Vignesh Sachidanandam
I lead at the convergence of product and design, from vision to shipped product.
15+ years across WhatsApp, Google, and Microsoft. Hands-on at the scale of billions, shaping both what gets built and how teams build it.
How I work
The lines between roles are breaking down: product decides what to build, design makes it usable, data says whether it worked. The best products increasingly come from people who do all three and stay close to the work. I’ve spent the last few years defining and proving that way of working: AI-native, fewer handoffs, taste over process.
Meta · WhatsApp
I lead product design and strategy for AI on WhatsApp. When Meta set out to build a widely used AI assistant, WhatsApp brought the largest audience and a high bar for privacy and craft: end-to-end encryption and a brand built on restraint. The patterns we defined there were later reflected across Meta’s other apps, from the first consumer AI launches through Incognito Chat, a fully private way to chat with AI.
Alongside the AI work, I defined WhatsApp’s product vision, drove its largest visual refresh, and set the multi-year north star for identity beyond phone numbers. WhatsApp is also where that way of working took shape: I built the model and work across the teams putting it into practice.
I led design for experiences that move beyond the phone into ambient computing: the Android 12 ambient display, lock screen, at-a-glance widgets, and how a phone works with the devices around it. I also led design for Soli / Motion Sense on Pixel 4, a new way to control a phone through radar-based gesture and presence sensing.
Microsoft
I led end-to-end design for incubation projects in communications and productivity, partnering across the company and working directly with Microsoft’s senior leadership. Earlier, I defined the product vision and UX for Outlook across mobile, wearables, and desktop, designed entertainment apps for the Xbox One launch, and started my career as a design researcher on Microsoft’s first touch productivity experiences.
40+ patents at Google and Microsoft, including a few with Bill Gates :)
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