Product Designer · Brooklyn, NY

Grant Thomas

Research-led. Systems-minded.
Built for complex problems.

See the work ↓
8+ Years designing
enterprise products
100k Users impacted
across 50+ brands
0→1 Products built
from scratch
01

Selected Work

Pecking Order app screens
Game Design Social UX 0→1 Product

Survivor
Social Game

From a Google Sheets prototype to a full web app — designing a week-long social experience that created real human connection.

95% completion rate · 2 players got engaged →
Skills Assessment tool
Data Architecture Org Design Analytics

UX Team Skills
Assessment Tool

Built a SQL-powered optimization engine in Google Sheets to map 120 competencies across 21 UX professionals.

Enabled data-driven staffing · shaped NN/g training investments →
Design System portal
Design Systems Enterprise UX Research Product Ownership

Design System
Documentation Portal

Transformed documentation abandoned since 2018 into a living system serving 100,000+ employees across a global pharmaceutical company. Led research, redesign, and acted as interim Product Owner.

Reduced support requests · accelerated deployment across 50+ brands →
02

How I Work

◎

Discovery first, always

Every project starts with understanding all the inputs — constraints, context, competing needs — before touching a frame.

⬡

Systems over screens

I think in systems: how components relate, how edge cases behave, how the design scales before it breaks.

◈

Close to the build

Foundational front-end knowledge means I don't toss specs over a wall — I stay in the room until it ships right.

◷

Grounded in research

Qual, quant, card sorts, synthesis — I've run the full range and know when to deploy each one.

03

About

My path into UX started with obsessively exploring settings menus in video games. I was fascinated by how small interface choices could completely change an experience.

That instinct carried through an agency career, into enterprise product design at Eli Lilly — where I've led design systems evolution, acted as Product Owner, served as Scrum Master, and rebuilt documentation infrastructure for 100k+ users across 50+ pharmaceutical brands.

What drives me is the design problem underneath the design problem. I bring discernment, curiosity, and the patience to actually understand a system before proposing to change it.

Outside of work: street photography, Stardew Valley, audiobooks, and a deep affection for well-placed negative space.

Currently

UX Architect @ Encora / Eli Lilly
2020 – Present

Certifications

PSM-I · PSPO-I
NN/g UX (8 courses)

Education

BA Communication Design
Covenant College, 2014

Tools

Figma · Agile · SQL/Sheets
HTML · CSS · Laravel