About Me
I enjoy crafting intuitive, delightful experiences that empower people to better utilize technology in service of their goals. I excel at bridging the gap between human needs & business goals, solving complex problems & creating order out of chaos, and paying attention to the little details. As a seasoned founder and product designer, I've worked on several consumer products used by tens of millions of people, and have more than 10 years of experience.
I began my journey with design at the age of 9 which was when my brother taught me how to use Photoshop. I started freelancing as a graphic designer in my early teenage years. I grew up in a tech savvy family. I received my bachelor’s degree (with honors) in software engineering from KFUPM, the top-ranked teaching institute in Saudi Arabia and the whole Arab region. During that time, I discovered my passion for UX, and started designing mobile apps and websites. In my last year of college, and right from its dorms, I co-founded my first startup, Feelit, which had the mission of connecting people around emotions. After Feelit raised its VC-backed seed round, I moved to San Francisco. Under Feelit, we built and launched a social network and a live-streaming messenger. Having attracted more than 250,000 users, I learned a great deal on what it takes to build and scale a consumer experience. After Feelit, I co-founded Sibly, a mental health company that envisions a world where everyone has someone to talk to. I held different roles at Sibly, from leading engineering to product & design. I helped grow the company to more than 50 employees, serving marquee customers like Comcast, WW, and Rivian. Having built a reputable name in the workplace mental health benefit space, Sibly exited in 2024. Most recently, I joined Nextdoor, a public company with more than 95,000,000 users all around the world, dedicated to cultivating a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood they can rely on. As a growth designer, I worked on various high-impact growth initiatives, driving top-of-funnel metrics as well as retention.
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When I’m not working, I enjoy running, exploring new places, or doing both at the same time. My hobbies include playing on the piano, photography, snowboarding, and I recently picked up surfing & diving too. I find my peace with meditation, and I always get a good sense of restoration after a hot yoga class. I also love to travel & learn about new cultures. At the end of 2020, I sold / donated most of my stuff, put the rest in a storage unit, and embarked on a nomadic journey of slow travel for about 2 years.
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Kind Words
From people I worked with
Under Omar's watch, our end-users are well represented when making key product decisions. In brainstorms and planning sessions, he is always asking the team if our decisions align with our values, and making sure that all opinions are heard. Omar inspires us to hunt for all potential edge cases, and to empathize with the very wide spectrum of user personas who rely on our product to improve their well being. He has an unparalleled eagle's eye for attention to detail regarding design and product development. You become more well rounded just by being around Omar, who can jump from a conversation about design systems to a conversation about a back-end implementation. It's so rare to work with someone who can lead design, and understand engineering on such a deep level.
Product Manager
Ex: Sibly
I worked with Omar for almost 9 years and have started two companies with him. Omar has been instrumental to the success and growth of both companies, and to my own personal success. He is a mission-driven leader who always strives for perfection in everything he does. His attention to detail and passion for the user experience makes him the best designer I have had the pleasure to work and learn from. His collaboration and professionalism makes him a great asset to any team and culture he chooses to join. Everyone in the team loved working with him due to his positive energy and his continuous curiosity to learn and grow. I would never hesitate to work with Omar again as he has been a great Co-Founder, not just during the good times, but also the bad.
Co-Founder & CEO @ Sibly
Omar is always thoughtful in design crits to ensure he's designing with our patterns in mind as well as our neighbors. From a user perspective, it's always a joy to work with Omar and know he's designing with a focus on how our users' will experience his designs.
UX Researcher @ Nextdoor
Ex: Hulu, Brex, Twitter
I worked with Omar for almost two years, launching products and apps at Sibly. Omar has the amazing ability to accomplish any goal at a company, having been a founder and taken on multiple roles. However, as a designer, the quality that stood out was his ability to empathize with users. This trait shined through as he created user studies and personally interviewed our customers. He was able to glean insights from subtle nuances that turned into new products. I'd wholeheartedly recommend him for any design position.
Product Manager
Ex: Sibly, Twitter
Omar has an extremely interesting skill set able to both do design and software development at a high level. He excels at understanding of user experience and making iterative improvements on a product. I have seen very few people more useful to have at an early stage startup where tenacity, a broad technical skill set and ability to problem solve are so critical to succeed.
VP of Technology Operations, QE & Release, Sibly