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Experience

Principal AI Designer

Strategy and Systems Design — Microsoft Industry Solution Engineering (ISE), Remote — Since May 2022

  • Lead end-to-end research, product design, and delivery for complex, data-rich AI products across multi-industry engagements.
  • Drive product strategy by translating mixed-methods insights (research, telemetry, customer data) into clear problem spaces, roadmaps, and success metrics that guide prioritization and investment.
  • Lead multidisciplinary teams across design, product, engineering, and data science, aligning priorities, defining roles, and driving execution across complex AI initiatives, including human-in-the-loop evaluation and responsible AI frameworks.
  • Align senior stakeholders around product strategy, tradeoffs, and success metrics in high-stakes, ambiguous programs.
  • Mentor and coach designers and cross-disciplinary team members, strengthening individual performance and team outcomes.
  • Produce insight-driven narratives and frameworks that influence executive decisions and elevate design-led practices.
  • Translate complex systems into clear product experiences through journeys, interaction models, and prototypes that align teams and accelerate delivery.
  • Lead cross-functional design programs across multiple workstreams, ensuring alignment from strategy through execution.

Senior Design Lead

Research and Systems Design — IDEO, August 2021 – May 2022

  • Advised executive stakeholders, translating user insights, product requirements, organizational priorities, and market signals into clear strategic recommendations and investment decisions.
  • Led interdisciplinary teams across product and system design programs, setting direction, defining scope, and delivering outcomes aligned to business and user value.
  • Defined product strategy by synthesizing system-level insights and user needs into roadmaps, opportunity areas, and evidence-based decisions.
  • Coached and mentored designers, elevating craft, facilitation, storytelling, and client communication to strengthen team performance.
  • Developed and scaled frameworks, methods, and processes that improved design quality, consistency, and cross-team effectiveness.

Design Lead

Research and Systems Design — IDEO, August 2018 – August 2021

  • Partnered with clients to understand user journeys, workflows, and experiences, translating findings into service concepts and product opportunities.
  • Led cross-functional teams through full research and design cycles, guiding them from early problem framing through research, synthesis, prototyping, and strategy.
  • Translated complex research findings into compelling stories, frameworks, and experience visions that shaped strategy and informed product and service direction.
  • Managed client relationships across engagements by setting expectations, aligning on goals, and helping decision-makers understand how insights connected to business priorities.
  • Facilitated strategic workshops and alignment sessions that united diverse stakeholders around a shared understanding of user needs, system dynamics, and opportunities.
  • Developed reusable research approaches, tools, and best practices that strengthened IDEO's research quality and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Senior Design Researcher and Service Designer

Essential Inc., Boston — June 2017 – August 2018

  • Led end-to-end user research programs across discovery, human-factors evaluation, and UX studies to inform product, service, and system-level strategy.
  • Planned and executed research roadmaps, selecting appropriate methods and designing studies that uncovered behavioral patterns, usability issues, and unmet needs.
  • Facilitated co-creation and participatory workshops to align cross-functional teams, identify opportunity areas, and generate early solution concepts grounded in user evidence.
  • Applied analytical, visual, and research skills to translate complex behaviors into clear frameworks, mental models, and problem definitions that supported strategic decision-making.

Design Researcher and Service Designer

Essential Inc. (Part of PA Consulting), Boston — November 2013 – June 2017

  • Conducted interviews, participatory workshops, and concept evaluations to shape product and service direction with clear, actionable insights.
  • Created user journeys, service blueprints, and system maps that clarified complex workflows and identified opportunities for product and experience improvement.
  • Translated research findings into personas, scenarios, design principles, and strategic recommendations that guided multi-disciplinary teams toward user-centered solutions.
  • Collaborated with designers, engineers, and product teams to integrate insights into decision-making and ensure solutions reflected real user needs.

Skills

Human and AI Experience Design

  • Lead mixed-methods, systems-level research programs to understand user behaviors, motivations, and needs to inform meaningful experiences
  • Generate actionable insights through qualitative, quantitative, and behavioral data triangulation.
  • Synthesize findings into clear product requirements, interaction models, frameworks, journeys, and stories to drive AI strategy.
  • Design world-class, innovative AI systems with an emphasis on craft, quality, and trust
  • Lead end-to-end project design from discovery to ideation, experience prototyping, and development and adoption.
  • Design and run research that supports responsible AI development, with a focus on transparency, appropriate level of trust, user control, and inclusive representation.
  • Facilitate identifying potential harms like overreliance and co-create safeguards such as user agency, XAI, and moments of friction.

Leadership, Strategy, and Organizational Impact

  • Lead client organizations and cross-functional teams across design, data, and engineering to deliver complex, AI-driven products.
  • Align senior stakeholders and executives around product direction, adoption, investment decisions, and success metrics.
  • Drive end-to-end product strategy, aligning user needs, technical feasibility, responsible approach, and business priorities.
  • Coach and mentor designers and cross-disciplinary teams to elevate craft, execution, and strategic thinking.
  • Establish frameworks, processes, and ways of working that improve consistency and effectiveness across teams.

Selected Awards

  • Engineering the Amazing by Microsoft Industry Solutions Engineering (ISE), · Sep 2025
  • AI Design Win by Microsoft Industry Solutions Engineering (ISE), Jun 2025

Education

ALM in Psychology

  • Harvard Extension School | Expected 2027
  • Focused on Statistics, Behavioral Economics, and Cognitive Science.

Managing Yourself and Leading Others

  • Certificate | Harvard Division of Continuing Education | 2024

Microsoft UX Design Certificate

  • Developing AI Responsibly

Diversity and Inclusion Certificate

  • Cornell University | 2022
  • Focused on addressing unconscious bias and fostering inclusion.

MA in Design for Sustainability

  • Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) | 2013
  • Focused on design research, participatory design, and product service systems.

MA in Industrial Design

  • University of Tehran | 2009
  • Focused on design research, product and service design.

BFA in Industrial Design

  • Islamic Azad University | 2006
  • Focused on product design and human factors.