James Tee

About James Tee

My job is to create and grow product UX and brands, and inspire and motivate the teams that build those experiences. I believe in the power of great design. And, that it can be used as a strategic business tool to create intuitive, beneficial, and differentiated customer experiences. In my career I have applied my passion for design, combined with a keen business sense, to create compelling and provocative design systems and solutions across a wide range of clients and applications. I also believe in the power of collaboration and I commit myself to find and nurture what motivates my teams, to help them embrace their passion for the design process, and to uncover the unknown to inspire their spirits and - in return - be inspired by their insanely great work. As we head into a future infused with AI, I believe that design plays a vital social engineering role to create solutions that strike the balance between beneficial automation and maintaining human agency in the experiences we interact with. We are responsible for creating UX that will safely exchange our data for automated benefits with experiences that keep our customers in control of the AI and agentic systems we design. KEY STRENGTHS Enterprise AI Solutions – Drives the creation of enterprise-grade AI solutions that meet complex needs while remaining simple and intuitive. AI Design Systems – Builds high-impact AI model, agent, and agentic-based design systems for cohesive workflows. User-Centric Design Advocacy – Influences and champions user-centric design across product, engineering, and leadership teams. Systems Thinking – Collaborates with executives to address complex architectural and UX systems challenges with a design-first approach. Design Process Implementation – Collaborates closely with program management to implement a robust design process across the team. Executive Representation – Represents the team and their work to executives, ensuring alignment with company goals. Cross-Functional Partnerships – Partners with product and engineering teams to explore opportunities for innovation and future technology. Team Development – Cultivates a user-centric design practice with clear long-term and short-term objectives. Designer Mentorship – Recruits, retains, and develops exceptional design talent, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Inclusive Leadership – Fosters an inclusive, empowering environment for innovative and impactful design work.

Experience

1. Principal Design Manager, Azure Ai Foundry

   Microsoft

   May 2023 — Present · US

   People manager for a team of 4 designers and 3 user researchers who create cutting edge UX for AI platform services and customization tools across our Speech, Vision, Language and Decision AI offerings. Our goal is to bring AI within reach of every developer—without requiring machine-learning expertise—so they can embed the ability to see, hear, speak, understand, and accelerate decision-making into their experiences.\\\\n\\\\nWorks directly with AI product PM and engineering teams to research, design, and implement user-focused, AI capabilities. Builds and grows the team, establishes clear career paths with measurable goals, and mentors individual team member growth. Also includes establishing strategic UX direction and prioritizing product design deliverables, talent resourcing, and budgets for the design team across the Speech, Vision, Language and Decision AI product teams.\\\\n \\\\n\\\\n \\\\n \\\\n\\\\n \\\\n

Education

• Arizona State University

  Bachelor of Science