About

Building systems that scale for global organizations

15+ years designing enterprise platforms and human-AI systems that make complex work feel clearer, more useful, and easier to scale.

Michael Hawkins - Lead/Senior Product Designer
Background

Experience

I've spent 15+ years designing enterprise platforms and AI-assisted systems where trust, complexity, and scale all matter - from AI-powered review workstations and remote proctoring tools to biometric identity systems and certification portals serving 2M+ users monthly across partnerships with Microsoft, AWS, Adobe, and Apple.


My strongest work happens at the intersection of messy constraints and clear outcomes: translating AI model outputs into trustworthy human-in-the-loop workflows, modernizing legacy systems under strict compliance and auditability requirements, and building design systems that maintain consistency across 50+ enterprise applications.

Approach

I lead with evidence and constraints - starting with the hardest requirements (compliance, offline, AI uncertainty) and designing systems that make those constraints invisible to users. I articulate the "why" behind every interaction, ensuring the final implementation matches the original vision.


I stay close to the craft while building operational frameworks - design systems, structured critique cycles, shared component libraries - that help teams move fast without breaking the user experience.

What Colleagues Say

"He's exceptional at turning messy constraints into intuitive flows, aligning stakeholders quickly, and delivering high-quality iterations at speed. Product and engineering trust him because he's always focused on what will ship and what will work at scale."
- Greg Anderson, Senior Product Manager

"He consistently brought clarity to ambiguity and helped align cross-functional teams around thoughtful, practical design decisions."
- Mani Anna, Product Architect

"He knows how to make designs that are clean, functional, and straightforward to implement and develop. If I was putting together a team, he would be at the top of the list."
- Eric Boothe, Senior Software Developer

Skills & Expertise

Emerging Experiences & Future-State Design

Future-facing concepting, UX sprints, early prototyping, and storytelling that helps teams see what’s possible and believe in where the product can go.

Human–AI Interaction (HAII) & ML UX

AI-assisted workflows, computer vision UX, biometric interfaces, explainability patterns, and human-in-the-loop systems designed for real-world use.

Rapid Prototyping & Visual Storytelling

From sketch to code-quality prototype, I use tools like Figma and Claude to make ideas tangible, reduce ambiguity, and help teams align around what should ship.

Physical-Digital & Omnichannel Design

Physical-digital experiences, biometric capture, mobile-first check-in, and connected service moments designed to feel seamless across real environments.

Product Leadership & Inclusive Design

End-to-end design leadership, facilitation, mentorship, accessibility, and creating experiences that are useful, inclusive, and built with care.

Systems & Enterprise Architecture

Multi-tenant SaaS, design systems across 50+ applications, DesignOps governance, and ecosystem thinking for products that need consistency at scale.