About Marc Sasinski

I help build products people love ❤️

I’ve helped design and build engaging, valuable, and usable consumer products and services.

My approach emphasizes design excellence with a focus on user-centric outcomes, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous improvement — all at scale.

User Goals Meet Business Objectives

When you get that ☝️ right (i.e., product-market fit), great things begin to happen.

It all starts with developing a deep understanding of the customer and their needs, defining a user-centered design strategy, and co-authoring a milestone-based roadmap to enable effective execution.

I work closely with other executives and functional leaders — across Product, Engineering, Marketing, and beyond — to ensure that research and design are deeply integrated into the product development process. This drives lasting user and business value.

I also build effective teams.

I thrive on leading the capabilities and culture of highly impactful UX organizations — across research, design, and content strategy — and have demonstrated success doing so at fast-growing companies. This includes:

  • People — Everything begins with the right team, shared values, and a deep understanding of the “why.” This alignment is especially critical for cross-functional teams contributing to a holistic product experience.

  • Strategy — The product strategy and experience vision must achieve product-market fit, followed by continuous iteration and evaluation as new insights emerge.

  • Execution — With a plan of action and empowered teams in place, delivering on objectives and key results becomes achievable. But details matter — as does the constant communication and alignment needed to bring great products to market.

Design Leadership Roles

A common thread throughout my career has been bringing people together through shared experiences enabled by technology. This has included products across a variety of platforms — including desktop, web, mobile, and 10-foot streaming experiences (e.g., tvOS, consoles).

Zwift

At Zwift, the focus was making serious indoor training fun while helping people achieve real-world results. The product combined a training app, gamification elements, and a destination for elite competition featuring some of the world’s best endurance athletes. Most importantly, it was all about being social.

(See this Forbes article Do You Even Zwift for a great breakdown of the company’s mission and value propositions.)

I had the privilege of building and leading a talented Product Design organization, including designers and user researchers.

Riot Games

Before Zwift, I worked alongside incredible teams at Riot Games, where we aspired to be the most player-focused company in the world. It was a rocket ship! 🚀

We were humbled to serve an audience of over 100 million players monthly, thanks to our relentless focus on player experience. This success stemmed from our deep commitment to our players, passion for our products, and continuous drive to push creative and technical boundaries. Design was both a competitive advantage and a strategic differentiator.

My role spanned general management of design within the platform business unit, UX discipline leadership, and company-wide Senior Leadership Team (SLT) responsibilities.

In short, my goal was to create an environment where designers could do the best work of their careers. I’m also proud of my team’s contributions to the broader design community, shared through platforms like Medium.

Citrix

Earlier in my career, after working with two incredible founders at Centralis — a boutique User Research and Design consultancy in the Chicago area — I began working hands-on with in-house product teams.

Citrix, a pioneer in online meetings, collaboration, and remote access SaaS, was where I started honing my leadership skills while helping build products that seamlessly connected people.

Thought Leadership

Previous Articles

I’ve contributed to several publications over the years. Here are a few (PDFs) that were well-received by the design community (originally published in Johnny Holland Interaction Design Magazine):

Experience Design Models: Minding the Gap Between Ideas and Interfaces

Hey, UX Designers: Please Meet Agile Development

Engaging the User: What Interaction Designers Can Learn from Video Games

(Pro)Social Media

I’m not especially active on social media these days and recently deleted a couple accounts. There were a few reasons behind that, but mainly a growing unease with how these platforms shape behavior and public discourse.

That said, I’m encouraged by what Bluesky and Mastodon are doing. Decentralization feels like a meaningful step forward and I’m interested in experimenting with more human-centered approaches to connection — while continuing to support orgs like the Center for Humane Technology.

Some Personal Deets

When I'm not spending time with my wonderful wife, amazing daughter, or our wacky Portuguese Water Dog, Louie Buoy 🐶, I’m usually out cycling.

Recent adventures have included mountain bike racing in British Columbia, Chile, and South Africa. I’ve also ridden several stages of the Tour de France (prior to the actual racers!)

In addition, I play a little tennis 🎾, dabble in photography, and enjoy indie video games. I’m also a big fan of the Los Angeles Kings, Formula 1, and Porsches.

Since you now know a little about me, why not check out some of my blog posts.