I’m Claire Rowlett (roh-let), a product design leader who builds and scales design teams that turn complex platforms into clear, trusted, and durable product experiences.
With nearly 20 years in design and over seven years in senior leadership, I focus on setting vision, designing effective operating models, and enabling teams to execute with consistency and quality. I partner closely with executive product, engineering, and business leaders to bring structure to ambiguity—aligning strategy, research, and delivery around shared outcomes. My expertise is in complex, compliance-heavy domains, including HR platforms, financial products, and integration ecosystems.
I’m currently a Senior Manager of Product Design at Paylocity, where I lead multiple teams across Core HR and Platform. My role spans defining long-term product vision, shaping platform architecture, and establishing design standards and rituals that scale. I spend significant time building teams—developing leaders, clarifying ownership, improving decision-making, and raising the bar on craft and storytelling across the organization.
Previously, I led designers in Capital One’s Innovation Lab, headed UX for the privacy-first SaaS platform TerraTrue, and managed UX for Salesforce.org’s Nonprofit Cloud. Across HR, finance, and nonprofit products, I’ve helped organizations modernize legacy systems, improve adoption, and deliver experiences that balance business rigor with user empathy.
My background in brand and visual design continues to shape how I think about coherence and quality—ensuring strategy, interaction, and visual language work together as a system.
My leadership philosophy: Design organizations succeed when vision, operating models, and craft are aligned to create clarity—for teams and for users.
My Design Leadership POV
On leadership
I lead by creating clarity—of vision, roles, and decision-making. I believe strong design teams are built on shared context, clear ownership, and trust across disciplines. My role is to set direction, remove friction, and ensure teams have the space and support to do their best work.
On optimization
I optimize for outcomes over output, and for systems over isolated features. That means aligning design strategy to business goals, establishing operating models that scale, and investing in craft where it materially improves understanding, trust, and adoption.
On partnership
I work as a true peer with product, engineering, and research leadership. I believe the strongest products emerge when design is embedded early—helping shape the problem space, not just the solution. I value thoughtful debate, clear tradeoffs, and shared accountability for results.
On craft
Craft matters—not as polish for its own sake, but as a signal of intent and credibility. I believe well-considered interaction, visual language, and narrative structure help users make sense of complexity and help organizations earn trust.
On building teams
I build teams with a balance of seniority, perspective, and curiosity. I focus on developing leaders, strengthening storytelling and strategic thinking, and creating clear growth paths so designers understand both expectations and opportunities. I care deeply about healthy team dynamics, sustainable pace, and high standards.