What I'm doing right now

I'm a solo founder, contract designer, and AI first builder.

Primo Surf Forecasts
My AI native iOS app for San Diego surfers, is live in the App Store. I designed and built the entire product solo in 8 months. App, backend, prediction models, marketing website. AI generated cartoon characters, content pipeline, and marketing campaigns. It's my safe space to experiment & explore.

Scholars in Medicine
An active contract engagement, where I lead design strategy across multiple work streams including: an FDA-compliant clinical AI agent for health care providers. A recommendation engine driving activation and retention. A 0-to-1 push notification framework for the mobile app. And, a personalized learning experience (a first-of-it's-kind in the clinical educational industry).

Searching for full time job opportunity
After retooling and building a body of AI first, product design work, I'm actively looking for a new job opportunity that will enable me to continue to learn and grow as AI evolves.

How I work

I see designing & engineering as one practice
The product design and engineering industries are experiencing a radical evolution. New, more efficient, workflows are replacing traditional workflows. Creating a new space where design and engineering can merge into a single practice.

I value shipping over perfection
Primo Surf went live with known gaps. With the velocity we can now ship product, it's safer to release and iterate based on real customer feedback then attempting to release something 'perfect'. Ship…measure…learn…iterate…repeat.

I use AI tools to compress & expand execution, not to replace judgment
Claude for architecture and strategy, Claude Code for engineering, Lovable then Claude Design for UI, Gemini for copy, Make and Supabase for orchestration. Every tool earns its slot by saving real time on real work.

I can wear many hats
I'm a founder. Have managed design teams at enterprise and growth stage companies. A sole designer embedded within engineering teams, and in start ups. And, a design leader & mentor working within mature design organizations. I know how to work with people on multiple levels and very comfortable at it.

What people I've worked with say…

"Mark's long-tenure in enterprise design makes him uniquely qualified... As an architect, he traversed complex problem spaces to carve out new solutions. I appreciate Mark's contributions to our team and our customers."

Kat Holmes
Chief Experience & Design Officer
Salesforce

"Mark has amazing technical expertise and extensive UX background. He has been instrumental in defining delightful user experience for our product suite. He is a self-starter and can manage UX projects from inception to product launch."

Siddharth Pande
VP, Product Management
Oracle

"Mark is one of the best designers I've worked with. He's creative, cutting edge in his design skills, and can think from a customer perspective. He's not tied to his work, but more to the goal at hand. And he works at lightning speed!"

Heather Samarin
Chief Marketing Officer & Product Leader
Sightspeed

Past work

In the last year

• Founder, Primo Surf Forecasts, 2025-present

• Lead Product Designer (contract), Scholars in Medicine, 2025-present

• Lead Product Designer (contract), DuploCloud, 2025
  
  

Earlier IC

• Principal Interaction Designer, Oracle, 2012-2020
  Integration Cloud, API Platform, Predictive Analytics, Cloud Guard, Data Visualizations

• 9 earlier roles in UX, UI, visual design, web design, web development, and marketing

  
  

Design leadership

• Senior Director, Product Design
  New Relic, 2023-2024 (led through transition from public to private)
  
  

• Senior Director, User Experience
  Salesforce, 2021-2023 (Sales Cloud, Salesforce Easy)
  
  
  

4 Data Visualization Design Patents

• US 9,466,138, Attribute-based stacking for diagrams

• US 9,874,995, Maintaining context for maximize interactions on a grid-based visualization

• US 10,474,317, Dynamic node grouping in grid-based visualizations

• US 10,642,471, Dual Timeline data visualization
  
  
  

Education & certificates

Leadership Principles, and Management Essentials
Harvard Business School Online, 2022

Design Leadership Certification
Cooper Professional Education, 2018

Web Publishing
UC San Diego

AAS, Multimedia
Platt College San Diego

Fine Art
San Diego State University

Stack

Design
Claude, Claude Design, Gemini, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Midjourney, Nano Banana

Code
Claude, Claude Code, Lovable, VS Code, Xcode, Capacitor, React, TypeScript, Tailwind, JS, HTML, CSS

Backend
Supabase (Postgres, Auth, Edge Functions), Make.com, OpenAI embeddings, RAG

Services
Stripe, Google OAuth, Apple Auth, App Store Connect, Postmark

Analytics
GA4, App Store Connect

What I'm looking for

Lead product designer roles at AI-friendly companies. Full-time. Remote/hybrid/on site. I want to design end-to-end on products customers depend on and love. Bringing my 20+ years of design judgment plus a current AI first practice to a team that values both.

Personally

I live in Pacific Beach, Ca. I surf, and started Primo Surf Forecasts because I was tired of every other surf app. Walked up to surfers on the beach to ask what they actually wanted, and built it.

In the off hours: family, friends, surf, dogs, fish tacos, ski, bike, hike, beach, mountains, carne asada burritos.