# Matthew McClendon > Director of Product Design | AI-assisted decision systems | Human-in-the-loop, explainability, and high-stakes workflows that deliver time savings, accuracy, and confidence Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/matthewmcclendon I design decision systems where AI supports human judgment under real-world pressure. My work focuses on high-stakes environments where accuracy, trust, and clarity matter, including financial systems, automation platforms, and enterprise decision workflows. I’ve led design across complex products and data-intensive systems, shaping user workflows, interaction models, and decision frameworks that prioritize explainability, usability, and trust under constraint. Through Amid the Noise, I develop applied frameworks and research on how systems behave under pressure, and how design can restore signal where complexity obscures meaning. I’m currently focused on roles where AI enhances decision-making rather than replacing it, particularly in environments where outcomes carry real-world consequences. ⸻ Areas of Strength • Collaborative AI and AI/ML UX • Principal-level interaction design for complex systems • Design leadership and player–coach team development • Data-rich workflow architecture and product strategy • Research synthesis and decision frameworks • AI transparency, behavioral modeling, and system integrity • Systems thinking and narrative strategy for technical products ## Work Experience ### Principal @ Amid the Noise Jan 2022 – Present | San Francisco, CA Amid the Noise is an independent research and systems design studio focused on trust-critical platforms, human-centered AI, and complex civic and enterprise systems. The work builds on thirty years of experience across user experience, data science, and systems strategy, with a deliberate emphasis on research-driven design and applied governance. I design and lead independent research examining how intelligent systems behave at scale, where trust fractures under complexity, and how interaction design can preserve human agency in AI-mediated environments. This work combines public scholarship, practitioner interviews, applied systems analysis, and hands-on design engagement. I operate as both architect and practitioner. I set strategic direction for experience architecture and step in directly when products require momentum, structural clarity, or decisive design leadership across product, engineering, and data teams. My research centers on Collaborative AI, a discipline I helped define to address behavioral integrity in intelligent systems. The goal is to design AI that elevates human capability, preserves authentic voice, and behaves predictably in high-stakes contexts. As part of this work, I developed the HARMONIC Framework, guiding teams in aligning AI behavior with user intent, organizational values, and system trust. The framework informs interaction models, product strategy, and responsible deployment practices, and underpins an active patent portfolio exploring trust-preserving AI architectures. This research is being synthesized into a forthcoming book on human-centered AI, trust, and systems integrity, alongside continued public publication through Amid the Noise. Focus Areas: Trust-critical UX for AI systems, interaction architecture for complex workflows, Collaborative AI design, research synthesis and field engagement, enterprise and regulated environments. ### Director of User Experience @ Dremio Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | Santa Clara, California, United States As Director of UX, I worked hands-on in design while guiding strategy for Dremio’s cloud-native data platform. My focus was transforming complex data workflows into intuitive solutions, balancing execution, team growth, and executive collaboration. • Designed and prototyped enterprise-scale features for Fortune 500 clients, driving adoption and retention through clarity and usability. » Conducted research and usability testing directly with customers, translating insights into product decisions. » Built and mentored a high-performing UX team, while contributing designs and reviews alongside them. » Partnered with executives to align UX priorities with product roadmaps, influencing funding and feature development. » Delivered measurable outcomes: 25% increase in adoption, 30% faster onboarding, and higher task completion rates across core workflows. » Developed scalable design systems and accessibility standards, launching component libraries that reduced cycle times and strengthened product consistency. ⸻ Case studies available below: FactSet, NetApp, and TransUnion. ### UX Strategy & Intelligent Automation Lead @ Automation Anywhere Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | San Jose, California, United States I had a pivotal role at the core of Automation Anywhere’s shift from deterministic bots to adaptive, AI-enhanced digital workers. My role combined hands-on UX design and prototyping with shaping product strategy across finance, logistics, and healthcare. The focus was on building trust-centric workflows that made AI explainable, scalable, and usable in mission-critical environments. » Designed and tested human-in-the-loop workflows for AI-driven bot ecosystems, ensuring transparency and usability. » Prototyped explainable AI (XAI) features, including trust calibration and progressive disclosure models for regulated industries. » Optimized task-focused UX patterns that reduced manual interventions by 35% and improved enterprise efficiency. » Built adaptive feedback loops and telemetry dashboards that enabled real-time learning and responsive bot performance. » Contributed directly to cognitive UX design systems, while coaching teams on embedding explainability and trust into automation at scale. ⸻ Case studies available below: ML-Enhanced Bots, AI vs Rules-Based Automation, Human-Centered Bot Handoff ### Design Thinker - Artificial Intelligence @ Wells Fargo Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco, California I served as lead design thinker in Wells Fargo’s AI Enterprise Solutions group, embedding human-centered practices into 17 business lines. My role combined hands-on facilitation, framework design, and prototyping with executive alignment, ensuring machine learning and NLP capabilities translated into real-world impact across a highly regulated environment. » Designed and facilitated AI opportunity-framing workshops across 17 business units. » Built playbooks and pilot templates to scale human-centered AI practices across the enterprise. » Prototyped and tested workflows that clarified AI explainability and usability for risk-aware teams. » Unified executive sponsors, stakeholders, and data scientists by adapting design thinking to the institution’s engineering-led culture. » Clarified the scientific method as a shared framework between product and data science teams, reducing misalignment in experimentation. ⸻ During my tenure with Wells Fargo’s AI Enterprise Solutions group, I led a series of high-impact initiatives that applied design thinking to real-world machine learning and NLP challenges. Each project translated AI ambition into aligned, human-centered delivery, bridging regulatory, operational, and user trust gaps across 17 business units. ### Director of User Experience @ CA Technologies Jan 2016 – Jan 2019 | Santa Clara, CA Directed UX strategy for the CA Accelerator, a venture incubator within CA Technologies designed to launch employee-led startups from concept to MVP. Built and led a cross-functional team of UX strategists, researchers, and engineers, delivering end-to-end experience design for 12 early-stage ventures simultaneously. Established Lean Startup frameworks, embedded human-centered research practices, and created a scalable UX operations model to reduce time-to-validation and elevate product-market clarity. ⸻ • Delivered UX leadership across 12 early-stage software ventures with diverse tech stacks and user profiles • Built and managed a cross-functional UX team embedded across incubated startups • Operationalized Lean Startup, design sprints, and customer validation at the MVP level • Developed repeatable UXOps frameworks for rapid prototyping, research intake, and usability scoring • Facilitated team-wide immersion in emerging tech (CI/CD, ML, NLP) to align design with innovation ⸻ As Director of UX for CA’s internal startup incubator, I led experience design across 12 parallel ventures—ranging from AI/NLP platforms to predictive DevOps tools. Each case study reflects a different frontier of applied UX: trust in automation, clarity in uncertainty, and repeatable design operations under startup-level pressure. ### Director of User Experience @ Cadence Design Systems Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | San Jose, CA Recruited to rebuild UX after a decade-long absence at Cadence. Established design process, culture, and hiring strategy across all product lines. Assessed product health through heuristics and user research, prioritized critical UX issues, and embedded design into engineering through a formal Ambassador program. Scaled UX culture globally through training and advocacy. Collaborated on early AI features to align ML outputs with user intent and error tolerance. • Rebuilt UX practice across Cadence’s global product suite • Audited products and led foundational user research • Launched UX Ambassador program within engineering • Delivered global training to scale UX culture company-wide • Informed ML feature design with UX research and workflow mapping ### Senior Manager, User Experience @ Autodesk Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | San Rafael, CA & San Francisco, CA Recruited to overhaul Autodesk Account, the company’s customer license platform, during its transition to a subscription model. Built and led a multidisciplinary UX team, elevating quality and efficiency across design, research, and architecture. Championed incremental release to rebuild customer trust and shift internal delivery culture. Drove cross-silo collaboration and helped centralize UX practices company-wide. • Rebuilt and led UX org across design, research, and architecture • Introduced incremental delivery to restore user confidence • Established cross-BU collaboration in a siloed environment • Centralized UX functions and scaled design operations • Positioned Autodesk Account as a model for enterprise UX delivery ### Mobile Product Designer @ Evernote Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 | Mountain View, CA I joined Evernote the same week it reached its billion-dollar valuation, during a time of rapid growth and innovation. As Lead Mobile Designer for Evernote Hello, I worked in a fast-moving trio with a Product Manager and Lead Developer to prototype and test features like business card scanning and profile enrichment. The app functioned as a sandbox for new ideas, allowing us to iterate quickly—often on Android first—before bringing stable, validated features into the core Evernote product. • Launched Evernote Hello across iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. • Led UX research, user flows, wireframes, and interaction models. • Presented high-fidelity prototypes directly to CEO Phil Libin for executive buy-in. • Used Android for rapid feature testing before adapting to iOS. • Ran in-field and remote testing to validate concepts and improve UX. ### Manager, User Experience @ Level Studios Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 | San Jose, CA At LEVEL Studios, a digital agency within the Publicis network, I built and led a cross-city design team spanning interaction design, prototyping, research, and content strategy. We supported clients across tech, entertainment, healthcare, and finance—delivering UX research, wireframes, prototypes, and annotated specs. I oversaw business development, resourcing, and cost estimation while cultivating a sustainable, growth-focused team culture through individualized coaching and rigorous 1:1s. Our specialty was mobile UX across iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, advising clients on mobile-first versus complementary experiences and driving consistent design systems. • Recruited and led a multidisciplinary design team across multiple cities. • Drove UX strategy and execution for clients spanning diverse industries. • Managed team resourcing, project estimating, and business development. • Mentored junior designers with tailored growth plans to prevent burnout. • Delivered mobile solutions and strategic guidance on cross-platform design. ### User Experience Lead @ Level Studios Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 | San Jose, CA ### Senior User Experience Designer @ Level Studios Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | San Jose, California ### Senior User Experience Designer @ Level Studios Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | San Jose, California ### Senior Interaction Designer @ Rovi Corporation (now TiVo) Jan 2009 – Jan 2010 | Santa Clara, CA • Senior Interaction Designer for the Toast 11 product release • Created project plans, wire frames, mockups and content matrixes • Maintained Apple Human Interface Guidelines and best practices for the Toast 11 UI • Experience using Xcode and Interface Builder • Top down UI redesign of Toast to enhance usability • Introduced “Snow Leopard” elements into the interface • Designed for touch and gestural devices ### Lead Interaction Designer / Project Manager @ Symantec Jan 2007 – Jan 2009 | Cupertino, CA • Product managed and designed for the Education Services product • Created project plans, wire frames, mockups, and content matrixes • Conducted user research, created test scripts to enhance usability • Worked with cross-functional teams to accomplish completion of milestones • Studied web analytics to make informed recommendations for improvements • Developed HTML and CSS code in prototypes and web content • Re-configured site features to simplify the user experience ### Senior Interaction Designer (III) @ Yahoo Inc. Jan 2005 – Jan 2006 | Sunnyvale, CA • Redesigned MyYahoo! property to align with new business requirements • Developed site maps, flow diagrams, wire frames and HTML prototypes • Conducted user research, ethnography study, created personas and iterative design processes with cross-functional dialogue • Worked with cross-functional teams to accomplish completion of milestones • Holistically re-architected the product and prototyped the future portal • Streamlined the initial user experience and defined automatic content placement ### Senior User Interaction Designer @ Friendster Inc. Jan 2004 – Jan 2005 | Mountain View, CA • Visual and interactive redesign of the Friendster property • Responsible for usability enhancements, user research, site mapping, analytics • Presented comps and site maps to Board of Directors for review • Developed complete site map, integrated streaming video and multimedia • Analyzed product features to help create strategy for redesign efforts • Prepared HTML and CSS mockup specs for engineering • Produced wire frames and prototypes for use as user research testing collateral • Worked on cross-browser compatibility issues and browser optimization projects ### Lead User Interaction Designer @ WyldFyre Technologies Inc. Jan 2004 – Jan 2004 | Campbell, CA • Design lead for a combination of desktop, web and e-commerce software • Creation of mockups, transitional HTML, design documents and specifications • Conducted user research, hosted user groups and focus studies to gather user data • Introduced the organization to the concepts of user-centered design • Simplified and streamlined user flows and interactions for increased usability • Designed and developed interfaces for the mobile device ### User Interface Designer @ AOL Inc. / Netscape Communications Jan 2001 – Jan 2003 | Mountain View, CA • Worked on a variety of projects including MyAOL and AOL 9.0 for Broadband. • Responsible for interaction design deliverables, rapid prototyping and documentation • Created HTML/CSS to support engineers with living specs and mockups • Developed design specs with specific callouts for alignments and pixel layouts • Provided liaison support between design teams in Virginia with local engineers • Made design decisions and modifications based on real-time feedback from engineers ### Senior User Interface Engineer @ Blackhog Inc. Jan 2000 – Jan 2001 | Sunnyvale, CA • Defined visual and interactive design standards • Created HTML prototypes, developed better navigation methods • Introduced user-centered design to the organization • Worked on cross-browser and browser optimization projects • Developed new visual mockups in support of a re-skin of the main product • Produced Flash multimedia collateral for customer training purposes ### Lead User Interface Designer @ idealab! Jan 2000 – Jan 2000 | Palo Alto, CA • Designed for incubated companies: eToys.com, cooking.com, eLease • Produced designs and mockups for e-commerce solutions, both interactive and visual • Worked on cross-browser issues and browser optimization code projects • Defined standards for user experience deliverables • Worked with third-party design agencies and individuals on multiple projects • Helped fledgling companies interview and place full-time designers ### Web Designer @ Netscape Communications Jan 1997 – Jan 1999 | Mountain View, CA I was employed by Netscape / AOL on two different occasions. While with Netscape I had the opportunity to work with many high profile projects, all geared at AOL’s consumer audience. I was responsible for designing user interface components for the MyAOL project, the highest priority project at AOL in 2003. MyAOL consisted of different modules that would allow the consumer to customize their AOL experience. I would mockup the different modules in Photoshop, and then create HTML, XHTML and CSS to support the design. Several modules were also prototyped using Flash and ADP, AOL’s proprietary version of Flash. My role was similar in my other projects at Netscape; user interface design, team management and HTML production. ## Education ### Computer Science Oklahoma State University ### Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME) Stanford University ### Graduate Certificate in Critical Thinking Program Cornell University ### Graduate Certificate in Mastering Design Thinking Massachusetts Institute of Technology ### Adult and Continuing Education Stanford University ### Industrial and Organizational Psychology Stanford University ### Graduate Certificate in HCI: Human-Computer Interaction Massachusetts Institute of Technology ### Business MIT Sloan School of Management ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mattmcclendon - Portfolio: https://mattmcclendon.myportfolio.com/ - Portfolio: https://medium.com/@mattmcclendon --- Source: https://flows.cv/matthewmcclendon JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/matthewmcclendon/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13