Senior product design leader with 25+ years of experience shaping digital products, guiding high-performing teams, and turning complex enterprise challenges into intuitive, scalable solutions.
My background spans enterprise SaaS, digital commerce, UX strategy, research, design systems, and end-to-end product design. I focus on creating digital experiences that balance deep user needs with measurable business outcomes.
I am a player-coach at heart - equally comfortable defining high-level UX strategy, mentoring designers, partnering across Product and Engineering, and staying close to the design craft. Having led teams of up to 12 designers, researchers, and front-end engineers, I specialize in scaling design systems, optimizing cross-functional workflows, and leveraging data to guide product direction. Recently, I’ve integrated AI into my design workflow to accelerate research synthesis, prototype emerging patterns, and design intelligent, conversational experiences.
I am currently seeking Senior UX/Product Design Leadership or Principal-level roles where I can blend strategic direction, team mentorship, and hands-on execution—with a focus on complex SaaS, enterprise tools, and AI-driven products.
Let's Connect: mikehelman33@gmail.com.
Core Competencies & Skills
Blending strategic vision, user-centered research, system architecture, and hands-on execution to build complex enterprise products.
Leadership & Strategy
Cross-Functional Alignment
Bringing together Product, Engineering, and Executive teams to align on shared product roadmaps and focus on clear user outcomes.
Design Strategy & Critical Thinking
Challenging team assumptions by using data, research, and systems thinking to help us define the right problems.
Player-Coach Mentorship
Mentoring teams by helping them improve their craft, leading constructive design critiques, and encouraging design autonomy.
Research & Experience Design
Mixed-Methods Research
Using mixed-methods research to uncover core user needs and behaviors. This includes qualitative interviews, shadowing, surveys, and analyzing quantitative data.
Information Architecture
Organizing complex data and workflows into logical, easy-to-follow navigation and clear visual hierarchies.
Usability Testing & UX Writing
Validating solutions by running usability tests and writing clear microcopy to help users avoid confusion.
Systems & Technical Craft
Design Systems & Visual UI
Building and scale component libraries to keep visual consistency and brand integrity across different products.
Prototyping & Workflow Design
Turning complex business logic into simple wireframes and interactive prototypes, from low-fidelity to high-fidelity.
Engineering Alignment & Code Literacy
Using my front-end development skills to design UI solutions that are practical, affordable, and reliable.