UX Design Leadership

DAAN LINDHOUT

Global UX leader with 25+ years of experience building teams, products, and design cultures at scale—including platforms that contributed to an $8B acquisition and products serving 100M+ users.

100M+
Users Served
8
UX Teams Built
25+
Years Experience
23
Patents

"Just because nobody complains doesn't mean all parachutes are perfect."

— Benny Hill

About

DESIGNING AT SCALE

Daan Lindhout

I have been designing software and hardware user experiences for the past 25+ years. I am a multi-disciplinary global UX leader with a track record of building diverse and high-performing teams and delivering successful software and hardware products at scale.

I am a UX Designer and Researcher by heart with a passion for starting and building UX Design, Research, and User Assistance teams. I have 5 years experience serving on an executive team and 16+ years leading the UX discipline at companies including Microsoft, Qualtrics, Axon, and Workday. More recently, I've been focused on AI-enabled product design—leading AI/ML UX strategy at enterprise scale and exploring how AI can help people make better decisions.

I'm also an entrepreneur and builder. I co-founded Skill Cafe, an AI/ML-powered job matching platform, and I'm currently prototyping fintech tools exploring how AI can help people make better financial decisions. I teach UX to graduate students at Northeastern University to give back to the UX community and prepare the next generation of UX professionals.

TEAM BUILDING

Built 8 UX teams from scratch, scaling to 70+ across design, research, and writing.

DESIGN SYSTEMS

Created design systems unifying hardware + software experiences with 80%+ adoption.

PRODUCT VISION

Unified 7 products into the XM Platform, contributing to Qualtrics' $8B acquisition.

AI & INNOVATION

Leading AI-enabled product design while prototyping AI-powered fintech tools.

Current Focus

WHAT I'M WORKING ON NOW

Spoom Design

Designing and building proprietary financial technology applications—trading scanners, portfolio management dashboards, and AI-powered market analysis tools. Combining 25+ years of UX expertise with hands-on technical implementation.

Active

Northeastern University

Teaching graduate UX Design & Research courses with emphasis on platform thinking, AI-enabled experiences, and real-world product decision-making. Bridging academic theory with industry practice.

Active

PROFESSIONAL

8 positions
2023

Workday

Senior Director of UX

Led global Product Design across enterprise platform—HR, Finance, Higher Education.

Key Outcomes

  • Defined AI/ML UX strategy
  • Elevated design craft org-wide
  • Partnered on multi-year roadmaps
2018

Axon

VP Product Design

Built global UX org from scratch (5→60+). Owned all software and hardware UX.

Key Outcomes

  • Created Axon Design System
  • Pioneered ethical AI practices
  • HW + SW full-stack UX
60+
Team Size
5 yrs
Tenure
2015

Qualtrics

Head of UX

Led global UX org. Unified 7 products into the XM Platform.

Key Outcomes

  • Created XM brand concept
  • Contributed to $8B acquisition
$8B
Acquisition
7→1
Products
2014

Socrata

Director of Design

Led UX team for open data platform. Created patentable UI paradigm.

Key Outcomes

  • Patentable Card UI paradigm
  • Established UX Research discipline
2013

Moz

Director of Design

Led UX, Creative Direction, Branding, and Motion Design.

Key Outcomes

  • #2 Marketing Tech brand recognition
  • Ahead of HubSpot, Salesforce, Adobe
2010

F5 Networks

UX Manager

Led UX discipline for network infrastructure products.

Key Outcomes

  • Created BIG-IQ UI paradigm
  • Five Star Award
2007

SumTotal Systems

UX Manager

Started UX team and discipline. Managed designers across US and India.

Key Outcomes

  • Built UX team from scratch
  • Power of One Award
2000

Microsoft

Product Designer

Designed consumer hardware and software for hundreds of millions of users.

Key Outcomes

  • Windows OOBE: 22min → 2:10
  • Invented Tilt Wheel Mouse
  • International Stevie Award
100M+
Users
7 yrs
Tenure

STARTUPS & VENTURES

3 ventures
2025

Independent

Product Design & Dev

Designing and building consumer financial products. Exploring how AI can transform investing.

Focus Areas

  • Trading tools & regime scanners
  • Sentiment analysis
  • Portfolio management apps
2016

SkillCafe

Co-Founder

AI/ML-powered job matching platform for skills-based hiring.

Key Outcomes

  • Built product from zero to market
  • ML-powered matching algorithms
2013

Spoom Design

Owner

Full-service product design consultancy. UX and design systems expertise.

Services

  • Product Design
  • UX Strategy
  • Design Systems

TEACHING

1 position
2025

Northeastern University

Adjunct Professor

Teaching graduate UX courses and mentoring Engineers and Designers.

Topics

  • UX Design & Research
  • Design Systems
  • AI/ML Product Design

Testimonials

WHAT COLLEAGUES SAY

"Daan is a seasoned UX leader with a particular aptitude in building and establishing UX teams. He established Qualtrics' User Experience team, from creating its UX hiring practices, to hiring the team, to developing a design language, to building pattern libraries and style guides. Beyond building teams he is also dedicated to building great products."

Jerrod Larson Director of Product Design, Vanta

"Daan had a big hand in growing our team and increasing the maturity of our organization. He led us to grow our influence within Axon and expand our teams focus to include UX research and technical writing disciplines. Axon is well positioned for its next stage of growth due to the structure he established for our team."

David P. O'Hara Director of Product Design, Axon

"Daan is an incisive, thoughtful, and experienced design leader who understands the larger business context and orients the team appropriately. He did an excellent job balancing short-term product-specific goals with longer-term work, including establishing reusable patterns and components for our entire product portfolio."

Sayce Falk AI/ML Product Management Lead, Google

"Daan is easily the best UX leader I have worked with. He brings instant credibility with his structured thought process and his ability to communicate to engineers in a manner that they can relate to. He takes the time to understand very complex technical concepts and creates solutions that are user friendly and aesthetically pleasing."

Raghavan Kollivakkam Cofounder and Head of Engineering, RIGOR AI