Dec 2017 – Present
Design Architect & Design Manager
Leapfrog Technology, Inc.
Led a 20+ designer team to shape product strategy and ship complex client solutions.
Design leadership that ships.
Product designer and design leader with 15+ years. I design, lead a team of designers, and ship complex enterprise SaaS products.
- Years in design
- 15+
- Projects shipped
- 60+
- Designers mentored
- 100+
- Companies
- 6+
Voices
What collaborators say about working together.
During a six-month expansion project for Laudio, Saroj proved to be an outstanding designer, leader, and teammate. He took on multiple roles, from crafting designs and conducting competitive analysis to refining team processes and recruiting talent for Leapfrog. His leadership and approach to work left a strong impression, making him a highly valued colleague. Working with him again would be a welcome opportunity.
Brett Bergstrom
Senior Product Manager, Laudio
Career
Roles I've held, most recent first.
Apr 2017 – Nov 2017
Graphic Web Designer Consultant
Alpha Lion Holdings, Inc
Delivered remote web and brand design for major e-commerce platforms.
I build the systems I lead: design, people, and direction.
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Architect
The work
I design and architect enterprise SaaS platforms and design systems.
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Manager
The people
I lead 20+ designers at Leapfrog. Practitioner-first: I mentor from active experience, remove bottlenecks, and grow careers.
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Strategist
The direction
I advise on design strategy and how teams work, then speak on both at ADPList and community events.
Four operating notes from my working notebook.
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Lead with evidence, not claims.
Every section, deliverable, and meeting should prove capability rather than assert it.
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Outcomes over output.
Shipped behaviour change beats pixel volume. I measure design teams on the decisions they unlock.
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Practitioner-first management.
I lead the way I wish I had been led: direct, kind, and accountable to the work. Strategy and craft read as one system.
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AI accelerates, judgement decides.
Generative tools compress the cost of exploration. Taste, ethics, and the choice of what to ship stay human.
Human-led product design, in five phases.
Each phase follows design thinking and ends in concrete deliverables. If the evidence points elsewhere, I loop back to ideation.
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Empathize
Listen first, then map the field
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Define
Frame the problem, name the win
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Ideate
Generate widely, decide deliberately
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Prototype
Build something people can react to
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Test
Put it in front of real users
Articles
Recent thoughts on design, leadership, and AI.
Take the wheel: why you cannot wait for someone else to plan your career
Nobody is coming to plan your career for you. Here is how to stop waiting for permission and start driving your own growth.
What AI is really teaching designers about being human
Good conversational AI asks questions, takes time to think, offers options, stays patient, takes feedback, and anticipates needs. Designers can learn the same habits.
Why some managers are afraid to be the 'bad guy', and it hurts the team
Many managers avoid being the “bad guy” to stay likable. The cost is unclear expectations, high performers carrying the slack, and small problems that grow.
