Rabia Ahmed

Design Manager

Design Systems Lead

AI-First Design Leader

8+ years of experience

Product designer at LaunchGood

Ontario, Canada

University of Waterloo alumni

Selected Work

Product

Systems

Leadership

Designing an intuitive digital health assistant

Alyka lets people see their medical data. Seeing it and knowing what to do next aren't the same thing. With no prior research or documentation to inherit, I reverse-engineered the dev build screen by screen and rebuilt the experience around goal-setting and behavioural activation.

Reach out to view this project

Selected Work

Product

Systems

Leadership

Designing an intuitive digital health assistant

Reach out to view this project

Selected Work

Product

Systems

Leadership

Designing an intuitive digital health assistant

Reach out to view this project

Writing

I write about what it takes for a team to adopt a new way of working. Not the tools, the threshold. The Minimum Adoption Threshold is a framework I developed for the least amount of adoption required before a team genuinely works at a new standard. Below it, adoption is performance. Above it, change compounds.

Read it on LinkedIn

Expertise

I lead product design teams and still design alongside them.

Most of what I do comes back to one question: what has to be true for a team to consistently do good work. Sometimes the answer is a design system with real governance. Sometimes it's a workflow, or an adoption threshold, or just protecting someone's time so they can learn something new. I build the conditions, then I do the work inside them.

Design

Product

Research

Skills

Mobile app design

Responsive web design

Design systems

Design Leadership

Experience/product design

Co-design facilitation

Workshops

Service design

Spatial & systems thinking

Design documentation

Behavioural design & goal Setting

AI workflows

Tools

Claude Code

Figma

Adobe Illustrator

Claude Design

Supernova

MJML

CSS

Notion

Career Summary

Design Manager

LaunchGood

May25 - Present

Senior Product Designer

LaunchGood

Jan24 - Apr25

1.25 years

Director of Product Design

Ayogo Health Inc.

Aug22 - Jan24

1.5 years

Career Summary

Design Manager

LaunchGood

May25 - Present

Senior Product Designer

LaunchGood

Jan24 - Apr25

1.25 years

Director of Product Design

Ayogo Health Inc.

Aug22 - Jan24

1.5 years

Certifications

Design Systems

Memorisely

Mar24

Top 1% Mentor

adplist.org

Jan24

UI Design

Memorisely

Nov23

See more certifications

“I had the privilege of reporting to Rabia during a pivotal time when I transitioned into UX design. She was more than just an exceptional mentor - she was a strategic guide, aligning my projects with my career aspirations and growth areas. Her thoughtful approach not only accelerated my learning curve but also deepened my appreciation for the craft of UX design...”

Jessica Dorazio

Reportee at Ayogo

“I came to know Rabia as a student at the University of Waterloo while she earned her Masters degree. I taught her in her Project Management course as well as her Working in Teams course. She is an exceptional student that is truly dedicated to doing her best both for her own individual advancement as well as for her team's experiences. I also got to know Rabia in the role of Teaching Assistant which she completed with grace and professionalism. It was a pleasure to teach and work with Rabia and I am certain that she will make her future employers so proud and grateful to have such a skilled and dedicated professional on their team. I look forward to hearing about her career accomplishments.”

Tabatha Dominguez

Lecturer at University of Waterloo

“For the past two years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Rabia, who reported to me as the Director of Product Design at Ayogo. Rabia’s journey from an Architect in the built environment to leading product design in the digital space has given her a distinctive edge in service and experience design. Her approach is a refreshing blend of spatial awareness and user-centric digital design principles, making her work truly stand out ...”

Michael Fergusson

Manager at Ayogo

“Rabia and I worked together on multiple design projects while she was consulting for my company. She is creative, listens well, thinks outside the box and meets deadlines too. She is a pleasure to work with and any company lucky enough to engage with her will be in a better place. She’s a team player. I highly recommend Rabia Ahmed.”

Melissa Gramer

Past client

“Rabia is a thoughtful designer, dedicated to understanding the user's perspective and communicating that perspective to software engineers and stakeholders. She is committed to building shared understanding through conversations and prototyping, and she is able to straddle the line between strategy and tactics well.....”

Howard Chalmers

Past client

“Rabia is a standout creative problem solver with user-centric design experience. Her architectural background allows her to draw from deep knowledge about how people interact with their environment in her design process.  Rabia crafted a number of excellent project assignments as part of my course User Experience Fundamentals and User Research during her one-year study within the Digital Experience Innovation Master's program at the University of Waterloo. ...”

Lennart Nacke

Professor at University of Waterloo

“Our organization has worked with Rabia over the past year in her capacity as Senior UI/UX Designer for Decklaration. Over this period, she led the UI/UX team which worked on the redesign and rollout of a new healthcare software product for our member base. Specifically, it was her design proposals that focused on delivering an aesthetically pleasing design combined with a detail oriented functional, growth driven and intuitive user experience that were ultimately adopted and implemented. She has an innate talent that she combines with real-world experience and a truly respectable work ethic. She asks the right questions and takes the time to fully understand the details of a project or ask that make the difference between delivering a good-enough design to one that truly aligns with the client’s needs. She functions at a high level easily taking overall responsibility for projects by translating business needs into deliverables that are on target. She has a level of professionalism and emotional intelligence that allows her to work well with everyone on a team. Our organization is fortunate to have Rabia working with us and we look forward to continued collaboration with her.”

Rick Kulkarni

Past client

“I had the privilege of reporting to Rabia during a pivotal time when I transitioned into UX design. She was more than just an exceptional mentor - she was a strategic guide, aligning my projects with my career aspirations and growth areas. Her thoughtful approach not only accelerated my learning curve but also deepened my appreciation for the craft of UX design...”
Jessica Dorazio
Reportee at Ayogo
“I came to know Rabia as a student at the University of Waterloo while she earned her Masters degree. I taught her in her Project Management course as well as her Working in Teams course. She is an exceptional student that is truly dedicated to doing her best both for her own individual advancement as well as for her team's experiences. I also got to know Rabia in the role of Teaching Assistant which she completed with grace and professionalism. It was a pleasure to teach and work with Rabia and I am certain that she will make her future employers so proud and grateful to have such a skilled and dedicated professional on their team. I look forward to hearing about her career accomplishments.”
Tabatha Dominguez
Lecturer at University of Waterloo
“For the past two years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Rabia, who reported to me as the Director of Product Design at Ayogo. Rabia’s journey from an Architect in the built environment to leading product design in the digital space has given her a distinctive edge in service and experience design. Her approach is a refreshing blend of spatial awareness and user-centric digital design principles, making her work truly stand out ...”
Michael Fergusson
Manager at Ayogo
“Rabia and I worked together on multiple design projects while she was consulting for my company. She is creative, listens well, thinks outside the box and meets deadlines too. She is a pleasure to work with and any company lucky enough to engage with her will be in a better place. She’s a team player. I highly recommend Rabia Ahmed.”
Melissa Gramer
Past client
“Rabia is a thoughtful designer, dedicated to understanding the user's perspective and communicating that perspective to software engineers and stakeholders. She is committed to building shared understanding through conversations and prototyping, and she is able to straddle the line between strategy and tactics well.....”
Howard Chalmers
Past client
“Rabia is a standout creative problem solver with user-centric design experience. Her architectural background allows her to draw from deep knowledge about how people interact with their environment in her design process.  Rabia crafted a number of excellent project assignments as part of my course User Experience Fundamentals and User Research during her one-year study within the Digital Experience Innovation Master's program at the University of Waterloo. ...”
Lennart Nacke
Professor at University of Waterloo
“Our organization has worked with Rabia over the past year in her capacity as Senior UI/UX Designer for Decklaration. Over this period, she led the UI/UX team which worked on the redesign and rollout of a new healthcare software product for our member base. Specifically, it was her design proposals that focused on delivering an aesthetically pleasing design combined with a detail oriented functional, growth driven and intuitive user experience that were ultimately adopted and implemented. She has an innate talent that she combines with real-world experience and a truly respectable work ethic. She asks the right questions and takes the time to fully understand the details of a project or ask that make the difference between delivering a good-enough design to one that truly aligns with the client’s needs. She functions at a high level easily taking overall responsibility for projects by translating business needs into deliverables that are on target. She has a level of professionalism and emotional intelligence that allows her to work well with everyone on a team. Our organization is fortunate to have Rabia working with us and we look forward to continued collaboration with her.”
Rick Kulkarni
Past client

Empowering Through Action

Mentor | UX certification | CCE

Concordia University

Councillor | MDEI

Graduate Student Association-University of Waterloo

Mentor

WOMEN IN TECH - Global Movement

See more volunteer work

Empowering Through Action

Mentor | UX certification | CCE

Concordia University

Councillor | MDEI

Graduate Student Association-University of Waterloo

Mentor

WOMEN IN TECH - Global Movement

See more volunteer work

Mentoring Other Designers

Mentorship has been one of the most rewarding parts of my design journey. I regularly mentor aspiring and early-career designers through ADPList, offering guidance on portfolios, interviews, and navigating the design industry with confidence. I approach mentorship the same way I approach design—with empathy, clarity, and a focus on growth.

Rabia Ahmed

Selected Work

Designing an intuitive digital health assistant

Selected Work

Designing an intuitive digital health assistant

Reach out to view this project

Selected Work

Designing an intuitive digital health assistant

Writing

Expertise

Skills

Tools

Career Summary

Career Summary

Certifications

Empowering Through Action

Empowering Through Action

Mentoring Other Designers

A Glimpse Into My Past Life As An Architect

A Glimpse Into My Past Life As An Architect

Let’s Set Up a Coffee Chat

Let’s Set Up a Coffee Chat