Christopher Kobar
Human experiences for an AI-fluent world
Staff Product Designer with 15+ years shaping complex systems — from architecture and flows to pixels and swipes.
Enterprise ⋅ SaaS ⋅ B2B ⋅ federal ⋅ mobile
Currently open to new opportunities
Selected Work
Breaking the Stalemate
Shipping Oracle's first Redwood + AI mobile experience
After three years of stalled redesigns, I reframed the problem to move the team from debating the vision to aligning on a shippable scope—resulting in Oracle's first Redwood-compliant mobile release.
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Implement ERP via Chat
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Slashing Consultant Costs with AI
Defined the product north star to eliminate implementation consultants ($500K–$2M per customer) by unifying Oracle's ERP and EPM experiences—establishing AI interaction patterns and platform requirements with the Redwood Design System team.
This represents strategic product framing; execution is ongoing.
An Expert Tool for Expert Users
Unifying Five Legacy Diagnostic Tools into a Single Workbench
I led the design of a diagnostic platform that consolidated five legacy tools into a unified workbench—built for the engineers who keep customers' on-premise systems running.
✓ Consolidated five legacy diagnostic tools into one unified platform
✓ Designed for expert users with 20–30 years of domain experience
✓ Shipped within one year of design handoff; became the primary diagnostic tool for on-premise support
AI Vibe Coding Exploration
“Hey, Claude! Let’s make a Disney-like immersive mobile experience that brings the magic of a park visit to wherever you are.”
A fun project to explore vibe coding and its implications for product design, while producing a proof of concept for where IP-driven parks experiences can go next.My Wheelhouse
Enterprise & complex platforms
Regulated tooling
AI-integrated experiences
Stalled products
Functional misalignment
Strategy-to-execution gaps
Constraints → framing
Framing → alignment
Alignment → shipped outcomes
Cross-functional partnership
High autonomy and accountability
Clarity over consensus
On My Mind
About Me
I've been designing in one form or another for most of my life — in browsers before there were design tools, in Figma before there was AI, and now with AI before anyone's quite figured out what that means. I care about craft. Whether a layout breathes. Whether a transition earns its keep. Whether the person on the other end ever has to think about what to do next.
Before design took over, I worked everywhere from restaurants to Congress to a zoo. I served in the Navy Nuclear Power program. I've spent decades devising narrative game systems, rules, worlds, and storylines, and authored ten related books. I write dark fantasy fiction, dabble in podcasting, and still occasionally pick up my guitar.
Along the way I've picked up some stories. I’ve been detained by the Syrian and Lebanese military. Had an awkward encounter with a U.S. president. Wiped out on a motorcycle at 95 mph. Busked in the NYC subway system. Danced flamenco. Played a Secret Service agent in a Spielberg film. Saw a UFO. And got my piece of the Berlin Wall the old fashioned way. All true. Buy me a cider sometime.
I have a teenage daughter, a patient wife, and two cats who have never once been impressed by anything I've done. I studied philosophy at UConn — Phi Beta Kappa — and also spent time at NYU, the University of Mannheim, and the Connecticut School of Broadcasting.
I've lived in ten states, but today I'm back in Connecticut, a stone's throw from the submarine base where I was born. I've been a storyteller my whole life. It's the thread that connects everything, design included.