Product Design leader, driving business strategy through human centered design + emerging tech.

Ani Avanian is a product design leader working at the intersection of emerging technology, systems, and craft.

She leads multidisciplinary teams at Meta Reality Labs, including the design of Meta’s developer platform, shaping immersive experiences and next-generation creator tools. Her work brings clarity to complex systems—aligning design, engineering, and art into products that scale.

With over two decades of experience, Ani has built and guided teams through ambiguity, from exploration to execution. She operates as a player-coach, setting direction while staying close to the work.

Current: Sr. Product Design Manager at Meta
Former: VP of Design at Wanderu & Design Director at EF

Principles

Design doesn’t happen in isolation
Great products don’t emerge from silos. They are shaped through tight collaboration across design, engineering, and product—built in rhythm, not in sequence.

Start with the problem, not the solution
Clarity on what we’re solving, for whom, and how we measure success is what separates motion from progress.

Do the hard work to make it simple
Simplicity is not reduction—it’s refinement. The burden of complexity belongs to the team, not the user.

Create the conditions for great work
Psychological safety isn’t a perk—it’s a prerequisite. People do their best work when they feel supported, trusted, and challenged.

Scope & Impact

• Leads multidisciplinary design teams across immersive experiences and developer platforms at Meta

• Oversees product areas spanning MR/VR, creator tools, and emerging AI systems

• Builds and scales teams of designers, prototypers, and artists

• Partners across product, engineering, and leadership to drive execution at scale

Focus

• Platform and ecosystem design

• Creator tools and workflows

• Immersive experiences (MR/VR)

• Generative AI and emerging interfaces

• Design systems & scaling organizations

Elsewhere