AI Design Lead / Linguist, Xoogler

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

A simple but beautiful idea, everyday conversation exhibits systematic design features essential to optimally comprehensible and comfortable interactions. This is James Giangola’s ground-breaking contribution to the field of Conversation Design, a concept he has been rigorously researching and documenting since 1995. He is co-inventor of U.S. patent “VUIs with Human Personality,” co-author of _Voice User Interface Design_ (Addison-Wesley 2004), and author of _The Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese_ (Lincom Europa 2001), among other publications.

## Work Experience
### Lead, Conversation Designer / Linguist @ Google
Jan 2014 – Jan 2025 | Sunnyvale, California, United States
AI Chatbot Design
Guidelines creation
Voice User Interface Design
UX Writer
Speech-synthesis linguist
Voice coach
Creative lead, Persona design & localization
VUI/persona UX research
Mentor

### Principal @ PANTA RHEI
Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | São Paulo
Creative Director & Principal Designer of Genesys-Prime Brasil, since acquisition of LM Sistemas in July 2012.

### Creative Director @ LM Sistemas
Jan 2007 – Jan 2012 | São Paulo e Região, Brasil
Since my arrival, LM grew from 12 to 160 employees, winning awards in “technology and customer service” year after year, and was acquired by Genesys in July 2012.

### VUI designer, Mentor @ Voicepartners LLP
Jan 2003 – Jan 2007 | The world

### Senior VUI Designer @ Nuance Communications
Jan 2001 – Jan 2003 | Menlo Park, California
[Fun fact: Selected voice-over artist, consulted on the recording script, and coached her for Nuance's "Vocalizer" text-to-speech engine, which you probably know as "Siri."]

### Lead Persona Designer @ Nuance Communications
Jan 2001 – Jan 2001 | Menlo Park, California

### Research Engineer @ Nuance Communications
Jan 1999 – Jan 2001 | Menlo Park, California

### Voice-User Interface Designer (VUI) / Chief Industrial Linguist @ General Magic
Jan 1997 – Jan 1999 | Sunnyvale, California

### Linguistics Technical Manager @ Sensory, Inc.
Jan 1995 – Jan 1997 | San Jose / Sunnyvale, California

### Speech Synthesis Linguist @ Sensory, Inc.
Jan 1994 – Jan 1995 | San Jose, California

### ESL Instructor @ University of California, San Diego; UC Irvine
Jan 1993 – Jan 1994 | La Jolla, California

### Spanish Linguistics Instructor @ UC San Diego
Jan 1992 – Jan 1994 | La Jolla, California
Spanish Linguistics Instructor, University of California, San Diego (9/93 - 6/94; 9/92 - 6/93).

### Teaching Fellow /  Academic Coordinator @ Associação Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos (ACBEU)
Jan 1989 – Jan 1992 | Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Employment funded by a grant from the United States Information Agency (USIA), a now defunct branch of the State Department..

### Teacher (bilingual ed.) @ Los Angeles Unified School District
Jan 1985 – Jan 1987 | Lincoln High School, Los Angeles, CA

### Passenger Service Representative (NYC/Paris) @ Air France
Jan 1984 – Jan 1984 | NYC, then Paris, France


## Education
### A.B. in Magna Cum Laude, Linguistics
Brown University

### Master of Arts (M.A.) in Linguistics
UC San Diego

### M.A. in Applied Linguistics (TESOL)
Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/james-giangola-32606451
- Portfolio: http://www.BrazilianKitchenBathMakeover.shutterfly.com

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