# James Sheak > 0→1 Innovation & Consumer Growth | Ex-Chime, DoorDash, Meta, Amazon | Coaching Future Design Leaders Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/jamessheak Product design leader thriving at the intersection of craft, strategy, and business impact. For 20 years, I’ve helped DoorDash, Chime, Meta, Amazon, HP, and GoPro turn complexity into simple, scalable products people love. My superpower: building clarity from ambiguity. Whether launching a 0→1 business, rewiring growth funnels, or shipping experiences that delight and deliver ROI. I’ve led design on subscription products (DashPass), financial services (Chime), hardware ecosystems (HP, GoPro), and billion-user platforms (Facebook). The common thread: making products more intuitive, trustworthy, and valuable to customers and the business. Known as a designer’s manager: 100% approval at Chime, top-rated at DoorDash. I coach teams to grow in craft and confidence, and believe in the power of productive failure; giving people space to try, learn, and reflect. Leadership isn’t about directing from above; it’s about multiplying others and helping build instincts that last a career. What I bring to every team: * Strategic instinct to align design decisions with business outcomes * Craft excellence down to the pixel: eagle eyes for details that build trust * Storytelling that rallies organizations around bold ideas I love solving hard problems, simplifying complexity, and helping others grow. ## Work Experience ### Senior Product Design Manager @ DoorDash Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco Bay Area • Led design for DashPass, raising visibility of member benefits and driving adoption. • Helped shape long-term subscription strategy with member value at its core. • Championed ROI-driven motion and interaction design, positioning delight as a growth driver. • Shipped partnerships with Amazon, HBO Max, Lyft, T-Mobile, and airlines to grow members, retention, and value. • Recognized among Consumer Design’s top-rated managers. ### Director of Product Design @ Chime Jan 2020 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area • Directed design for flagship products: MyPay, Instant Loans, Credit Builder, SpotMe, Savings, Insurance Marketplace, and free tax filing. • Shaped MyPay into a non-predatory cash advance accessed $8.8B+ by members. • Oversaw SpotMe ($43.3B in fee-free access) and Instant Loans, balancing trust, business viability, and compliance. • Scaled a 0→1 design org recognized for open dialogue and shared ownership. • Achieved 100% manager approval, coaching ICs into confident leaders. ### Senior Design Manager @ Amazon Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Sunnyvale, CA • Amazon Key enables deliveries inside your home, garage, or car by giving Amazon secure access to your connected devices. It ensures packages arrive safely and helps deter porch pirates. • Led design for Amazon Key, reframing it from tech demo to trust-driven service. • Balanced security, privacy, and convenience in first-of-its-kind in-home delivery experiences. • Partnered across Autos, Fresh, and external teams to explore growth strategies. • Built scalable design system + patterns, raising design quality bar org-wide. ### Staff Product Designer @ Facebook Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | Menlo Park, CA • Joined the Facebook Stories team when adoption was flat and the product risked fading out. • Rewired the funnel by redesigning entry points, composer flows, and viewing experiences, directly driving increased usage and retention. • Helped transform Stories into one of Meta’s largest revenue engines, now generating billions annually. ### Senior UX Designer @ GoPro Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | San Mateo, CA • Joined the Karma drone team to address major user frustrations • Redesigned Karma drone controls for intuitive, mid-flight adjustments. • Improved IA with left-side camera + right-side flight controls → Wirecutter’s “easiest to fly.” ### UX Design Director - PCs @ HP Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 | Palo Alto, CA • Transformed the org’s reputation from “crapware” producers to value-added product makers, shipping innovations that proved HP could compete on experience, not just specs. • Elevated product value and user experience for HP PC software and partnerships with leading brands like Bang & Olufsen, Disney, and McAfee. • Led a globally distributed team of 14, aligning PMs, UX and Vx designers around customer value, monetization opportunities, and product differentiation to ultimately position HP PCs as more than just a machines that run Windows. ### Design Director - LaserJet & Enterprise Solutions @ HP Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | Boise, ID • Unified design for LaserJet portfolio; created timeless design language (15+ years in use) and winner of 2024's Printer of the Year (The Wirecutter). • Led a globally distributed team of 18 (ID, UX, and Vx). ### Design Lead @ HP Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 | Boise, ID ### Early Design Career @ NTT DoCoMo, Vans, Applied Minds, Magellan Navigation Jan 2008 – Jan 2010 | Los Angeles Metropolitan Area ### Early Creative Experience @ G2 – A Grey Global Group Company Jan 2003 – Jan 2005 ## Education ### MS in Industrial Design ArtCenter College of Design ### BA in Computer Science University at Buffalo ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jamessheak - Portfolio: https://www.hubble.social/jamessheak --- Source: https://flows.cv/jamessheak JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/jamessheak/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13