Design lead, Nokia 7610.
The technology people carried in their hands. A phone held by millions, designed where hardware, software and fashion had to agree.
About
I have spent 23 years building things that did not exist before.
I’m Emad Masoud. I began as a computer engineer, became a designer, grew into a product leader and eventually became a founder and architect of products, teams and companies.
The beginning
Before fintech, developer platforms, semiconductors and healthcare AI, I helped shape the technology people carried in their hands. At Nokia, I was the design lead for the Nokia 7610. Later, I worked with AMOI in China, where design, engineering and manufacturing had to come together perfectly before an idea could become a product used in the real world.
That beginning shaped everything that followed.
Path
Twenty-three years,on one line.
Where design meets the factory.
Design, engineering and manufacturing had to come together perfectly before an idea could become a real product.
Product and UX leadership, retail at scale.
Millions of ordinary decisions a day. A small friction is a very large number.
Product and UX leadership, grocery.
Baskets, substitutions and delivery windows, designed for one hand and half an eye.
Product and UX leadership, fintech.
Money on the line. The scariest screen has to be the clearest.
Qeepem, Tirgan, FuelTrip, Pizza Hut.
Paperless receipts, a digital stage for artists, automatic mileage, restaurant ordering. Range, on purpose.
Sr. Executive, Product & Design.
Developer tooling, for people who read the docs last and notice everything.
Senior Director, Total Experience.
Built the first design and research team and grew it to 48. Shipped the first design system. Led the Aurora platform.
Founder and chief architect.
Governed AI decision products for healthcare and semiconductor. Still hands-on, from the first flow to the final string.
What followed
Over the next 23 years, my work crossed retail, banking, fintech, developer tools, semiconductor technology and healthcare AI. I held leadership roles across Amazon, Safeway, Robinhood, CTO.ai and PDF Solutions. I designed products, transformed experiences, built new capabilities and helped organizations treat design as a strategic force rather than a final layer added to technology.
At PDF Solutions, I did not inherit an established design organization. I created the company’s first design and user research team from the ground up and grew it to 48 people inside one of the world’s most technically complex industries.
23years building things that did not exist before
1,200+products, platforms and experiences designed or contributed to
89+countries lived in and worked across
48people in the design and research team built from zero
Scale and the world
Across my journey, I have designed and contributed to more than 1,200 products, platforms and experiences. Some were physical products held in millions of hands. Others were digital platforms, enterprise systems and intelligent technologies operating deep inside industries most people never see.
My work has also taken me around the world. I have lived in and worked across more than 89 countries, learning how culture, language and human behaviour can completely change the meaning of a product. That experience taught me what no framework or textbook can.
People do not experience technology in the same way, and meaningful design begins by understanding why.
Range
I can move from a boardroom conversation to product strategy, system architecture, research and the final pixel without losing the original idea. My engineering background helps my roadmaps survive contact with reality. My design background keeps technology human. My product experience ensures that what we build deserves to exist.
The short answer
5leadership roles
Amazon, Safeway, Robinhood, CTO.ai and PDF Solutions. Direction, strategy, and the room where the decision gets made.
How I lead0 → 48people, from nothing
PDF Solutions had no design organization. I created its first design and user research team and grew it to 48, inside one of the most technically complex industries there is.
The PDF Solutions case1,200+products, platforms and experiences
Research, flows, screens, specs and prototypes, often alone. From the Nokia 7610 to governed AI.
See the workAll three.at the same time, on the same product
Founder and chief architect: setting direction, hiring the team, and still opening the file. You don’t have to choose which one you’re hiring.
Hire all threeBeyond work
But work is onlypart of who I am.
I am an author, and I love writing because language forces ideas to become honest and clear.
The booksI also love cooking. For me, cooking is another form of design: ingredients, timing, instinct, experimentation and care coming together to create an experience people remember.
Purpose
I have built across industries, cultures and continents. I have designed what people hold, what businesses depend on and what the future may require. But the purpose behind all of it remains simple:
To see what does not exist yet, understand why it should and bring together the imagination, technology and courage required to make it real.
Credentials
The short version.
- Design lead for the Nokia 7610 · product work with AMOI in China
- Amazon · Safeway · Robinhood · CTO.ai · PDF Solutions · founder, Barnabus Labs
- BSc, Computer Engineering — Al-Balqa’ Applied University
- Rotman School of Management, executive leadership programs, 2023 — 2024
- Founding President, EMENA Design & Innovation Council
- Mentor at Designed.org
- Author of CEO in Jeans: From Denim to Decisions, and the forthcoming UX Seeds
- Toronto, Canada