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I’m a Product Design leader with 12+ years of experience driven by deep customer empathy and a focus on delivering meaningful, measurable impact. I seek out opportunities where design can drive the greatest value for both the user experience and the business.…

Michael Clifford

UX Designer, AI Strategy Consultant, Product Designer, +2

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I’m a Product Design leader with 12+ years of experience driven by deep customer empathy and a focus on delivering meaningful, measurable impact. I seek out opportunities where design can drive the greatest value for both the user experience and the business.…

Available to hire

I’m a Product Design leader with 12+ years of experience driven by deep customer empathy and a focus on delivering meaningful, measurable impact. I seek out opportunities where design can drive the greatest value for both the user experience and the business.

Skills

Experience Level

Product Design

Expert

Leadership

Expert

Language

English

Fluent

Work Experience

Fractional Head of Design / Design Lead at Self-Employed Consultant

February 1, 2024 - Present

Lead design for KPMG's internal cybersecurity incubator, helping founders and startups bring new AI-powered products to market. Designed a 0-1 AI application for a cybersecurity startup (pre-launch). Advised AI ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) test automation company Opkey on scalable UX and design strategy as the product scales after raising a $47M Series B.

Senior Product Designer (AI & Platform) at Le ver, JazzHR, and Jobvite (client projects)

April 1, 2025 - September 9, 2025

Led design on the AI and Platform teams for Lever, JazzHR, and Jobvite with a focus on cross-platform data integration and design systems. Created a research-driven AI-powered task management feature that reduced time on tasks by up to 83% and reduced cognitive load.

UX Mentor at Design Lab (Remote)

January 1, 2025 - September 9, 2025

Coached and mentored over 80 UX design students guiding them to a new career in UX; many of whom are now working in the field.

Senior Product Designer (Contract) at Clio

September 1, 2024 - September 9, 2025

Led a redesign effort of the high-use part of the product suite with dependencies across the organization to reduce users' time on tasks by 50%.

Product Design Lead at Xero

June 1, 2023 - September 9, 2025

Led a major strategic AI product initiative to deliver a future vision of automated accounting, which led to restructuring two divisions in the company to align with this work. Established a 12-month accelerated plan for delivery with product management and engineering leads across teams to prioritize features that modernize our code base and maximize user impact. Formed a leadership team with Product and Engineering managers to establish a customer vision and road map for multiple product teams to modernize legacy experiences and deliver new features.

Product Design Lead / Manager at Prodigy Education

February 1, 2020 - September 9, 2025

Managed and led a team of designers across multiple products, provided feedback and coaching, helped establish career goals, and transitioned three direct reports to new roles and responsibilities. Partnered with PM and engineering to design and launch a new admin-facing product grounded in generative and evaluative research with school districts driving 250%+ growth in active users. Established a company-wide framework for Product Designers to facilitate better career planning and development plans.