About me
For more than a decade, I’ve designed consumer products at every scale, from founding startups to leading initiatives at growth-stage and public companies. My work spans 0→1, growth, core experiences, and design systems, reaching 100+ million people worldwide. I excel at bridging human needs and business goals, bringing order to complex problems, and sweating the details that others miss.
Where it started
I began designing at the age of 9, when my brother introduced me to Photoshop. By my teens, I was freelancing as a graphic designer and teaching myself to code. I went on to study software engineering at a top-ranked university in the Middle East, graduating with honors before finding my way to product design, where my interests in creativity and technology came together.
Building companies
In my final year of college, I co-founded Feelit, a consumer social startup, and led its design. After we raised a VC-backed seed round, I moved to San Francisco to grow the company. We went on to launch several products used by more than 300,000 users. I later co-founded Sibly, a mental health startup, and helped grow it from an idea into a 50-person company serving clients like Comcast, WeightWatchers, and Rivian. Over the years, I took on several roles, from leading engineering to product and design. Having built a reputable name in the workplace mental health benefit space, Sibly exited through a merger in 2024. Building companies taught me to navigate ambiguity, move fluidly between vision and execution, and design with a deeper understanding of the business, technology, and team behind the product.
Designing products & systems at scale
In 2023, I joined Nextdoor, a public company and the world’s largest hyperlocal social network, serving more than 100 million users. As a growth designer, I worked on various high-impact growth initiatives, driving top-of-funnel metrics as well as retention. Most recently, I joined Quizlet, a global learning platform with 60M+ MAUs. My work has included leading its design system, co-leading the redesign of the Home feed, and designing AI-native study experiences. Across these efforts, I’ve helped shape product direction, turn complex problems into thoughtful experiences, and strengthen the foundations that help designers and engineers create more consistent, higher-quality products at scale.
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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. During Covid, I sold and donated most of my stuff, put the rest in storage, and embarked on a nomadic journey of slow travel for 2 years.
Bookshelf
Some of my favorite reads
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Kind Words
From people I worked with
Omar and I worked together on two hairy projects and I was SO impressed with how he applied design thinking & behavioral psychology elements into his designs. When I learned I was going to be working with him on the second project, I literally breathed a sigh of relief knowing I was going to be working with someone so capable. Both projects had very complex logic on the eng side, which means it can be hard to explain on the user side, but Omar asks the best clarifying questions and comes up with smart mental models to help simplify the user experience. And he cares deeply about delight and accessibility and treats mobile/tablet as first-class citizens. On top of that he is hilarious and kind and I would be so so lucky to work with Omar again!!
Lead Product Manager
Quizlet
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