Paul Smith

Principal Product Designer
San Francisco, US.

About

Highly accomplished Principal Product Designer with a proven track record of transforming complex challenges into innovative, user-centric AI/ML products. Expertly leads cross-functional teams, prototypes rapidly in code, and drives strategic product vision from concept to pan-organizational adoption. Leverages deep expertise in generative AI, user research, and design thinking to significantly enhance user satisfaction, increase engagement, and secure competitive advantage.

Work

Kartel.ai
|

Principal Product Designer

San Francisco, CA, US

Summary

Led the design and implementation of AI-powered voice agents and collaboration experiences for a Hollywood AI-creatives hiring platform.

Highlights

Spearheaded the design and validation of AI voice agents, including prompt engineering and user validation, enhancing platform interaction.

Replaced traditional top-of-funnel processes with an AI voice collaboration experience, incorporating tool-calling for streamlined user workflows.

Significantly increased user satisfaction, elevated project quality, and boosted willingness to recommend the platform.

Amazon – AWS
|

Product Designer, AI/ML Team

San Francisco, CA, US

Summary

Designed and developed generative AI application-maker solutions, establishing core infrastructure for AWS AI services.

Highlights

Led the end-to-end design of a generative AI application-maker, serving as Amazon's strategic response to emerging AI technologies.

Conducted extensive user research to identify critical pain points and needs, informing design solutions that resolved major user friction.

Managed and guided a cross-functional team of ML scientists, engineers, product managers, and designers to deliver complex AI products.

Architected and validated an AI adaptive context framework that became core pan-AWS infrastructure for AI services, ensuring scalability and consistency.

Pearson
|

Senior Product Designer

Boston, MA, US

Summary

Drove product innovation and user engagement for the world's largest textbook publisher, securing intellectual property for new designs.

Highlights

Identified and resolved key impediments to product adoption and user satisfaction, enhancing the overall user experience for educational platforms.

Facilitated and led design workshops, aligning cross-functional teams on strategic solutions for complex product challenges.

Designed and iteratively refined a new eText reader, supporting over 12,000 textbook titles and improving content accessibility.

Increased student engagement by 50% through the implementation of an innovative new navigation paradigm.

Secured two design patents for UI navigation design, significantly strengthening Pearson's competitive edge and intellectual property portfolio.

Sonation
|

Principal Product Designer

Boston, MA, US

Summary

Led product design for AI-powered music applications, significantly expanding user base and improving retention.

Highlights

Led a product team in developing AI-powered real-time media accompaniment applications for musicians, addressing a long-standing industry challenge.

Grew the user base by 8x by innovatively solving a common 400-year-old problem in music creation and performance.

Designed and implemented a unique feature enabling AI model training through instrument play, enhancing user interaction and content generation.

Improved user retention by 40% through a rigorous process of weekly user testing and rapid iteration, optimizing product stickiness.

Education

Brandeis University

Master of Fine Arts

Fine Arts

Oberlin College

Bachelor of Arts

Arts

Awards

Apple's "Best New App" in 21 countries

Awarded By

Apple

Awarded for Cadenza, recognizing innovation and excellence in app design and user experience across multiple international markets.

Design & Utility Patents

Awarded By

Pearson

Secured two patents for UI navigation design, strengthening Pearson's intellectual property and competitive advantage.

Languages

English
French
German

Skills

AI & Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, OpenAI, Claude, Bolt, Cursor, AWS, Midjourney, Veo, Higgsfield, HeyGen, Krea, Hedra, N8N, Elevenlabs, Suno, Udio, AI Voice Agent Design, Prompt Design, Tool-calling, AI Adaptive Context, AI Model Training, AI Coding.

Product Design & Management

Product Strategy & Road-mapping, HCI Design Thinking & Innovation, UX/UI Design, Visual Design, Rapid Prototyping, Jira, Asana, ClickUp, Product Adoption, Product Innovation.

User Research & Analytics

User Research & Usability Testing, Data-Driven Decision Making, User Testing, Lyssna, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Pain Point Discovery, User Satisfaction.

Leadership & Collaboration

Stakeholder Management, Team Leadership, Startup Management, Cross-functional Leadership, Design Workshops, Strategic Alignment.

Design & Prototyping Tools

Figma, Bolt.new, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Framer, Principle.

Development

SwiftUI, HTML/CSS, React, JS, Typescript, Tailwind, VS Code, Replit, ChatGPT.

Paul Smith