Build the new thing. Scale the good thing.
Heavy on the
awesome-sauce.
Hi, I'm Shaun Scholtz, a product design leader based in Ottawa, Canada, focused on supply chain compliance, but well versed in health care.
2026 Who Am I
For nearly 20 years I've been designing digital products across social platforms, healthcare, and B2B SaaS, and along the way I've picked up a stubborn belief: the best design work happens when strategic impact, craft, and the people doing the work are all treated as non-negotiable. Not one at the expense of the others.
On AI: I use it. Daily. It's an accelerant for the messy early phases, like synthesizing research, prototyping ideas, building internal tools for my team. But taste, customer context, and hard-won judgment aren't things you can prompt your way into. That part is still the job. And that part, honestly, comes from life, not just a career.
Most recently I led product design at Assent, untangling the kind of supply chain compliance problems that make compliance managers sweat and users quit. Before that, I’ve worked in every flavour of org from scrappy startup, scaling healthcare platform, to enterprise SaaS. Which is another way of saying I've seen how design gets watered down, and I've learned how to keep it from happening.
I grew up in South Africa, live in Ottawa, and I’m relentlessly curious about people, ideas, technology, and food, which makes me pretty good at this work, and a genuine liability around a proper braai (bbq), a record store, or a damn good book.
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2026 Selected work
Case Studies From the Field
2026 Articles
Ramblings of a mad man
Embracing the Unknown
Personal essay on career change and embracing uncertainty
ArticleBuilding with an AI Buddy
The only limit is your imagination is finally true. Here's the caveat nobody puts on the bumper sticker, plus how friends are quietly buying back hours of their week.
ArticleDesign Doesn't Need a Seat at the Table. It Needs to Set One.
Waiting to be invited is a losing game. The strongest design leaders don't ask for a seat at the table; they build the table and decide who sits where.
ArticleDesign QA Is Not a Gate, It's a Habit
Design QA isn't a destination at the end of the process. It should be a discipline that runs through the whole design and development lifecycle.
awesome-sauce.
Hi, I’m Shaun Scholtz, and this is where you’ll find my work, and musings on design, user experience, and how AI is reshaping the digital product space. Happy exploring!
Who Am I
For nearly 20 years I've been designing digital products across social platforms, healthcare, and B2B SaaS, and along the way I've picked up a stubborn belief: the best design work happens when strategic impact, craft, and the people doing the work are all treated as non-negotiable. Not one at the expense of the others.
Most recently I led product design at Assent, untangling the kind of supply chain compliance problems that make compliance managers sweat and users quit. Before that, I’ve worked in every flavour of org from scrappy startup, scaling healthcare platform, to enterprise SaaS. Which is another way of saying I've seen how design gets watered down, and I've learned how to keep it from happening.
On AI: I use it. Daily. It's an accelerant for the messy early phases, like synthesizing research, prototyping ideas, building internal tools for my team. But taste, customer context, and hard-won judgment aren't things you can prompt your way into. That part is still the job. And that part, honestly, comes from life, not just a career.
I grew up in South Africa, live in Ottawa, and I’m relentlessly curious about people, ideas, technology, and food, which makes me pretty good at this work, and a genuine liability around a proper braai (bbq), a record store, or a damn good book.
Selected work
Case studies from the field.
Scroll to move across the portfolio.
Articles