# Stephen Lowe > Principal UX Designer & Consultant | AI Platforms | Design Systems Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/stephenlowe Seasoned design leader & architect with 20+ years of experience scaling exceptional user experiences across Fortune 500 enterprises and high-growth startups. I specialize in the intersection of technical complexity and human-centered design, particularly within Observability, AI, and Developer Platforms. What I do: Strategy & vision: Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to translate business objectives into executable design roadmaps that drive measurable outcomes. 0-to-1 innovation: A track record of launching foundational products from scratch, including AI-integrated monitoring tools and scalable UX architectures for complex data environments. Systems thinking: Expert at building and governing robust design systems (Figma, React) that empower distributed teams to build with speed and consistency. People-first leadership: I lead by empowering designers to reach their full potential. I focus on creating high-trust, collaborative environments that prioritize user-centered design and operational excellence. ## Work Experience ### Principal UX Designer @ Apexti Jan 2026 – Present Leading product UX for an AI orchestration platform focused on lowering the barrier to AI for non-technical users. Streamlining workflows, simplifying information architecture, and elevating the UI aesthetic across the product. Also designed and built the company's marketing website end-to-end. ### Senior Product Design Manager, Observability (part of Cisco) @ Splunk Jan 2024 – Jan 2026 | San Francisco Bay Area • Architected the foundational UX for 5 diverse observability domains, translating complex technical requirements into intuitive user patterns. Executed the 0-to-1 design-to-launch cycle in just 6 months, leveraging AI tools to streamline design. • Led AI integrations across critical user journeys, leveraging generative and predictive AI to reduce Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) and Mean Time to Value (MTTV). • Scaled and mentored a globally distributed design organization of 9, implementing structured feedback loops to foster a culture of collaboration and excellence. ### Senior Product Design Manager (part of Cisco) @ AppDynamics Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area • Established the foundational UX architecture for Cisco Observability Platform (COP) DevEx, transforming a nascent concept into a scalable design strategy. • Aligned Product, Engineering, and Design stakeholders by translating technical backend architectures into a cohesive UX vision for COP. This vision reduced cross-departmental friction and accelerate the 0-to-1 development cycle. • Increased design velocity by leading a design team of 8 across multiple time zones by establishing collaborative design rituals and feedback sessions. ### Senior Product Design Manager @ ThousandEyes (part of Cisco) Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area • Pioneered the organization’s inaugural design system, establishing a comprehensive Figma library that served as the foundational UI standard across the product. This provided engineers with a library of reusable, production-ready components to significantly accelerate development velocity and reduce UX debt. • Scaled the design organization by hiring specialized talent and mentoring a team of five, fostering a culture of collaborative excellence and faster feature delivery. ### Principal Product Designer @ ThousandEyes (part of Cisco) Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Designed the foundational UX for the core network data analysis workspace, transforming high-density telemetry data into a intuitive, actionable troubleshooting workspace. Utilized iterative prototyping and user research to simplify complex troubleshooting journeys, leading to faster issue detection for enterprise customers. ### UX Design Manager @ Elementum Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area • Led a distributed Platform UX team of six across the Bay Area and Buenos Aires, focusing on data ingestion and system-wide scalability. • Architected the Elementum Design System in collaboration with Engineering, defining UI patterns and component libraries. • Established UX governance, creating processes and standards that professionalized the design workflow. ### Principal UX Designer @ Splunk Jan 2014 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area • Optimized cross-functional collaboration by leading a distributed team of 6 designers to deliver platform infrastructure, including the administration portal and data ingestion engine. • Designed and launched the company's inaugural design system, defining the visual language, UI patterns, and component libraries in close partnership with Engineering. This reduced design debt and ensured 100% UI consistency across the platform. ### Senior UX Designer @ GreatSchools Jan 2011 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco • Directed the responsive redesign of the core GreatSchools product, modernizing the user interface to improve accessibility across all device types. • Defined brand visual identity and art direction for multi-channel marketing campaigns, annual reports, and style guides to ensure brand consistency. ### Senior Visual Designer @ Snapfish Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 • Designed high-traffic user journeys for the Snapfish.com Cards, including the Card store and a streamlined end-to-end checkout experience. • Developed a unified style guide and operationalized design-to-engineering handoffs with offshore teams, ensuring visual consistency and reducing production friction across the web platform. ### Senior Graphic Designer @ Kodak Gallery Jan 2005 – Jan 2010 • Modernized the digital storefront experience by designing seasonal campaigns and high-conversion landing pages for one of the industry's largest photo-sharing platforms. • Collaborated with cross-functional product teams to translate brand requirements into scalable visual assets and UI components for Kodakgallery.com. ### Production Assistant @ Williams-Sonoma Jan 2004 – Jan 2005 • Executed brand-aligned digital design for premier retail brands (Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, West Elm), focusing on e-commerce interfaces and high-impact marketing collateral. • Maintained rigorous visual standards across large-scale web updates, ensuring consistent user experiences during rapid seasonal product launches. ## Education ### Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Graphic Design California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo ### Information Architecture (IA) and Content Strategy UC Berkeley Extension ### Design Leadership Cooper U ### Interaction Design Cooper U ### Data Visualization Workshop Cooper U ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/louiethelowe --- Source: https://flows.cv/stephenlowe JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/stephenlowe/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13