Hello, I'm

Shanthi Acharya

Product Design Leader

Building Enterprise Platforms and AI-powered tools that transform complex, data-driven workflows into intuitive experiences

Shanthi Acharya

Trusted by Industry Leaders

Workday
GE Digital
ICE Mortgage Technology
Western Digital

At a Glance

Key milestones from my design leadership journey

0+
Years of Enterprise Experience

Designing complex B2B platforms for data analytics, IoT, and enterprise workflows

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Products Shipped

10+ built from 0→1. Multi-release cross-functional partner.

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Designers Mentored

Guiding design careers and building high-performing teams

#1
Gartner MQ Ranking

Designed top-performing sales demo vignettes supporting Workday Financials' 2025 #1 ranking

Thought Leader
Conference Presenter & Author

Double Diamond in the Age of AI at Workday AI Summit 2025. Author on Medium covering UX design, data visualization, and AI.

Women Defining AI
AI Immersion & Community Building

Invested in structured AI upskilling and validated learning through hands-on hackathon builds and public demos.

Featured Work

WORKDAY

Prism Analytics Platform

The Data Backbone That Powers Workday's Enterprise Growth

Led design strategy across 4 product pillars balancing strategic visioning with tactical execution.

View Full Case Study →
WORKDAY

Analytic Reporting Agent

Improving productivity and efficiency with faster answers and better data-driven decisions

Conversational AI experience that lets finance business partners and HRBPs ask questions in plain English, receive AI-generated narratives, and take action, providing faster turnaround from question to actionable insight and improving efficiency.

View case study →
Analytic Reporting Agent

More Projects

Unified Data Movement Platform WORKDAY

Unified Data Movement Platform

Led the complete UX vision and strategy for a unified data movement platform that handles ingestion, transformation, activation, and orchestration—all in one solution.

UX Strategy Data Visualization Data Platform
2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP Workday Financials

2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Demo Vignettes

Led design effort for demo vignettes that contributed to Workday Financials achieving #1 rating in Gartner's 2025 Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP—the top artifact in sales cycles.

Sales Enablement Cross Pillar Collaboration #1 Leader
AI-Augmented Design System AI Prototyping

AI-Augmented Design System

Developed a comprehensive design system featuring AI-enhanced prototyping capabilities, enabling rapid iteration on data preparation interfaces with reusable components.

Design System AI Prototyping Components
Data Visualization Color Palette Tool UNIFIED CHARTING LIBRARY

Unified Charting

Built an intelligent color palette tool for data visualization using modern AI coding tools. Created an accessible, harmonious palette generator that ensures WCAG compliance and optimal data readability.

Data Visualization Vibe Coding Accessible Color Palette
Senior Companion App HACKATHON

Senior Companion App

Designed an empathetic companion app for seniors in 48 hours during a hackathon. Rapidly researched user needs, prototyped solutions, and delivered an accessible design focused on trust and simplicity.

Hackathon Rapid Design Accessibility
Marketplace Design Sprint ELLIE MAE

Marketplace Design Sprint

Facilitated a 5-day design sprint bringing cross-functional teams together to envision, prototype, and validate a marketplace ecosystem MVP with real users.

Design Sprint Facilitation UX Strategy
Plant Operation Advisor GE DIGITAL

Plant Operation Advisor

Designed predictive analytics interfaces for offshore platform health monitoring as part of GE Fastworks design sprint, enabling proactive maintenance and reducing equipment failures.

IoT Predictive Analytics Asset Management

What People Say

Talks & Articles

Sharing insights on product design, enterprise UX, and design leadership

The Double Diamond in the Age of AI
Conference 2025

The Double Diamond in the Age of AI – Evolution or Revolution?

Exploring how AI is transforming the double diamond design process—what remains unchanged and what's being reimagined.

Design at the Speed of Thought
Medium 2024

Design at the Speed of Thought: Leveraging Claude 3.7 Sonnet for Better Outcomes

How AI tools like Claude 3.7 Sonnet accelerate design through rapid iteration and intelligent assistance.

Mastering Competitive UX Analysis
Medium 2024

Mastering Competitive UX Analysis: Harnessing Effective Methodologies and Frameworks

A guide to competitive UX analysis using proven methodologies for actionable insights.

From Chatbots to Cohesive Experiences
Medium 2024

From Chatbots to Cohesive Experiences: An AI-Driven Hybrid UX Approach in Google Notebook LM

The evolution from chatbots to AI-driven hybrid experiences, with a UX deep dive into Google Notebook LM.

Resume

Product Design Leader with Enterprise Data Platform Expertise

Core Competencies
Systems Design Thinking
  • Journey Map & Information Architecture
  • Object Oriented UX & semantic models
  • Behavioral patterns & user intent
  • Design Systems and UX Patterns
AI-First Design Practice
  • Cursor, Figma Make, MCP & Lovable for functional prototypes
  • Code-first validation (React/TypeScript)
  • 10x iteration velocity with AI tools
  • Prototype-to-production in hours
Data Platform Expertise
  • Enterprise data catalogs & metadata
  • Analytics & BI workflows
  • ML/AI transparency & governance
  • Postgres & SQL data models
High-Velocity Leadership
  • Navigate ambiguity with confidence
  • Autonomous, high-trust team culture
  • Ship quality at speed
  • Scale design resources effectively
Professional Experience
WORKDAY | Pleasanton, CA
Apr 2020 – Present
Product Design Manager – Analytics Data Platform & Reporting Experience
  • Led team of designers through hiring, mentoring, and performance management, achieving 95% retention rate and delivering 15+ major product releases
  • Mentored and supported the growth of 10 designers, resulting in 2 promotions to senior level
  • Led design strategy across 4 product pillars while shipping hands-on work with 5+ Scrum teams
  • Established cross-functional design review process with PM, engineering, techwriters and research, reducing iteration cycles by 25%
  • Established AI-first design process, training team on Lovable, Cursor, and Bolt for rapid iteration
  • Established prototype-driven culture where teams validate with working code first, improving team velocity by 40% and reducing engineering rework by 75%
  • Architected and shipped Workday Data Cloud MVP with SQL and Apache Iceberg integration, driving 3x adoption by breaking vendor lock-in through open standards
  • Led design for Workday Financials achieving #1 Gartner Magic Quadrant rating for Cloud ERP
  • Defined and executed 3-year UX vision for Analytics Data Platform, aligning with C-suite objectives and resulting in 35% increased adoption
  • Conducted comprehensive UX competitive analysis presenting actionable insights to leadership
ELLIE MAE (now ICE Mortgage Technology) | Pleasanton, CA
Jun 2016 – Dec 2018
Lead Interaction Designer
  • Directed UX architecture and designed core workflows for mortgage platform processing
  • Created cross-product design system with 50+ components, ensuring compliance while improving efficiency by 30%
  • Prototyped complex financial workflows in code, enabling engineering to build from functional foundations
  • Led 5-day collaborative workshop bringing together product, marketing, business development, UX, and engineering teams to align on strategic vision for marketplace ecosystem
GE DIGITAL | San Ramon, CA
May 2012 – Jun 2016
Staff Interaction Designer
  • Designed predictive analytics interfaces for industrial IoT platform, translating complex ML models into actionable insights for 10,000+ enterprise users
  • Led end-to-end design for Asset Management platform across aviation, energy, and healthcare, managing ambiguity in emerging IoT space
Thought Leadership & Innovation
  • Conference Speaker: "Double Diamond in the Age of AI" at Workday RAD AI Summit 2025—exploring AI-first design methodologies
  • Speaker Coach & Mentor: Mentored co-presenter for Orbit Xplore, developing next generation of design leaders
  • Bolt Hackathon: Built EverWell, a voice-enabled wellness companion for seniors in partnership with Women Defining AI community
Education
M.S. Human Factors | San Jose State University
M.S. Computer Science | California State University, East Bay

About Me

Staying Curious and Continuous Learning

I began my career as a Software Engineer at Intel, where exposure to UX through gaming and video performance analysis sparked my transition into design. I later pursued a degree in Human Factors and have loved building user-centered, data-driven enterprise experiences ever since.

Outside work, I enjoy reading, traveling, hiking, book clubs, culinary groups, and unwinding with classical music, Zumba, and Bollywood dance.

Let's Connect