The Evolution of Design Roles in Product Teams

​As traditional roles evolve and people take on broader responsibilities, how should teams adapt to an AI native way of building?

​AI is reshaping how products are built, blurring the lines between design, product, engineering, and data science traditional roles.

​This event explores

• ​What are some of the emerging role archetypes?

• ​How do you preserve the cognitive diversity that drives great product decisions?

• ​What are the changing patterns of ownership

• ​Why cross-functional collaboration remains essential even as AI enables more people to build independently?

​You will leave with a framework for rethinking team composition, decision-making, and the unique value of human collaboration in the next generation of product development.

​Who should attend:

​Design executives and lead product designers who are exploring how roles are evolving and creative ways to think about the change

​About the Speaker:

​Nathaniel Paffet-Lugassy

​Nathaniel is a multidisciplinary designer with 15 years of experience spanning UX, industrial design, design thinking, and design systems. He's worked with teams of every size, from early-stage startups to Fortune Global 500 corporations. As Director of Product Design at Fictiv, he helped build out the design org through a period of significant company growth, working through increasingly complex, global workflows. At the end of 2025, he began to run his own independent design practice.

​Alongside product work, Nathaniel has focused on organizational strategy — running cross-functional sessions, reshaping processes, and helping teams turn competing priorities into a clear plan. Throughout his career, he's translated ambiguity into direction and connected strategic thinking to practical execution.