Sean Smith - Resume

Microsoft | 2015–Present

Design leadership across Outlook and SMB incubation teams spanning mobile, web, and desktop. Launched AI-native features, incubated new products, and scaled cross-platform systems.

Microsoft Outlook | 2021–Present

Principal Product Design Leader | 2025–Present

Principal Product Design Manager | 2022–2025

Senior Product Design Manager | 2021–2022

Led cross-platform initiatives including Reading experiences and AI-native Copilot workflows across Outlook's desktop, web, and mobile apps, impacting hundreds of millions of customers worldwide, with usage and adoption more than doubling during my tenure.
Operated as a player–coach, balancing hands-on design, prototyping, and decision-making with long-term strategic direction and cross-functional leadership.
Managed and mentored a global design org of 11 direct and dotted-line reports across the US, China, and Australia, supporting multiple designers' growth from apprentice level through promotions up to principal.
Extended influence through global design partnerships, collaborating with designers across the US, Latin America, Europe, India, and China to align Outlook mobile experiences worldwide.
Guided a progressive adoption of design systems, reducing design debt, improving usage for Outlook mobile and partner teams, and aligning more closely with the Microsoft Fluent system.
Partnered with product, engineering, and AI/ML leaders to align business priorities with user needs, influencing adoption of Copilot and other AI-native features across consumer and enterprise endpoints.
Contributed to integration efforts within Microsoft 365, ensuring Outlook complemented adjacent apps and supported a consistent suite-wide user journey.

Microsoft MileIQ / SMB Incubation | 2015–2021

Senior Product Designer | 2019–2021

Senior Product Design Manager | 2017–2019

Senior Product Designer | 2015–2017

Joined as the first in-house designer at MileIQ, refining the core product and building the design foundations — systems, brand, and prototyping practices — that supported growth and Microsoft's acquisition.
Led design for a suite of SMB and consumer apps including Spend, Visits, and Money in Excel, expanding Microsoft's small business tools portfolio.
Managed and mentored a small design team, growing early-career designers into impactful contributors while guiding design strategy for new product launches.
Contributed to post-acquisition alignment, ensuring MileIQ and sibling products matched Microsoft 365 standards and complemented adjacent offerings.
Balanced hands-on product design across concept, research, prototyping, and launch phases with the strategic direction needed to scale a design function inside a growing business unit.

MileIQ (Mobile Data Labs)

Lead Product Designer

| 2015

First in-house designer, partnered closely with founders and peers to refine MileIQ's core experience.
Led vision and design for a suite of SMB apps, supporting funding and acquisition strategy.
Built an early design system in Sketch and prototyped in Principle to streamline cross-team collaboration and engineering handoff.

Best Apps Market & Fetch

Lead Product Designer & "Design Engineer"

| 2012 – 2015

Designed Android app store alternative; modernized the UI with Material Design. Led the launch of a rebranded version of the Android app to align with Google's Material Design guidelines.
Led front-end XML implementation and UI updates for Material design v1 as the core engineering team did not have capacity.

Freelance Design

Freelance Designer

| 2009 – 2012

Led branding and UI work for startups.
Launched and ran an apparel business (design, printing, eCommerce).

Contact

Sean@seansmithdesign.com
www.linkedin.com/in/seansmithdesign
seansmithdesign.com

Professional Development

Future London Academy

Executive Programme for Design Leaders ("Design MBA") | 2025-2026

International program for experienced design leaders, covering strategy, business, and organizational leadership through in-person modules in London and California. Participants include design executives from global companies and studios.

Designer Fund

Design for Business Impact | 2019

Design leadership series with case studies from Pinterest, Gusto, Slack, and Dropbox, focused on connecting craft to business outcomes and strategic influence.

CodePath

SwiftUI for Designers | 2015

A hands‑on technical course providing app prototyping skills in SwiftUI tailored to designers. A practical, bootcamp-style introduction to native iOS prototyping tools.

Education

Art Institute of California - San Francisco

Graphic Design | 2007-2010

Academy of Art

Graphic Design | 2006-2007

Skills

Design Leadership & Management

Design Leadership, Design Management, Team Hiring, Team Resourcing, Sprint Facilitation, Mentorship

Product Thinking & Strategy

Product Strategy, Human-Centered Design, Storytelling, Collaboration, Cross-functional Alignment

Emerging Tech & AI

Generative AI Design, AI-Assisted Workflows, Prompt Design, Transparency in AI, Ethical AI Principles

Design Systems & Platforms

iOS, Android, iPadOS, MacOS Design, Design Systems, Fluent Design, Web Design

Tools & Craft

Figma, Sketch, Prototyping, Cursor, Lovable, Motion Design