INTRODUCTION
Hi, I'm James. I'm a Senior Product Design Manager based in Denver, Colorado, currently leading the In-Person Selling UX group at GoDaddy.
I've spent the last decade leading design across companies like HubSpot, VMware, LinkedIn, and BiggerPockets. My work has consistently centered on a specific kind of challenge: complex, technical products where the UX problems aren't just about interfaces — they're about helping people navigate real operational complexity.
At GoDaddy, that means designing POS hardware and commerce apps that help small business owners sell in person. At HubSpot, it meant building the UX vision for a data management platform serving hundreds of thousands of CRM users. At VMware Carbon Black, it meant making cybersecurity tools usable for the people who protect our digital infrastructure. At LinkedIn, it meant designing experiences for one of the most complex social platforms in the world.
WHAT I BELIEVE IN
I believe the best design leaders are multipliers, not heroes. My job isn't to be the best designer in the room — it's to create the conditions where every designer on my team can do the best work of their career.
Setting strategic direction
I synthesize research, customer insights, and business context into a clear UX vision that gives my team a north star and gives stakeholders confidence. At HubSpot, this approach led to a 20% increase in user engagement and 15% improvement in data accuracy across the Data Management Group.
Building team health & capability
I invest heavily in rituals, growth frameworks, and psychological safety. I believe design excellence comes from environments where people feel safe to take creative risks, challenge assumptions, and grow. At GoDaddy, I built team operations from the ground up — goal planning, design quality reviews, career growth frameworks — for a group of 7 designers.
Driving cross-functional alignment
Great design doesn't happen in a design silo. I partner closely with product and engineering leaders to ensure UX is a strategic voice at the table, not an order-taking function. I operate as a DRI — driving research synthesis, strategic framing, and facilitating the hard alignment conversations that make good products possible.
MY FOCUS
Why I'm drawn to complex products
I'm drawn to products where the domain is hard and the users are experts. POS systems, cybersecurity platforms, data management tools — these aren't consumer apps where you can rely on familiar patterns. They require deep domain understanding, strong information architecture thinking, and a willingness to sit with ambiguity before jumping to solutions.
I've found that this kind of complexity is actually where design leadership matters most. When the problem space is large and the technical constraints are real, having someone who can frame the right questions, align diverse stakeholders, and guide a team through uncertainty is the difference between a product that works and a product that transforms how people work.
LOOKING AHEAD
Where I see design leadership heading
The design leadership role is changing faster than most people in the field acknowledge. AI isn't just another tool in the toolkit — it's fundamentally shifting what designers spend their time on, how teams collaborate, and what "good process" looks like. I've been actively working through this shift: building AI into my own workflows for research synthesis, strategic thinking, and prototyping, and helping my team develop their own AI practices.
I don't think AI replaces the judgment, empathy, and strategic framing that define great design leadership. But I do think leaders who aren't actively experimenting with AI in their practice are going to find themselves leading teams that are slower, less informed, and less capable than they need to be. I'd rather be ahead of that curve than reacting to it.
BEYOND WORK
I'm based in Colorado. When I'm not thinking about design, I'm spending time with my family and trying to get outside as much as possible—hiking, mountain biking, camping, etc. I believe the best leaders bring their full selves to work, and I try to create space for my team to do the same.