A photo of me with my family on the left and then a family of me with my team on the right at a meetup in chicago
I’m an experienced and outcome-driven leader with a proven track record of shaping exceptional user experiences. With a deep passion for both design and user experience, I have successfully led cross-functional teams to deliver innovative and user-centric solutions.
My design leadership philosophy is rooted in user obsession, collaboration, and continuous learning. I push my teams to deeply understand users—going beyond surface-level insights to uncover real needs and behaviors. Understanding real needs, pain-points, and desires allows us to ship high-quality products, where iterative learning and refinement are constant.
In addition to being a design leader, I am a mother of 3 kids and 1 giant puppy. I am a wife, cosmaker, manga reader, pokemon master, and gamer. I love a good spreadsheet, sarcasm, and learning new things.

Hello.
I'm Piper Lawson.

Leadership principles

Discover what guides me and my decisions
People First
Fostering relationships with both designers and stakeholders is important to me. I care about who they are, what they value, where they want to go, and what motivates them.
Lead with trust
I trust my team to solve the problems put in front of them. I provide input when needed, unblock, and attempt to anticipate problems the team may face.
Outcomes over output
Research, mockups, and roadmaps don't matter if you aren't making an impact for your users and your business. I work to ensure my team understands what it is they are trying to achieve.
Inspire and align
It is import to unite my team around a shared vision in order to foster alignment, motivation, and a sense of purpose. This shared commitment to delivering impactful experiences is powerful.

Past work experience

I scaled user growth by 2x, increasing sign-ups ~150% YoY, resulting in higher ad revenue. I managed product integrations for >5 partnerships resulting in $50M+ ARR and innovative integrations such as AI powered Question and Answer assistants, boosting content success by 12%. Stack Overflow Jobs launched in US and Europe, securing an additional $8M in revenue. We released a comprehensive research study about user motivation enabling a reimagination of the reputation system and gaming mechanics in order to boost engagement and retention. I supported enterprise product strategy shift from in-product knowledge capture to third-party connectors, API access, and RAG based services.

Senior Director of User Experience

Stack Overflow

October 2023 – Current

I grew and led a multidisciplinary team from 4 to 15 across 2 products (b2c, b2b) and fostered a culture of creativity, collaboration, and excellence. I led an accessibility initiative that result in 4 interface themes that passed APCA/WCAG and enabled partnerships with Microsoft and Harvard. I led the team that launched OverflowAi alpha which attracted 40k+ signups on week one.

Director of Product Design

Stack Overflow

January 2022 – October 2023

I was responsible for design of all revenue products supporting the community, including Advertising, Sponsorships, and Job Board, a total of $50M+ ARR. I spearheaded the ideation and development of Collectives, a new revenue stream.

Product Design Manager

Stack Overflow

June 2019 – January 2022

I was responsible for research and design of the leadership developer job board. I worked on multiple projects throughout the Talent portal, working closely with development and customer success. I ran an a/b test of job ads which resulted in a 40% increase to CTR.

Senior Product Designer

Stack Overflow

April 2017 – June 2019

I led design and product startegy for the redesign of the Fonts.com browse feature. I introduced multiple license types through the browse to checkout funnel. I partnered with multiple departments to bring the first font subscription to multiple e-commerce sites.

Senior UX Designer

Monotype

April 2014 – April 2017

I was responsible for rearchitecting the acquired business, STARS, delivering over 150 wireframes. I onboarded offshore development team and design to the project.

UX Architect, Web developer

Cappex.com

August 2013 – April 2014

I led the design team and developed UX guidelines and standards for TrainSignal's first SaaS offering. This resulted in a $25M acquistion.

Lead User Experience Designer

TrainSignal

June 2012 – August 2013

I designed and launched an app for a local home building company. I launch KeyLimeTie's first product, an app-building website for restaurant owners, opening a client-independent revenue stream.

Interactive Designer

KeyLimeTie, LLC

August 2011 – June 2012

8+
years of leadership
15
teams directed
100M+
users impact