Hi, I'm Thiago

I design software for people who have real work to get done.

I'm a lead product designer based in Campo Grande, Brazil, with 9 years in the field. Most of my work is on software that runs serious operations: safety programs in factories, training for maintenance crews, seed sales in agriculture, card payments and bank rewards.

Portrait of Thiago Leite at his desk, wearing a black beanie, round glasses and a burgundy t-shirt, with a desk lamp and two monitors behind him.

Along the way I've worked with startups and with companies like Syngenta, UpKeep, GoDaddy, Walmart, Banco do Brasil and Caixa.

What I care about most is whether the design actually helps. I want the person using it to finish their task faster and with less effort, and I want the company to see that in its numbers. A screen can be beautiful and still fail at both.

AI has become part of my job in two ways. It shows up inside the products I design, like a safety report you can fill in just by talking. And it's part of how I work: I prototype in code with AI agents, and I've shipped my own pull requests to production.

How I work

01

Leading means helping

For me, leading a design team means making sure the people around me can do their best work. Sometimes that means stepping back and letting someone else drive.

02

Start with why

Before I open Figma, I want to know what problem we're solving and why it matters. Most bad designs I've seen came from skipping that question.

03

Design systems save time and arguments

When every team uses the same parts, nobody has to guess what a button should look like. People move faster and fewer things break.

04

Design has to help the business too

I try to connect what users need with what the company is trying to achieve. If a design doesn't move either one, I question it.

Experience

  1. UpKeep

    Senior Product Designer
    2026

    Led the redesign of UpKeep Safety with AI at its core, designed UpKeep Learn from zero and created the design system shared across UpKeep's products. Shipped production code with AI coding agents.

  2. Syngenta

    Lead Product Designer (Contract)
    2024–Present

    Designed Seed Selector from zero, the platform sales reps use to compare seeds on a grower's fields and send recommendations. Over €3M in attributed seed sales and 350k+ hectares mapped.

  3. FullStack Labs

    Senior Product Designer
    2022–2025

    Led the company rebrand and new website and became the company's design system lead. Designed the systems behind Walmart Contacts and GoDaddy's Smart Terminal.

  4. Hotspotty

    Principal Product Designer (Contract)
    2021–2022

    Went from only designer to leading a team of four and built the Spottywind design system while the platform grew to over 100k active users.

  5. Dotz

    Product Designer
    2021

    Designed Desejo Ourocard and Caixa de Prêmios, a gamified rewards platform for two banks. R$5M converted for Banco do Brasil and about R$2M for Caixa.

  6. Freelance

    UX Designer
    2017–2021

    Designed web and mobile products for clients in different industries, from research and usability tests to style guides and prototypes.

Kind words

Thiago approaches every project with a meticulous and user-focused mindset, and his keen eye for UX problem-solving results in thoughtful and beautiful solutions. Thiago is not only a skilled designer but also a dedicated and hard-working team member who brings energy and enthusiasm to every project.
Photo of Adelina Green Adelina GreenProduct Design Manager, GoDaddy