How I lead

I design how a team works, not just what it ships.

Products, teams known for their craft, and the systems that hold them together. I take the question nobody owns yet, turn it into a strategy that leadership funds, build the team that ships it, and set up the operating model the org runs on. And when a team has stalled or a problem has no owner, I’m the one brought in to reshape it.

Senior product design manager, and a manager of managers.

Sheena Warmin, black and white portrait
20 yrs
Leading design
1B+
People using my teams' work
900K+
Developers on the store I built
500+
Engineers my teams shipped with

Recognition: US Patent 10,978,069 · Multiple ADDY Awards · DMA International ECHO Award · AWS re:Invent speaker

What makes me different

I turn instinct into strategy, and taste into systems.

What sets me apart is where I aim: not just the screen, but the strategy that funds it, the team that ships it, and the operating model that keeps it running. I plan before I improvise, judge ideas by whether they work, and hold the bar highest for my own work. I’m at my best on the ambiguous, unowned problem that needs someone to turn it into a direction the org will commit to.

  • Strategy that ships. Led the design strategy that made Marketplace Facebook’s front door for young adults; it grew into a company-wide bet.
  • Craft at scale. Raised the craft and quality bar on the global launch of Profile, Facebook’s second most-visited surface, with over a billion visits a day.
  • 0-to-1 platforms. A series of them at Alexa, designed from scratch over five years: a patented conversational-discovery model, plus the monetization and advertising businesses beneath it.
  • AI-native, early. Took a team from AI-aware to AI-native in six weeks: fluency across the AI toolset, prototyping and validating with AI, and multi-agent workflows. The approach spread beyond my team.
  • Grown leaders. A manager of managers who cultivates the company’s top IC leaders, and grows ICs into managers on my team and beyond.

My scope

The shapes of teams I've led.

Today I run a layered org through managers. Before that, a flat, single-threaded team spanning every design discipline, all reporting to me. And before that, an integrated studio where concept to build ran through my review. Each shape asked for a different kind of leadership.

The layered product org

Facebook • 100-500 engineers

I manage managers, not just designers: design managers running their own pillar teams, designers direct to me, and content design and design operations integrated into the org.

Me pillar team pillar team designers, direct cd team

The flat STO model

Amazon • 60-100 engineers

Flat and wide, single-threaded ownership: product, voice, and multimodal designers plus UX research, all reporting to me directly.

Me productvoicemultimodalUX research every design discipline direct to me

The integrated creative studio

RAPP • 5 engineers

Art directors, copywriters, and UX designers for Toyota, Bank of America, and Charles Schwab, with engineering as a direct build partner: everything from concept to build ran through my review.

Me art copy UX engineering concept to build, one review

My free time

A lifelong learner, off the clock too.

I'm learning the ukulele, turning my backyard into a bird sanctuary, and growing my plant collection at home, which has meant going unexpectedly deep on plant propagation. Spending that much time as a student is probably why I enjoy teaching and mentoring: in schools (from elementary to universities), where I introduce students to careers in design, and in local design and tech communities.

A stack of five books: Plantopedia; Outlive; Range; Flow; The Gifts of Imperfection

What’s next

What I’m looking for.

A design leadership role where strategy, craft, and team-building all matter, at a company building something worth the bar.

See my previous work Connect