{ "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsonresume/resume-schema/v1.0.0/schema.json", "basics": { "name": "Bernadette Smail", "label": "Lead Design Technologist · AI Prototyping · Design Systems", "email": "bernadette@systemshift.agency", "phone": "+1 647-560-9173", "url": "https://human2ai.ca", "summary": "Veteran design technologist and product design leader with AI product experience spanning IBM's Watson era through today's agentic systems, custom MCP servers and AI-assisted development workflows. Founder of SYSTEMshift and product lead for Human2ai, where I design and build AI-enabled interfaces, reusable workflows, custom tools and approval-gated systems. Combines enterprise design leadership from IBM iX and TD with hands-on React and TypeScript delivery, accessibility and design-system thinking.", "location": { "city": "Greater Toronto Area", "region": "Ontario", "countryCode": "CA" }, "profiles": [ { "network": "LinkedIn", "username": "bernadettesmail", "url": "https://linkedin.com/in/bernadettesmail" }, { "network": "Portfolio", "username": "SYSTEMshift case studies", "url": "https://systemshift.agency/casestudies" }, { "network": "Wayfair portfolio", "username": "Bernadette Smail - Wayfair", "url": "https://human2ai.ca/resume/wayfair" } ] }, "work": [ { "name": "SYSTEMshift AI Strategy Inc.", "position": "Founder and Principal Consultant", "location": "Toronto, Canada", "startDate": "2024", "endDate": "", "highlights": [ "Own product strategy, interaction design, architecture, hands-on development and release decisions for Human2ai, an AI business-team and client platform for small and mid-sized organizations, including Stockimage AI for brand-aligned image generation.", "Translate operator needs and distinct brand systems into reusable interface patterns, specialist-agent workflows, connected accounts, custom tools, approval gates and client-specific services.", "Design and build with Claude Code, OpenAI Codex and GitHub Copilot across React, TypeScript, Node/Express, PostgreSQL, Cloudinary, Render, and the Anthropic and OpenAI APIs.", "Create human-in-the-loop, chat-to-action workflows that transform photographs, PDFs, recipe cards, spreadsheets and natural-language requests into structured product data, storefront changes, print-ready labels, product imagery and scheduled campaign assets.", "Build reusable multi-brand design and approval patterns that allow one platform to serve distinct businesses while keeping consequential changes reviewable before publication.", "Originated and built Klara Klartext, a multilingual civic-information assistant with audience-aware conversation modes, factual guardrails and reusable campaign and publishing patterns.", "Built Matti, a multilingual school-kiosk proof of concept using LiveAvatar / HeyGen and ElevenLabs, with privacy protections, explicit adult handoff and a protected teacher UI that guides appropriate bullying and conflict response through school-controlled channels.", "Evaluate AI failure modes, privacy risks, technical feasibility, no-fabrication safeguards and appropriate human oversight through working prototypes.", "Facilitate workshops that move teams from ambiguous ideas to validated workflows and functional prototypes." ] }, { "name": "TD Bank / TD Invent", "position": "Senior Manager, Service Design", "location": "Toronto, Canada", "startDate": "2022-06", "endDate": "2024-04", "highlights": [ "Led enterprise product and service design for complex internal platforms, operational workflows, research systems and automation in a highly regulated environment.", "Created and shipped the TD UX Research Repository as Product Owner, Service Designer, Product Design Lead and hands-on Power FX and SharePoint developer.", "Broke down organizational research silos by connecting fragmented team repositories through shared information architecture, taxonomy, search, governance and automation.", "Designed its information architecture, taxonomy, metadata model, normalization rules, researcher and administrator workflows, search and preview experience, tagging, subscriptions, governance and automation—preparing twelve years of evidence for retrieval-augmented generation as well as human discovery.", "Iterated through more than 50 prototypes and unlocked 12 years of research artifacts for more than 400 human-centred-design staff and contractors.", "Delivered an estimated 11,500+ work hours saved annually and eliminated $120,000 in licensing costs.", "Coordinated design, research, technology and senior leadership stakeholders while establishing reusable operating patterns that improved consistency, visibility and adoption." ] }, { "name": "IBM iX", "position": "Senior User Experience Consultant / Design Technologist", "location": "Toronto, Canada", "startDate": "2016-02", "endDate": "2022-06", "highlights": [ "Bridged product design, research, engineering and business strategy across banking, travel, government, healthcare and AI-enabled services.", "Led design-thinking facilitation, enterprise AI use-case discovery and North Star visioning with senior and C-suite stakeholders during the Watson era.", "Created a scalable Sprint Zero framework, workshop templates, taxonomy and project hub for TD CCaaS, and led more than 20 accessibility user interviews, enabling more than 60 lines of business to apply a consistent user-centred implementation approach.", "Led architecture, functional Axure prototyping, iterative testing and Figma handoff for TD Wire Origination.", "Facilitated a micro-frontend workshop with developers to define reusable components, patterns and variants. Digital auditing capabilities and a digital-signature flow replaced printing and manual filing with a traceable record across 43 integrations, 1,158 branches and 10 million customers, eliminating approximately 1.56 million printed pages annually.", "Modernized IBM Trade Management using the Carbon Design System and interactive prototypes.", "Designed an Air Canada conversational Axure prototype demonstrating ticket purchase and seat selection through dialogue rather than traditional form-based screens.", "Created interaction patterns for the IBM i2 link-analysis platform, supporting entity capture, relationship visualization and pattern detection across multi-source data.", "Delivered architecture, research, design and product direction for Canada.ca, Elections Canada, TD, BMO, RBC and other complex regulated environments." ] }, { "name": "Grip Limited", "position": "Senior Information Architect", "location": "Toronto, Canada", "startDate": "2010-10", "endDate": "2015-12", "highlights": [ "Connected creative and development teams by translating campaign concepts into buildable information architecture, interaction models and prototypes.", "Led information architecture, prototyping, interaction design and usability work for Facebook apps and games, brand websites and other digital experiences for Honda, Acura, Budweiser, Taco Bell, McCain, Splenda, Neutrogena and Wonder Bread." ] }, { "name": "Affinity Health", "position": "Information Architect / Creative Team Lead", "location": "Toronto, Canada", "startDate": "2009-01", "endDate": "2010-10", "highlights": [ "Designed the end-to-end information architecture for the National Guard Bureau's Joint Services Support (JSS) portal, a one-stop gateway connecting Guardmembers and families to state- and unit-level programs across 54 states and territories, and mentored the team in qualitative human-centred-design methods." ] }, { "name": "Netex Enterprises Inc.", "position": "UX Designer / PHP Developer", "location": "Toronto, Canada", "startDate": "2006-11", "endDate": "2008-12", "highlights": [ "Built a patient-management system for the Elkie Adler Assistive Technology Clinic and a full-stack digital-signage platform using PHP, JavaScript, CSS, MySQL and ActionScript 3." ] }, { "name": "Early web and interactive media work", "position": "Web Developer / Interactive Designer", "startDate": "1999", "endDate": "2006", "highlights": [ "Production development began by 1999 across websites, browser-based experiences and interactive media, establishing the technical foundation for the LAMP, ActionScript and front-end systems work that followed." ] } ], "projects": [ { "name": "Human2ai", "startDate": "2024", "description": "Multi-brand AI business-team platform combining brand-aligned account managers, specialist agents, connected accounts, custom tools, approval gates, multimodal inputs, Stockimage AI for brand-aligned image generation and reusable client workflows.", "roles": [ "Product lead", "Hands-on builder" ], "url": "https://human2ai.ca" }, { "name": "Klara Klartext", "startDate": "2026", "description": "Volunteer-built multilingual AI assistant for OMAS GEGEN RECHTS Hürth that helps people assess political claims, respond to slogans and create age-appropriate teaching materials across three modes, ten comprehension levels and more than twelve languages.", "roles": [ "Originator", "Technical product lead" ] }, { "name": "Matti", "startDate": "2026", "description": "Multilingual school-kiosk proof of concept using LiveAvatar / HeyGen for the live avatar and ElevenLabs for voice and conversation, with class-level adaptation, low-threshold interaction, privacy protections, explicit adult handoff and a protected teacher UI guiding appropriate bullying and conflict response through school-controlled channels.", "roles": [ "Builder" ] }, { "name": "Human2ai × Higgsfield", "description": "Approval-gated social-video and campaign-media workflows that preserve brand, product, source-asset and generated-artifact lineage throughout the production process.", "roles": [ "Product integration lead" ] }, { "name": "AI voice and operations automation", "description": "Designed and shipped ElevenLabs voice agents connected to calendar availability, Cal.com, Odoo and n8n for intake, scheduling, customer service and operational routing.", "roles": [ "Designer", "Builder" ] }, { "name": "RCMP Bike Unit Field App", "startDate": "2019", "description": "Designed an Axure map-first field-app proof of concept for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Bike Unit that triangulated information from System 1 and System 2, tested it with police staff, iterated the workflow and led the developer who delivered the working application.", "roles": [ "Product designer", "Axure prototyper", "Research lead", "Developer lead" ] }, { "name": "TD Domestic Wire Origination Transformation", "startDate": "2021", "description": "Led the transformation from a legacy blue-screen system to a modern domestic-wire employee UI through information architecture, functional Axure prototyping, iterative testing and the transition to high-fidelity work produced by a UI designer; facilitated micro-frontend component definition and designed digital auditing and signature flows that replaced paper printing and manual filing with a traceable record.", "roles": [ "Information architect", "Functional prototyper", "Design lead" ], "outcomes": [ "43 system integrations", "1,158 branches", "10 million customers", "Digital audit and signature flow", "Approximately 1.56 million printed pages eliminated annually" ] }, { "name": "Elections Canada Heuristic Evaluation", "startDate": "2019", "description": "Conducted a heuristic evaluation of a high-stakes civic digital experience, documented usability and accessibility issues, prioritized findings by severity and translated them into actionable design recommendations.", "roles": [ "UX evaluator", "Accessibility reviewer" ] }, { "name": "Canada.ca: My Service Canada Architecture", "startDate": "2020", "description": "Created a North Star system map for My Service Canada by synthesizing research, future-state concepts and technical insight into an architecture for proactive, integrated federal and provincial benefits delivery.", "roles": [ "Research synthesist", "North Star system mapper", "Experience architect" ], "outcomes": [ "North Star system map", "Federal and provincial systems mapped", "Proactive eligibility concept" ] }, { "name": "Nova Scotia Tourism, Culture and Heritage", "startDate": "2019", "description": "Led cross-sector design-thinking workshops and translated the findings into a service blueprint and prioritized tourism transformation roadmap.", "roles": [ "Workshop facilitator", "Service designer" ] }, { "name": "Nova Scotia Health Authority Vaccination Uptake Workshops", "startDate": "2019", "description": "Designed and facilitated multi-stakeholder workshops, service blueprints and a roadmap addressing access, education and trust barriers in vaccination outreach.", "roles": [ "Lead facilitator", "Workshop designer" ] }, { "name": "Air Canada Frequent-Flyer Research Pipeline", "startDate": "2020", "description": "Established a reusable panel of 64 frequent flyers segmented by flyer-status archetype, personally conducted all 64 moderated user-testing sessions with an interview following each test, and connected participant management, recruitment, scheduling, prototype testing, recording, early AI transcription through Otter.ai and synthesis tools into a repeatable remote-research pipeline.", "roles": [ "Research operations lead", "Lead moderator and interviewer", "Service designer", "Functional prototyper" ], "outcomes": [ "64 moderated user tests with follow-up interviews personally conducted", "Frequent-flyer panel segmented by status archetype", "End-to-end remote-research pipeline" ] }, { "name": "Air Canada Watson AI Conversational Booking Proof of Concept", "startDate": "2019", "description": "In 2019, designed a functional Axure proof of concept demonstrating ticket purchase and seat selection through a Watson AI conversational assistant rather than traditional form-based screens.", "roles": [ "Conversation designer", "Functional Axure prototyper", "AI use-case designer" ] } ], "education": [ { "institution": "Richard-Riemerschmid-Berufskolleg, Germany", "studyType": "State-Certified Graphic Designer", "area": "Graphic Design", "endDate": "1995" }, { "institution": "InMedia Bildung, Germany", "studyType": "Certified Multimedia Designer", "area": "Multimedia Design", "endDate": "1998" } ], "certificates": [ { "name": "IBM AI Product Manager — Professional Certificate", "issuer": "IBM / Coursera", "date": "2025" }, { "name": "Generative AI: Foundation Models & Platforms", "issuer": "IBM", "date": "2025" }, { "name": "Credential of Readiness (CORe)", "issuer": "Harvard Business School Online", "date": "2024" }, { "name": "OKR Certification: Leadership and Goal Setting", "issuer": "Measure What Matters", "date": "2024" }, { "name": "IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Co-Creator", "issuer": "IBM", "date": "2018" }, { "name": "IBM Design Thinking Practitioner", "issuer": "IBM", "date": "2016" }, { "name": "Certified Experience Researcher (CXR)", "issuer": "Akendi", "date": "2014" } ], "awards": [ { "title": "Above and Beyond Award", "awarder": "TD Invent", "date": "2023" }, { "title": "Bee Epic Coach", "awarder": "IBM Canada", "date": "2022" }, { "title": "Delivery Excellence Award", "awarder": "IBM", "date": "2020" } ], "x_integrations": [ { "name": "Agent and action orchestration", "keywords": [ "Custom MCP servers", "Anthropic API", "OpenAI API", "Odoo", "n8n", "Cal.com", "PostgreSQL", "Neon", "Cloudinary" ], "evidence": "Human2ai specialist-agent, approval and publishing workflows" }, { "name": "Voice and video agents", "keywords": [ "LiveAvatar", "HeyGen", "ElevenLabs Conversational AI", "n8n", "School-controlled handoff" ], "evidence": "Matti multilingual school kiosk and protected teacher-response workflow" }, { "name": "Enterprise and regulated systems", "keywords": [ "Power Platform", "Power FX", "SharePoint", "Micro-frontends", "Digital signatures", "Digital auditing", "43-system integration" ], "evidence": "TD research repository and domestic wire origination transformation" }, { "name": "Research and RAG pipelines", "keywords": [ "Mailchimp", "Doodle", "Webex", "Axure", "Otter.ai", "Taxonomy", "Metadata normalization", "RAG preparation" ], "evidence": "Air Canada reusable research panel and TD twelve-year research corpus" } ], "skills": [ { "name": "Design technology and prototyping", "keywords": [ "React", "TypeScript/TSX", "JavaScript", "HTML", "Modern CSS", "High-fidelity functional prototyping", "Component architecture", "Responsive UI", "Accessible interaction patterns" ] }, { "name": "AI-assisted design and development", "keywords": [ "IBM Watson AI", "Claude Code", "OpenAI Codex", "GitHub Copilot", "Anthropic API", "OpenAI API", "MCP", "Agentic workflows", "Custom tools", "Multimodal workflows", "RAG and context injection", "Human-in-the-loop approval" ] }, { "name": "Design systems and product enablement", "keywords": [ "Figma", "FigJam", "Axure RP", "Miro", "Mural", "Design systems", "Reusable components", "Design tokens", "Interaction patterns", "Information architecture", "Service design", "Workshops", "Stakeholder alignment", "Team enablement" ] }, { "name": "Product build and automation", "keywords": [ "Node.js", "Express", "REST APIs", "PostgreSQL/Neon", "Vite", "Tailwind", "shadcn/ui", "Radix UI", "Drizzle ORM", "Zod/JSON Schema", "Git/GitHub", "Cloudinary", "Render", "Stripe", "n8n", "Odoo", "ElevenLabs" ] } ], "languages": [ { "language": "German", "fluency": "Native" }, { "language": "English", "fluency": "Near-native (C2); professional and daily working language for more than 20 years in Canada" } ], "meta": { "workAuthorization": [ "Canadian permanent resident", "German citizen with unrestricted European Union work authorization" ], "version": "1.0", "lastModified": "2026-08-11" } }