# Sam Roberts > Product Design and Leadership Location: Santa Cruz, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/samroberts1 I see design as ultimately the understanding of people. How can I build something for you without understanding your perspective, your goal and what brings you delight? This is design for me: the connection between people through the things we create. I love designing software, products and experiences that connect people with their world. Whether I am at the office, in the garage or on the farm I am designing. Designing to connect. ## Work Experience ### Designer in Residence @ Sutter Hill Ventures Jan 2025 – Present ### Freelance Product Designer @ Unknown Jan 2001 – Present Apple, eBay, Vence, UNC, PicsArt, Remedy Robotics, Apollo Neuroscience, US Peace Corps and many more. I’ve worked for dozens of innovative organizations designing products. An AI-assisted photo editing app, a GPS-based remote livestock monitoring interface, a shared EV transportation network, an interface to control a surgical robot from the other side of the planet in realtime and a wearable that treats anxiety; I’ve designed these and many more products. I love a big challenge and a tight deadline. Maybe I can help your company create something innovative. ### Product Designer @ General Motors Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | Mountain View, California, United States Designing something big... ### Co-Founder, Design @ Startup in Stealth Mode Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 | California, United States Working on the next big thing. ### Principal UX Designer & Frameworks Manager @ Rivian Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | Palo Alto, California, United States I lead a design team focused on in-vehicle apps (drive modes, media, etc) and the system framework across all Rivian vehicles. ### Product Designer @ Oculus VR Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | Menlo Park, CA I helped to imagine and visualize Oculus's next generation of AR/VR user interfaces for a concept film created by Oculus's design team. I created VI and 3d animations based off the team's research and assisted in defining new interactions. ### Co-Founder, Design and Engineering Executive @ Caffeine Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | Palo Alto, California I founded and designed a real-time, social, streaming platform for gaming and pop culture. At the executive level, I helped secured three rounds of funding from top VCs, entertainment industry heavyweights and large game developers. I was the sole designer for the first twenty months and responsible for: product strategy, PC app, iOS app, web app and branding, leading the front end engineering and design teams. ### Senior User Experience Designer @ Apple Inc. Jan 2010 – Jan 2014 | Cupertino CA I was the lead designer for AppleTV as a member of the famed HI team. I developed the concept, strategy and UI / UX design for iPhoto for iOS. I also led a team of designers and animators to create dozens of new features for Aperture, iPhoto and Photos and contributed to iMovie for iOS and music apps. I collaborated closely with engineering and executives and had the distinction of being the first Apple designer to present Apple’s design process at WWDC in 2012. ### Senior Interactive Designer @ Apple Jan 2008 – Jan 2009 | Cupertino CA I designed Aperture 3.0 and a few other projects with the amazing iLife design team. A golden era of Apple app design! ### Senior Designer - Online Store @ Apple Jan 2008 – Jan 2008 | Cupertino CA During my first few months at Apple, I worked on Apple.com and the online Apple Store.I designed new features for the configuration and ordering process. ### Senior Visual Designer @ eBay Jan 2008 – Jan 2008 | Campbell CA ### Behavior Change Communicator @ Peace Corps Jan 2006 – Jan 2007 While living and working in Kenya, I created visually-rich materials in collaboration with the community to educate the Deaf about HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. My biggest design success was a Kenyan Sign Language Poster that was distributed to every Deaf student in Kenya and continues to be a resource to the Deaf community years after printing. ### Senior UI Designer, Art Director @ University of North Carolina Jan 2003 – Jan 2005 | Greensboro NC In the early days of online, higher education, I lead a team of designers and engineers to create progressive and award winning online courses. ### Senior UI Designer, 3d Animator @ Unisyn Jan 2002 – Jan 2003 | Greensboro NC ### UI & Sound Designer @ Co2 Media Jan 1999 – Jan 2000 | Frederick MD ### Senior UI Designer, 3d Animator @ Buttonwood Media Group Jan 1997 – Jan 1999 | Frederick, MD ## Education ### BA in Anthropology University of North Carolina at Greensboro ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sam-roberts-66305b8 - Portfolio: https://www.samuelmroberts.com - Portfolio: https://www.ujenimotors.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/samroberts1 JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/samroberts1/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13