Amanda Howard, Senior Product Designer

I design complex enterprise software, and I build the prototypes to prove it works.

Senior product designer with six years in the field, four of them rebuilding an enterprise talent platform from scratch. Research-led, AI-native, and hands-on with code-based prototypes.

Featured Story · Thrive TRM

Redesigned, Not Ported: Rebuilding Thrive Apply Around What Recruiters Do

How might we bring a legacy feature into the updated product without carrying its problems along?

Role Senior Product Designer, with a PM When July to September 2026, design through development, in phases Result Shipped

Thrive Apply lets firms publish branded job listings, collect applications, and review applicants inside Thrive. Moving it into the updated product wasn't a port: legacy features get redesigned for how people work now, so we started with research. We talked with associates, recruiters, partners, and principals, plus recruiters at other firms who manage their own listings. I redesigned the flow around what they told and showed us, guiding AI through several directions and pushing back on each until it fit the real app, its components, and its users. It shipped in phases through development, and the way I worked with prototypes was adopted by the wider team.

Posting details in the draft stage: review the public page, then publish. The Apply button takes the firm's brand color from its branding settings. Reconstructed from my final design.

Four Decisions I Led

  1. Redesigned, Not PortedNet-new over a re-skin, after weighing every user need.
  2. Applicants Reviewed in ContextReview and process on one screen, not a new tab per application.
  3. Privacy and a Smarter RecordNo probing a firm's database, and consent carries into the record.
  4. Scope CallsSeparate workflows kept separate, and a delighter designed ahead of scope.

Inside the case study: the research that changed the design, each decision in depth, and what I'd warn you about when designing with AI.

Read the Full Case Study

Second Story · Thrive TRM

Off-Limits: A Restriction Nobody Can Miss

How might we make a restriction impossible to miss without drowning recruiters in warnings?

Executive search firms sign contracts that forbid recruiting at certain companies. Break one and you can lose the client. I redesigned how Thrive shows those restrictions, including ones that apply to a single project.

Reconstructed · Illustrative Data
Restricted for This ProjectHarbor & Pine Foods is a portfolio company of the investor on this search. Jordan is still eligible for every other project. Adding asks you to confirm first.
Jordan ReyesVP Finance, Harbor & Pine Foods

Full Case Study Coming Soon

Her understanding of the user experience design process and, in particular, her user research skills and workshop facilitation skills are top-tier.

Abdalla Emam, Former Director of Product Design

More Work

Range

Research and Workshops

Journey mapping, interviews, and cross-functional workshops that led a company to rebuild its product.

Systems Thinking

Design that fits the business case, reuses the front-end components, and gives dev and QA something they can build and test.

Teaching

Thirteen years in classrooms and two master's degrees in education. It's why I run good workshops and explain decisions clearly.