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Fractional design lead

I make complicated software make sense.

Your team can build fast. I make sure it’s building a coherent product.

I work with you and your engineers on the decisions nobody has had time to own, then turn them into standards your team, and its coding agents, keep using.

The problem

Where is your product stuck?

You have a vision. You need a product.

You can pitch it in two minutes. Your engineers need it as two hundred decisions.

A product model and a prototype your team can argue with, test and build.

You have a product. It’s drifting.

Each module made sense when it shipped. Together they behave like separate companies.

One priority workflow redesigned, plus the rules that make the next one easier.

You shouldn’t have to be the answer to every design question.

Why it happens

Everyone ships fast now. Faster won’t fix fuzzy.

Fuzzy is what a thousand small decisions look like when whoever holds the ticket makes them.

  • What happens after Delete?
  • Who can see this screen?
  • What does an empty page say?
  • Which fields are actually required?
  • Undo, or “Are you sure?”
  • Which version did we mean?

Each of these gets answered either way. I make sure it’s answered once, on purpose, and written down.

What I do

What I do about it

  1. Pick the problem

    We sit down with your engineers and use customer needs to choose the workflow causing the most confusion. We settle the product model, priority workflows and shared terminology while changing them is still cheap.

  2. Make it tangible

    I design and prototype the flow so we can test it, then work with your engineers on the states and edge cases. Where it helps, I work directly in the frontend, so your engineers aren’t left guessing.

  3. Make it reusable

    We turn the decisions into shared patterns, components, Storybook and guidance your team and its AI agents can follow. The next feature starts from a standard you’ve already agreed.

You won’t get a 90-page strategy deck. You’ll get a product you can put in the hands of customers.

Services

What I can help you with

Some teams need direction. Some need screens. Most need both, so I do both.

Slop cleanup

Fast-moving teams ship fast and leave slop behind: confusing flows, inconsistent screens, duplicated patterns. I clean it up and leave a shared standard, so the next feature starts consistent.

Agentic Design Systems

Reusable components, patterns, tokens, and usage guidance for your team and coding agents. Where it fits the scope, I include Storybook and standards tied to the product.

Product & Web Design

Web and mobile products, websites, and prototypes tested with users. I work through the structure and key workflows so your team has a clear direction to build.

Brand Identity Systems

A visual identity, typography, color, and usage guidelines that give your product a consistent character. Available on demand alongside either engagement, quoted separately.

Selected work

Proof, not adjectives.

Founders who left Google, Microsoft, SAP, and Amazon to build their own companies bring me in as their founding designer

Industrial AI$10MSeed round · July 2025Fortune 100Company-reported pilotsWeb + mobileProduct experiencesEarly demosCustomer & investor conversations

IntuigenceAI

A founder’s vision. A shared product reality.

Seed round announced in July 2025
$10M
Successful pilots reported by the company in July 2025
Fortune 100

Making industrial AI tangible

I joined at the beginning, when an ambitious founder vision still needed a product experience engineers and prospective customers could see.

From the first demos to a broader product

I shaped early product experiences and demos, then expanded the work across web, mobile, storytelling, and a growing design team.

Something concrete for pilots and fundraising

The team had something to build around and demonstrate in customer, pilot, and fundraising conversations.

ProcurementWorkflowsProcurement redesignPilotsCustomer demonstrationsShared patternsDesign & engineeringBeyond MVPFoundations reused for years

Aerchain

A foundation that grew with the product.

From disagreement to a shared direction

The founder, designers, and engineers were struggling to agree on the product. I reframed the work around the customer, redesigned the procurement workflows, and introduced shared systems while working directly with engineers.

A product the team could demonstrate and build

The redesign supported customer pilots and shipping. Clearer workflows and shared patterns helped engineering move faster and reduced repeated design debates.

Foundations that kept paying off

The product and design foundations I helped establish continued to be used for years as Aerchain grew beyond its MVP.

Finance250+Locations · rtZen customer report20h → minutesCash forecast · Datastax reportProduct + brandDesign scopeDesign systemShared foundation

rtZen

A finance product, a shared system, and the story around it.

Customer-reported use across Gulshan Enterprises
250+ locations
Cash forecasting effort reported by Datastax
20+ hours → minutes

Making an early vision visible

Early on, I helped turn the founder’s vision into product experiences and a story people could see. The work spanned product, web, mobile, graphics, content, and creative videos for introductions, launches, and customer demos.

Giving the product and team a stronger foundation

At rtZen, I worked across product, brand, website, and content design, clarified the experience architecture, and helped hire and set up a designer and establish a design system.

What customers report about rtZen

Gulshan Enterprises reports using rtZen across more than 250 franchise locations. Datastax reports reducing the manual work for a weekly cash forecast across more than 10 international entities from over 20 hours to minutes. These are customer-reported results for rtZen’s product.

EV fleet charging$3.5MCompany seed round · 2020FordAcquired the company · 2021EV fleetsCharging softwareEarly stageProduct design

Electriphi

Early EV fleet software. Later part of Ford Pro.

Company seed round in 2020
$3.5M
Ford acquisition announced
2021

Inside the early product

I worked on early product design for Electriphi’s EV fleet-charging software.

The company’s next chapter

Electriphi raised a $3.5M seed round in 2020. Ford announced its acquisition in June 2021, integrating the team and services into Ford Pro.

LogisticsComplianceLive use · client-reportedScorecardPositive client feedbackWeb + mobileInteractive prototypesCode handoffEngineering delivery

9 Minute Open

Logistics workflows, made tangible for the team.

Turning daily operations into workflows

The work covered driver and vehicle assignment, compliance, scheduling, and driver performance. I designed clickable Open, Close, and settings workflows, plus Compliance, Scheduling, and Scorecard experiences.

From prototypes to developer handoff

I worked across mobile and web prototypes, revised the experiences with the team, and supplied code handoff.

The parts already reaching users

Client feedback confirmed live Compliance use and a positive response to Scorecard. Other modules still needed further implementation or revisions.

In their words.

The design prototype he crafted was top-notch, up there with the best.

Muffi GhadialiCo-founder and CEO, Electriphi Inc
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“Owaiz led the designing of our web and mobile solutions, from an early idea to a fully developed prototype - and we were delighted with the results. He has impeccable communication skills and engaged in a thoughtful, flexible process that allowed our team to work with him remotely, smoothly and efficiently. The design prototype he crafted was top-notch, up there with the best. Highly recommended!”

His grasp and understanding of the real-world workings were marvellous.

Nishant.K IRSJoint Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore, India
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“Shri.Mohammad Owaiz has worked with me on file movement tracker and government billing solution. His grasp and understanding of the real-world workings were marvellous. I being a customer, could always keep my calm since I knew that my requirements are collected to the dot by Shri.Owaiz. I wish him all the best.”

I liked that he builds a story behind the logo, which works great!

Vivek KangralkarSerial Entrepreneur, Dallas, USA
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“Great strategy. Mohammad took time in understanding our business, vision etc and he worked closely with us to make sure the logo design makes sense. I liked that he builds a story behind the logo, which works great! Very happy and will definitely work again with him.”

Engagements

Ways to work together

Start with a Sprint for one important product problem, or bring me in as your ongoing design lead. Both include senior direction and hands-on design.

A focused engagement

Product & Design Sprint

Three to four weeks on your most important product flows. A tested direction and build-ready work your team can take forward.

  • Priority flows, explored and tested
  • An interactive prototype and build-ready specs
  • A design system foundation your team keeps
$7,500USD · fixed scope

3–4 weeks

50% to start · 50% before final handover

View complete scope: Product & Design Sprint

Product & Design Sprint

USD · fixed scope
$7,500
Duration
3–4 weeks

A clear direction for one important product problem.

We agree the product area and priority flows before starting. I work directly with you and your engineers to test the direction, resolve the details, and prepare the work for build.

How we work

  • Review the product, market and constraints; map the current experience and its highest-impact friction.
  • Define product and experience principles for the agreed scope, with the founder and engineering team.
  • Speak with selected users when their input will change the decision.
  • Explore practical directions and test the strongest one through an interactive prototype.
  • Review the chosen direction together before build begins, then prepare engineering handover.

What you get

  • A product and UX diagnosis, with a practical next-priority list.
  • Redesigned priority flows: screens, states, interaction details and build-ready specifications.
  • An interactive prototype for review and validation.
  • A clear design direction, initial reusable tokens, patterns and component decisions, plus instructions for the team’s AI design tools.
  • A recorded walkthrough and a written record of the design decisions.

What completion looks like

  • A clear direction, tested work engineering can build, and a shared bar for quality.
  • If that’s enough, we stop there. If you need ongoing support, the Sprint feeds into Fractional Design Lead.

Fee and timing

  • $7,500 USD for a fixed scope over 3–4 weeks. Applicable taxes are additional.
  • 50% is due to start; the remaining 50% is due before final handover.
  • Move into Fractional within 30 days of the Sprint for preferential scheduling.

Responsibilities and boundaries

  • Engineering owns architecture, estimates, implementation, testing and release dates.
  • Full product management, sprint management and backlog administration require separate scope.
  • Brand identity is available on demand and quoted separately. Marketing design, pitch decks and unlimited production work are outside this scope. Additional specialists or capacity are quoted separately.
  • Travel, specialist research and external production costs require prior approval.

An ongoing partnership

Fractional Design Lead

For teams that need a design owner now, before hiring a full-time lead. I carry the agreed design work from problem to release.

  • Two priority workstreams at a time
  • Hands-on design, code and engineering support
  • An evolving system and design QA
$6,500USD / month

3-month initial commitment

Billed monthly in advance

View complete scope: Fractional Design Lead

Fractional Design Lead

USD / month
$6,500
Commitment
3-month initial commitment

Senior ownership, close to the work.

I embed with your team to own design direction, experience quality and two active workstreams. A workstream is one focused product area or connected feature set.

How we work

  • A weekly founder and team working session, with one shared priority list.
  • Two active workstreams at a time. New priorities replace existing work; they do not pile on.
  • Direct support while engineering builds, including critique, decision reviews and defined async feedback.
  • A monthly review of what shipped and what comes next.

What I take on

  • Improve existing workflows and define new ones, turning priorities into flows, prototypes and build-ready screens.
  • Write agreed interface code in your team’s stack and stay close to engineering through implementation decisions.
  • Build an evolving agentic design system and custom design skills for the team’s AI tools.
  • Review design quality before agreed releases and record decisions the team can reuse.
  • Support team shape, design capability, and defining and hiring your future internal design owner.

Who owns what

  • I own design direction, experience quality and the agreed workstreams from problem to release.
  • The founder owns final business priorities. Engineering owns architecture, estimates, implementation, testing and release dates.
  • Full product management, sprint management and backlog administration remain outside this engagement unless separately scoped.

Fee and commitment

  • $6,500 USD per month, billed in advance. Applicable taxes are additional.
  • A three-month initial commitment gives us time to establish context and carry the work through.
  • A 10% discount is available for a six-month commitment.

Outside this scope

  • Additional specialists or capacity beyond the two agreed workstreams are quoted separately.
  • Brand identity is available on demand and quoted separately. Marketing design, pitch decks and unlimited production work are outside this scope.
  • Travel, specialist research and external production costs require prior approval.

All fees are in USD, excluding applicable taxes. We confirm the scope and responsibilities before starting.

Getting started

Scope and fees agreed before work begins.

  1. You send a few lines
  2. We talk it through
  3. I propose scope, timing and fee
Questions

“But…”

What if I already have a designer?

Keep them. If what’s missing is product direction or a system, I work alongside them. If you mostly need more hands, that’s a different hire, and I’ll say so.

Should I hire a full-time lead instead?

You might, once the role is clear. I’m for the stretch before that, when you need senior judgment now.

Why bring you in if my engineers can already build with AI?

AI can make screens all day. Someone still has to decide which ones belong.

Do you help with product decisions or just design?

Both. I help decide what the product should do, design how it works, and carry that experience into implementation. We agree on which responsibilities I take on.

How much does it cost and how long does it take?

Two ways to start: a fixed-scope Product & Design Sprint over 3–4 weeks, or Fractional Design Lead with a three-month initial commitment. Fees, full scope and payment terms are in the engagement cards above.

Let’s talk

Stop building it twice.

What product decision keeps coming back to you?

Send me a few lines about your product and where you’re stuck. A link or screenshot helps.