UX & Product Design leader in e‑commerce, B2B and enterprise, building revenue‑driving experiences.
5 years
leading design teams
18 led
design, content & research
100M+
users impacted
Overview
11 years
Product design experience
Over a decade leading and practicing UX & product design, from IC work to team leadership.
5 years
Leading design teams
Praised by my teams for building an excellent design culture — one that's supportive, high‑craft, and fun.
AI‑fluent
Agent‑enabled design leadership
Experience integrating AI‑assisted tools and workflows thoughtfully, without compromising design quality or human‑centered thinking.
Work history
Fractional Product UX Designer
Timeless Design
2024 – Current
I advise product companies and startups to operate faster and better in an AI-era. I implemented an AI-assisted design process at a global tech platform that sped their delivery by 500%, while coaching designers to become comfortable with AI. I advised a Head of Design with an international design team on best design management practices, improving their culture and solving complex team working dynamics and challenges.
Sr. Manager, UX Design
Foot Locker
2019 – 2024
I led a team of 6 (design and content) while driving the design vision and strategy for an $8B retail omnichannel e-commerce ecosystem spanning mobile app, web, and additional digital touchpoints. I guided a design team to contribute to reversing declining sales (–9.9%) to growth (+1.9%) for key product lines of business.
UX Architect
Sears
2013 – 2018
I designed enterprise tools that saved $14M rolled out across 1,000+ stores and multiple call centers. I also reimagined the POS register to take cloud based payments, and a internal performance review platform that rolled out to 5,000+ users.
Case studies
Redesigning flagship Mobile App feature
Leading the design team to reimagine a key part of our experience — resulting in 18.7% YOY sales increase and 3x higher CSAT score avg.
View case study
Making buying products easier
Carts were being abandoned hard. How I led a team to solve this problem while increasing conversion 13% along the way.
🔒 VIEW CASE STUDY
Combining 20+ enterprise apps into 1 solution
My very first shipped design. It ended up saving the company $14M.
🔒 VIEW CASE STUDY
My leadership style
"You know how to design
the best design team culture."
the best design team culture."
— Kate, UX Researcher on Saqib's team
My approach to leading design teams:
Being a leader is a responsibility.
Here's how I go about leading design teams.
Being a leader is a responsibility.
Here's how I go about leading design teams.
Set them up for success
Translate complex requirements into clear goals, and remove blockers in their way to help them perform.
Mentor & develop
Model good design thinking, offer new opportunities, and build on each designer's strengths.
Manage with care
Regular 1:1s and group reviews, weekly check‑ins, and communication styles adapted to each person.
Make things fun
Bring authenticity and humor to leadership, with book clubs and open shareouts along the way.
About Me
A little about who I am outside of design.
My family
I'm a proud father of 3 with my wonderful wife, living in the Chicagoland area. Being a father teaches me a lot about how to lead and work with others.
Pizzamaking
I love cooking and my specialty is pizza. NY style, Detroit, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Chicago style; you name it. Like design, it involves lots of iterating and solving challenges!
Powerlifting
I enjoy powerlifting as a hobby. Though I've never competed in a meet, I have put up some numbers I'm proud of. Squat: 355, Bench: 210, Deadlift: 450, Total: 1010
© Saqib Shafi. All rights reserved.
✕
✓
{{ copyCountdownLabel }}
Close
Contact me
Send me an email and let's get in touch.
saqibshafi@gmail.com
{{ copyMainLabel }}
✕
✓
{{ copyCountdownLabel }}
Close
🔒
Let's meet to view this case study
Copy my email and get in touch to walk through this one
saqibshafi@gmail.com
{{ copyMainLabel }}
Saqib Shafi
← Back to portfolio
Redesigning flagship Mobile App feature
Leading the design team to reimagine the Launch Online Reservation experience — making getting products faster and easier.
Role
Sr. Manager, UX Design
Product
Mobile App
Platform
iOS, Android
Context
Foot Locker's Launch product line drives retro sneaker releases — a focal product deeply tied to sneakerhead culture and brand image, and closely aligned with company values.
Problem
Releases for special Launch shoes were difficult to get for the common customer.
For customers
First-come-first-serve on site only, bots users won only with no web queue, and in-store lines were difficult to manage.
For business
IT support was overtasked at release times, stores were overwhelmed, and reputation was low against competitors.
How might we
...make getting retro shoes easier and more fair for the core customer — not just for bot-using resellers and able-bodied customers?
Solution
An online “Ship To Me” raffle entry experience
More convenient
UX research showed customers would prefer an online option.
More fair
Fights bots so core customers can purchase without competing against resellers.
Competitive edge
Online reservations, known for premium brands, elevate Launch's positioning.
Product requirements
Allow pre-orders
Shift the experience to a purchase-before-release flow.
New “Ship To Me”
Enable the new option in a fast, easy way.
Multiple fulfillment
Let customers opt in to try and win for both Ship To Me and In-Store.
Communicate rules
UX copy accounts for all conditions and financial details.
Exploration
Numbered steps vs. bottom sheet
Numbered steps
Bottom sheet ✓ chosen
Challenge #1
Financial issue
Legal and Finance required pre-authorizing users' credit cards to enter the raffle — the challenge was presenting that clearly without bogging down the experience.
My designers explored multiple ways to inform users; as leader, I partnered with Legal and Finance on concise copy, and with Engineering on the clearest visual display.
Challenge #2
Multiple copy reviews
Design reviews included the CMO, since budget came from marketing. UX passed quickly, but copy was held for multiple reviews, pausing UX deliverables and cutting into UI's timeline.
I brought copywriters into Figma to increase collaboration and speed, and introduced an orange font for copy review so design and content work could run in tandem.
Bonus
Learning from Dev & UI
The map experience needed to differ in the final UI between iOS and Android, so I had my UX designer pivot accordingly — reinforcing the value of communicating with partners, designing scalably, and adapting as you learn.
Impact
18.7%
YOY sales increase, meeting the direct sales goal set for the new experience.
37.7 → 80.2
CSAT score improvement from May to December of the fiscal year.
↑ Reputation
Praise and recognition from the sneakerhead community on YouTube, Reddit, and X.
“I wish we had more time to create a more omni-experience.”
With thanks to Katie Foley, Jon Flood, Maggie Chandy, Boris Hartl, James Vanaria, and Annie Chiang.