Akhil Paul

Design leader transforming problems into business growth.

I lead product design across complex SaaS platforms, partnering with executives, product leaders, and engineering organizations to drive customer adoption, operational efficiency, and long-term business value. Over 10+ years building products across analytics, AI, reputation management, and enterprise workflows.

Associated with

Birdeye Phenom GrabOn Adobe IIT Guwahati MIT Institute of Design

Projects

Insights 2.0
0 to $5M

From UI Refresh to Enterprise Product Transformation

Insights 2.0

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Competitors Benchmarking
Strong upsell opportunity

Competitor Experience for Mid-Market & Enterprise

Competitors Benchmarking

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Interview Scheduling
0 → 1 product

Driving Product Simplification & Adoption Post-Acquisition

Interview Scheduling in CRM

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Chatbot for Career Sites
~120K monthly visitors

Building & Managing a Chatbot Ecosystem for Career Sites

Chatbot for Career Sites & Management Platform

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Talent Companion
Launched at IAMPHENOM 2023

Evolving a Free Chatbot into a Paid AI Product

Talent Companion

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Template Builder
$5M by Q4 2026

Designing an End-to-End Marketing Automation Suite

Marketing Automation In Progress

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Leadership Impact

🎯
Cross-functional leadership

Led initiatives spanning Product, Design, Engineering, Data, and GTM, building alignment across competing priorities.

📈
Business-first strategy

Influenced strategic product decisions beyond design deliverables, connecting customer needs with revenue and retention goals.

⚙️
Scalable systems & process

Built scalable design processes, frameworks for prioritization, and decision-making systems that outlast individual projects.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑
Team development

Mentored designers, raised design quality across teams, and established a culture of customer-centered decision-making.

Resume

Design leader blending creative intuition with strategic clarity. I lead teams that build user-centered, business-aligned experiences across B2B and B2C domains. Always learning, always designing, driven by curiosity and love for art and storytelling.

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Aug 2023 – Present
Manager, Product Design
Birdeye

Leading product design across Birdeye's core platform, serving 100,000+ business customers. Responsible for design strategy, team growth, and delivering cohesive, intuitive experiences across multiple product lines. Recognised with the Bar Raiser 2025 award, given to the top 1% of performers across the company.

  • Managing and mentoring a team of designers across the enterprise vertical, spanning approximately five product areas.
  • Partnering with Product and Engineering leadership on roadmap prioritisation and design direction, bridging business goals with user-centred outcomes.
  • Establishing design processes and standards across the org, including contributions to the design system to improve consistency and delivery speed.
Jun 2017 – Aug 2023
Manager, Product Experience: Chatbots & Scheduling
Phenom

Over six years at Phenom, I grew from individual contributor to people manager, owning design for the Chatbot and Scheduling products while helping scale the chatbot business unit from zero to $10M in revenue. The products reached 100k+ users weekly across enterprise clients globally.

  • Progressed from IC designer to leading and mentoring a team of designers, establishing design processes and a culture of rigour within the product org.
  • Owned end-to-end design for chatbot and scheduling products, spanning early research and concept through to launch and iteration, used by enterprise talent acquisition teams worldwide.
  • Partnered closely with Product, Engineering, and Sales to ensure design decisions were grounded in both user needs and business outcomes.
  • Used data, conversion metrics, and qualitative research to drive continuous product improvements, directly contributing to customer satisfaction and revenue growth.
  • Led strategy and innovation POV sessions with the CEO; also drove research and design for an India-focused gig solution for the blue-collar hiring space.
Sep 2016 – May 2017
Sr. UI / UX Designer
Grabon
  • Spearheaded redesign of HappySale, BestPriceOn, Sellers Commerce.
  • Implemented feedback mechanism increasing feedback visibility by 20×.
Internship & Consultancy
Freelance & Project Work
Various
  • Adobe: Post Graduate Thesis Project on Photoshop elements for touch devices.
  • IITG PhD Scholars: Usability & Interface for Urban Planning.
  • Multiple startups: Algo Engines, Nawab House, Bloomin Salons.
2014 – 2016
Masters in Industrial Design, User Experience
MIT Institute of Design, Pune
2008 – 2013
Bachelors in Engineering (EXTC)
University of Mumbai

Let's build
great things
together

Open to senior design leadership roles, advisory work, and conversations about scaling design in SaaS. Always happy to connect.

Phone +91 99702 63474
Email akhilpaul21@gmail.com