Brian Burton · Product Design Leader / Principal-level IC

Product design leader. Still in the work.

Complex Products. Thoughtful Systems.

I design the hard parts: ordering, financial workflows, design systems, and AI experiences. I lead teams, but I still map flows, prototype, critique, and ship.

18+ yrsDesigning digital products
5 designersCurrent team leadership
14 productsShared APEX system at Fiserv
Web · iOS · AndroidCross-platform product depth
Selected work

Evidence before adjectives.

The work below is the fastest way to understand how I think. Public summaries show the problem, my role, and the evidence. Full case studies stay protected because several projects include client or internal material.

Commerce · OmnichannelProtected

Papa Johns, End-to-End Ordering

I redesigned critical parts of the ordering journey across web, iOS, and Android, including Product Builder and Deal Builder, while connecting the experience to a shared design system.

Design Systems · GovernanceProtected

The Ingredients, Enterprise Design System

I built Papa Johns’ shared design language across web, iOS, and Android, then helped designers and developers use it in real product work.

Principal UX · AI WorkflowsProtected

Data Compass, From Questions to Banking Insights

I designed how an incomplete business question could move through an AI-assisted analytics workflow without losing context when a human analyst needed to step in.

Principal UX · Enterprise BankingProtected

Fiserv, Connected Digital Banking

I combined design-system leadership with hands-on banking UX across financial visibility, money movement, teller workflows and AI-assisted concepts.

AI Product Design · ConversationProtected

Lou AI, Conversational Ordering

I lead UX for Lou and Papa Call, designing conversational ordering around one practical promise: help the customer get a better deal without making them work for it.

Earlier selected work

Range without the résumé dump.

These projects show the same systems-thinking across sports, operational tools, and experience storytelling.

How I work

Three things I keep coming back to.

These are the through-lines across ordering, banking, design systems and leadership.

01

Find the real problem.

I like getting involved before the answer is fixed. Research, behavior, constraints and system context usually change the question.

02

Make the system legible.

Whether it is a flow, a design language or an operating model, I try to make complexity understandable enough that teams can act on it.

03

Stay close to what ships.

I do not want strategy to end at a slide. I stay in the details with designers and engineers until the customer experience is real.

Experience

Leadership built on doing the work.

I have spent my career moving between product detail and organizational scale, from hands-on UX to design systems to leading teams.

Papa Johns

Product Design Manager / Head of UX

Lead five UX designers across web, iOS and Android while staying hands-on with complex flows, prototypes, design-system decisions and product direction.

Papa Johns

Design System Language Manager / Lead End-to-End UX

Built The Ingredients and led end-to-end ordering UX across shared product surfaces.

Fiserv

UX Senior Advisor / Principal-level Designer

Led 22 designers contributing to APEX across 14 products, managed four direct reports and designed enterprise banking experiences.

Consulting + product work

Slalom · Nine Labs · HatchWorks · ICP

Enterprise and consumer UX across sports, hospitality, identity, banking, connected products, motion and storytelling.

Allure Global Solutions

Lead Digital Media Designer

Digital, motion and interactive work across entertainment, retail and hospitality.

From people I worked with

Useful over polished.

I care more about whether teams can make better decisions together than whether design looks impressive in isolation.

“Brian has been my right-hand partner at two organizations, and I trust him implicitly. He brings one of the strongest design crafts I have worked with, spanning design systems, end-to-end experience strategy, and execution, all while managing an exceptional velocity of work.”
Leigh Haislip · Product Design Leader, Director Level
“Brian can step into any project, work effectively with even the most challenging stakeholders, and consistently drive positive outcomes. His ability to balance quality, speed, and collaboration is rare and invaluable in complex environments.”
Dipankar Bose, HFI CUA · Full Stack Design Lead, Enterprise AI
About

I like figuring things out.

I like getting into complicated product problems early, before the answer has already been decided. My work sits somewhere between product design, systems thinking, and organizational problem solving.

I’m a player-coach. I care about building strong teams and better ways of working, but I also want to stay close to the product. I still like reviewing flows, testing ideas, solving interaction problems and helping good work make it all the way into customers’ hands.

Product DesignDesign LeadershipDesign SystemsInformation ArchitectureAI / Conversational UXAccessibilityResearchMotion / Storytelling

Let’s talk about the problem, not just the title.

If you are hiring for product design leadership, principal-level IC work, or something sitting between those two, I’m interested in the conversation.