Simon Chalk 2026

Simon Chalk

Principal Product Designer · Sydney

linkedin.com/in/simon-chalk

I design and build complex creative tools, from product vision and interaction design through to production code. My work spans AI agent workflows, large-scale editor redesigns and connected physical products. I lead through hands-on work, setting direction, working closely with engineers and helping other designers develop their craft.

Experience

Canva

Sydney · Jul 2020 – Nov 2026

Principal Product Designer

Dec 2022 – Nov 2026

Flying Fox · AI tooling for product designers

Design lead for an internal AI design tool, turning an engineer-built proof of concept into a visual workspace for building functional prototypes. Reached 140 daily active product designers within four months, among 340 total daily active users, through entirely voluntary adoption.

Glow Up · Canva editor redesign

Product design lead and company goal owner for the editor's first major overhaul since 2016. Turned a three-year vision into an eight-month delivery programme for Canva Create 2024, coordinating approximately 100 leads across teams contributing to the editor.

Magic Video · AI-powered mobile video creation

Sole product designer for flows that turn phone clips and photos into shareable short-form videos using AI-powered templates. Took the work from initial brief to global rollout in four months for a headline launch at Canva World Tour 2025. The product reached 2.6M monthly active users and 70.4K daily active users.

Video Timeline

Defined the vision and shipped the MVP for Canva's transition from page-based video editing to a video-first experience, establishing interaction patterns for future video features.

Product Designer

Jul 2020 – Dec 2022

Canva Creators Marketplace

Designed and launched Canva's first two-sided creator marketplace, working in a product and engineering triad to shape the marketplace model and creator experience. Designed creator portfolios, template publishing and internal tools for reviewing and auditing submissions.

Core editor features

Partnered with founders, product and engineering to launch gradients, text styles and advanced text styling in an editor serving 100M+ users. Led research, interaction design, usability testing and UI refinement, contributing patterns to the design system.

RVU

London · Jun 2018 – Feb 2020

Lead Product Designer · Money.co.uk

Apr 2019 – Feb 2020

Led end-to-end web design for credit card, loan, mortgage and insurance comparison products, drawing on qualitative research and analytics across 1M+ monthly sessions.

Senior Product Designer · Bankrate.com/UK

Dec 2018 – Apr 2019

Partnered with SEO on intent-driven product pages during growth from approximately 10K to 125K monthly sessions. Led home-loan research to inform the roadmap and established a design system across touchpoints.

Product Designer · Uswitch.com

Jun 2018 – Dec 2018

Sole product designer for a new B2B web analytics release. Used ethnographic research to simplify core workflows and established UX practices within a small engineering team.

Ørsted Watches

Founder & Designer

Feb 2018 – Mar 2020

Founded a watch brand and designed an automatic watch, working with a China-based manufacturing partner on industrial design and engineering. Created the visual identity, custom type, packaging and pre-sale website.

Breville

Sydney · Mar 2011 – Dec 2017

UX/UI Manager

Oct 2016 – Dec 2017

Established Breville's global UX/UI department, recruited and mentored four designers, and introduced agile digital design practices within a business grounded in physical product development.

Senior UX Designer

Dec 2015 – Oct 2016

Designed a recipe-driven connected product spanning web, iOS and embedded interfaces, leading research, prototyping, testing and handoff to an offshore development team.

Rapid Innovator

Jun 2015 – Dec 2015

Created methods for prototyping digital coffee-machine interfaces with physical buttons and dials, enabling high-fidelity user testing before committing to development.

Industrial Designer

Mar 2011 – Jan 2015

Designed toasters, kettles and coffee machines from concept through to production, spanning user research, physical prototyping, engineering and design for manufacture.