# Marco Plewe > Product Design Lead • 15+ years pioneering anticipatory experiences where atoms meets pixels Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/marcoplewe As a multidisciplinary experience designer with a background in design, computer science and economics I found my natural habitat in Silicon Valley. I have a true passion for fusing innovative digital with physical human experiences that explore the interaction of objects, people, new technologies and services. I craft and prototype unique experiences to test and build upon – whether that means making things by hand, with machines, or using code. Unafraid of challenging conventions, my mission is to think big picture while also focusing on the small little details that matter, always aspiring to create unique experiences that have impact and are magical. It makes me the happiest when I am able to collaborate with, learn from and mentor highly talented people in interdisciplinary teams that envision the future and ship great products. I had the privilege of working with several renowned design agencies, start-ups and corporations. I designed and developed user experiences that aligned human needs and business objectives for highly distinguished and impactful brands such as Meta, Bowers & Wilkins, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Bank, Red Bull, Continental, Audi, to name a few. Driven by a sense of wonder and curiosity I live to explore. I call the San Francisco Bay Area my home but also enjoy escaping into nature, travel the world whenever possible and riding any kind of board. ## Work Experience ### XR Product Design Lead @ Meta Reality Labs @ Meta Jan 2020 – Present | Burlingame, California, United States Horizon OS: I transformed Meta Quest Remote Desktop from an abandoned app into a competitive product, driving outsized growth in daily active users and significant increase in time spent per user. I developed and championed a vision for connected device experiences that feel native on Horizon OS. By securing leadership buy-in and rallying cross-functional teams, I shipped game-changing features: multi-monitor support, flexible display ratios (portrait to ultra-wide), input sharing, and native pairing for Windows 11, Mac, and mobile devices. Portal: I partnered with and rallied cross-functional teams across different orgs to build seamless multi-device experiences for 1P and 3P co-presence platforms—enabling effortless call transfers between mobile and Portal devices and second-screen functionality during active calls. I also designed intuitive controls for Portal's smart camera, adapting familiar patterns to make novel features feel immediately accessible to users. ### UX Lead Product Innovation @ Bowers & Wilkins Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Menlo Park, California, United States ### Principal UX Designer @ Bowers & Wilkins Jan 2017 – Jan 2020 | Menlo Park, California I led end-to-end digital and physical product experiences for Bowers & Wilkins' first smart speaker suite. Partnering across functions, I aligned stakeholders and translated requirements into a cohesive vision: an AI-powered companion app delivering personalized listening experiences integrated with users' streaming services, plus intuitive setup and management of their speaker systems. ### Senior Manager UX Design @ Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Sunnyvale, California I led a team of 15 cross-disciplinary designers and creative technologists, guiding projects from ideation through delivery while orchestrating collaboration across design, engineering, research, and strategy teams globally. I scaled #MBUX—Mercedes-Benz's next-gen telematics system—from ambitious concept to production across 20+ car models launching in 2018. For Concept EQ, I pioneered an immersive digital experience with a map-centric interface designed to ease range anxiety and support electric mobility. I provided strategic vision for a cohesive user experience across Mercedes-Benz touchpoints and partnered cross-functionally to identify high-impact opportunities that advanced both product and business goals. ### Manager UX Design @ Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Sunnyvale, California ### Principal UX Designer @ Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay und Umgebung Guided and mentored a vision team of cross-disciplinary designers and creative technologists. Explored new experiences for Mercedes-Benz with strategic impact for in-car displays, mobile devices, wearables, intelligent light, smart materials, interactive and transformable surfaces. Spearheaded and established tangible digital interfaces as a new design discipline within Mercedes-Benz. Collaborated with cross-functional teams on multi-modal interactions combining voice, gesture and gaze. Built concepts, prototypes and designs which I presented to key stakeholder and teams in the organization. Developed core information architecture, interaction patterns, prototypes and visual designs for the next generation telematics system MBUX and beyond. ### Senior UX Designer @ Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Bay Area Strong individual contributor as member of the F015 core project team. Developed concepts for autonomous mobility experiences, worked on interaction and visual design, developed prototypes for evaluation and effective communication of the design vision and ensured correct implementation into the final product. Lead a small design team for demonstrating the Mercedes-Benz vision of a predictive user experience. IxDA Award 2015 shortlisted in category “Disruptive”. Created concepts, designs and presentations to gain alignment and drive decisions across multidisciplinary teams. Designed mockups and prototypes to effectively communicate intended interaction. Collaborated with designers, researchers, engineering, and communications from idea conception through execution. Synthesized user insights and business goals into personas, user journeys, concepts, wireframes, interaction flows and visual designs in an iterative development process. Developed design tools that streamlined repetitive tasks and enabled rapid iterations for the design team. Crafted compelling designs and experiences that met and redefined the digital brand language of Mercedes-Benz. ### UX Designer @ Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc. Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay und Umgebung As the lead designer for the digital user interfaces of the Concept S-Class Coupé I worked directly with software and embedded hardware engineers – from whiteboard concept stage over rapid prototyping to final polished visual design. I helped to establish a new collaboration model and best practices of interdisciplinary co-creation and the strategy of using show cars as proof of concept – designing and developing for real life automotive hardware in order to accelerate the transition of innovation from vision into product. Designed high fidelity wireframes, and clickable rapid prototypes for Instrument Cluster, Head Unit, and climate touch bar. Worked closely with product managers and engineers to design holistic user experiences. ### UX Design – Intern @ Advanced UX Design Mercedes-Benz R&D North America Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | San Francisco Bay und Umgebung I helped implementing creative coding as a new design tool and design discipline for rapid prototyping and concept evaluation within Mercedes-Benz. With a small team of designers, engineers and UX researchers we established a new collaboration model of interdisciplinary co-creation and a human-centered-design process. Contributed to the Mercedes-Benz digital user experience strategy and design language. ### Designer @ spontech spine intelligence AG Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | Stuttgart und Umgebung, Deutschland I worked as the design lead together with marketing and engineering on concepts, wireframes and visual designs for the innovative implant software, company website, and marketing material for web and print. I helped establishing a new brand and CI guidelines for this fast growing medical start-up. ### Design Tutor @ University of Applied Sciences Wuerzburg-Schweinfurt Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Würzburg und Umgebung, Deutschland I mentored and taught a group of 60+ undergraduate students in Adobe Illustrator. I guided the students through the software from basic to advanced features and demonstrated how the software facilitates procedural design. The learnings were applied in weekly sessions in groups of 15 students using real life design problems which were accompanied by weekly design exercise assignments. ### Designer @ zum Kuckuck Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Würzburg und Umgebung, Deutschland As a designer and creative technologist I worked directly with clients and developers and created concepts, designs and prototypes for innovative websites and digital experiences that pushed the envelope of established web standards. In a cross-disciplinary team I developed digital experiences for highly distinguished brands such as Mercedes-Benz AMG, Audi, Villeroy & Boch, Drykorn, to name a few. ### IT Solutions Consultant @ barcatta GmbH Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 | Würzburg und Umgebung, Deutschland Assisting employees of E.ON all over the world in solving any kind of problems regarding the IT infrastructure, hardware and software, such as CITRIX, MS Office, Outlook, Exchange, Windows, Blackberry, RAS VPN, Active Directory, LDAP, SAP, Remedy ARS, IBM Mainframe, video and telephone conferencing tools, identity Management, network printing, order management, asset management, VoIP, on-call duty, intranet, extranet ### Design Tutor @ University of Applied Sciences Wuerzburg-Schweinfurt Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | Würzburg und Umgebung, Deutschland I mentored and taught a group of 60+ undergraduate students in Adobe Illustrator. I guided the students through the software from basic to advanced features and demonstrated how the software facilitates procedural design. The learnings were applied in weekly sessions in groups of 15 students using real life design problems which were accompanied by weekly design exercise assignments. ### Designer @ formfellows Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | Frankfurt am Main und Umgebung, Deutschland As a designer I worked closely with clients to provide effective visual languages for their brand systems. In an interdisciplinary environment I worked directly with fashion designers, architects and copywriters and developed concepts and designs for cross-platform campaigns, exhibitions, sports wear, and more for highly distinguished brands such as Continental, Red Bull, Jewish Museum Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Liebighaus Frankfurt, to name a few. ### Design Intern @ formfellows Jan 2009 – Jan 2010 | Frankfurt am Main und Umgebung, Deutschland In an interdisciplinary environment I worked directly with fashion designers, architects and copywriters and developed concepts and designs for cross-platform campaigns, exhibitions, sports wear, and more for highly distinguished brands such as Continental, Red Bull, Jewish Museum Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Liebighaus Frankfurt, to name a few. ### IT Solutions Consultant @ barcatta GmbH Jan 2007 – Jan 2009 | Würzburg und Umgebung, Deutschland Assisting employees of E.ON all over the world in solving any kind of problems regarding the IT infrastructure, hardware and software, such as CITRIX, MS Office, Outlook, Exchange, Windows, Blackberry, RAS VPN, Active Directory, LDAP, SAP, Remedy ARS, IBM Mainframe, video and telephone conferencing tools, identity Management, network printing, order management, asset management, VoIP, on-call duty, intranet, extranet ## Education ### Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) ### Master of Arts (MA) in Information Design Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) ### Business Economics in Business Information Systems Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/marcoplewe --- Source: https://flows.cv/marcoplewe JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/marcoplewe/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-30