Michael Owens

About Michael Owens

Michael Owens is a product and design executive with nearly two decades of experience leading cross-functional design, engineering, and research teams to deliver breakthrough technologies in healthcare, consumer finance, energy deregulation, and social consumer platforms. His work spans early-stage startups to late-stage ventures backed by top-tier firms like the TPG Rise Fund and Kleiner Perkins with a career defined by bringing visionary ideas into reality.Most recently, Michael has served as the lead of Product Design and Human Factors at RefleXion Medical, where he led the design of the world’s first real-time adaptive radiotherapy system. For nearly a decade, he has directed the product strategy and user experience of the X1 platform while designing many of the core concepts foundational to SCINTIX® therapy—a revolutionary cancer treatment that uses real-time PET imaging to dynamically guide radiation delivery. His role touched every layer of the stack, from medical imaging and algorithm design to software architecture to regulatory safety protocols and clinical usability. He is an inventor on multiple patents and recognized as a global expert in radiotherapy systems design and interoperability, with numerous academic posters and publications featured at high-profile industry conferences.Previously, Michael was the Head of UX at Choose Energy, where he led the transformation of a deregulated energy marketplace into a consumer-first experience, increasing engagement and conversion through data-informed design. As co-founder and Chief Product Officer of aboutLife, he designed and launched a platform for providing user-friendly retirement planning strategies using machine learning and artificial intelligence, while securing a multimillion-dollar Series A from Kleiner Perkins prior to the company\'s acquisition by NerdWallet.Michael began his leadership journey at hi5.com, designing social gaming products used by tens of millions of users. He spearheaded innovations in social interaction and pioneering monetization strategies in the social gaming space at both hi5 and its spinoff site, Magi.He also served as a strategic design consultant for companies such as Donna (acquired by Yahoo!), AT & T, and Marble Cloud Security, providing expertise in user research, interface design, and early-stage product design.Michael’s strengths lie in uniting vision, usability, and technical fluency to solve complex problems. He brings systems-thinking and human-centered design leadership to any product, with a passion for improving lives through technology.

Experience

1. Director of Product Design

   Reflexion Medical

   Jul 2024 — Present

   Designing and building systems to fight cancer for a decade.At RefleXion Medical, I owned the end-to-end product design and user experience for a category-defining radiation oncology platform—from early concept through FDA clearance, clinical deployment, and initial market penetration and expansion. My role spanned product strategy, roadmaps, UX/UI design, usability research/testing, human factors engineering, and ownership of all clinician-facing workflows, with accountability for delivery in a highly regulated, safety-critical environment.As a highly adaptable flex player, I operated across product leadership, systems thinking, and hands-on technical problem-solving. As I have been with RefleXion since we all fit in a single conference room, my experience has varied widely from the early stage startup generalist doing a bit of everything to leading large cross-functional teams and managing large-scale projects within the company. As a part of my role, I directly invented and patented numerous core product concepts and algorithms enabling Biology-Guided Radiotherapy, translating novel physics, imaging, and real-time signal processing into a coherent, clinically usable platform that has been used to successfully treat patients across the US.I led the UX design, product vision, and directly contributed to and managed the execution of many aspects of the RefleXion X1 (and more recently, the next-generation X2), which resulted in one FDA De Novo clearance and two 510(k) clearances during my tenure, requiring disciplined human factors strategy, exhaustive usability validation, and risk-driven workflow design. I played a central role in bringing Biology-Guided Radiotherapy (BgRT) from concept to first-in-human use, ensuring complex capabilities could be safely and reliably adopted in time-critical oncology settings.

Education

• University of South Alabama

  Philosophy & Biomedical Sciences

  2003 — 2006

• California Institute of Integral Studies

  Psychology

  2018 — 2019

Skills

• User Interface Design
• User Experience
• Css
• Interaction Design
• Web Development
• Html
• Web Design
• Information Architecture
• Html 5
• Php
• User Experience Design
• Jquery
• Web Applications
• Agile Methodologies
• Javascript
• Visual Design
• Copywriting
• Mysql
• Graphic Design
• Web Standards
• Ios
• Scrum
• Rest
• Facebook Api
• Python
• Ruby on Rails
• Java
• Wordpress
• Mac Os X
• Linux
• Windows
• Human Factors
• Human Computer Interaction
• Node.js
• Design Patterns
• Semantics
• Microformats
• Css3
• Sass
• Less