Saleh Bazuhair 11+ years designing
About Me

Hi, I'm Saleh. I design experiences worth trusting.

I design and build products from zero to live, for companies across the GCC and beyond. I started in complex, regulated domains like fintech and banking, and my specialty is open banking, a rare field in the region.

My strength is taking an idea from unclear to live: understanding the users and the business, designing the experience, and building a working version with AI-assisted engineering.

Working style
Fully remote
Working with
GCC and beyond, remotely
Languages
Arabic · English
The Story

From a frontend workshop in Mukalla to building products from zero, for companies across the GCC and beyond.

My path into design started in 2013 in Mukalla, my hometown. I joined a small three-week local workshop to learn frontend development, where I started with HTML, CSS, and a little JavaScript. For about a year, I built simple websites and kept improving them through code.

That experience taught me how digital products are built. But it also showed me something important: a working page can still feel confusing, slow, or incomplete when the experience behind it is not clear.

At the time, I did not have the language for it. Later, I understood that the missing layer was user experience.

"A turning point came when my friend Ahmed Askar, an experienced programmer I trusted, suggested that I try designing in Photoshop. That advice changed my direction."

Once I opened Adobe Photoshop, I was hooked. I spent long hours experimenting, sketching ideas, and turning rough concepts into visual interfaces. Over time, tools like Photoshop, InVision, After Effects, and later Sketch shaped how I thought about interaction, motion, structure, and usability.

Those early years built my foundation. They taught me to combine logic with emotion, and to care about how a product feels, not only how it works.

More than 11 years later, I have designed products for global and regional companies across banking, open banking, marketplaces, healthtech, construction tech, and Arabic-first platforms. Many of these products are live today and used by thousands of customers across the region.

My process is sharper now. My standards are higher. But the part that still drives me is the same: creating digital experiences that feel clear, useful, and worth trusting.

The Journey

11+ years, one path forward.

From learning HTML in a small workshop to building digital products from zero, for companies across the GCC and beyond.

2013 Mukalla, Yemen

First steps into the web.

Joined a three-week local workshop to learn frontend development. Started building simple websites with HTML, CSS, and a bit of JavaScript.

HTML CSS JavaScript
2014 — 2015 Self-taught

From building pages to questioning experiences.

Spent a year iterating on small websites. Realised that working code was not enough, the experience behind a page mattered more than its markup.

2015 Career shift

A friend's advice changed my direction. My first Full time work

Ahmed Askar, a programmer I trusted, suggested I try Photoshop. That conversation pulled me into design. I never looked back, got my first job with Jisr HR, ClickApps agency.

Photoshop InVision After Effects
2016 — 2018 Started my remote career as solo product designer

Sketch, real products, real users.

Moved into product design. Worked on early-stage marketplaces and SaaS products, learning how research, motion, and structure shape usability.

Sketch Marketplaces Mobile Apps
2019 — 2022 High Impact projects

Speero, Cars24 Arabia, Horizontal

Designed for high-traffic marketplaces, healthtech platforms, and the Emirates NBD mobile banking app in the UAE. Sharpened my approach to research and end-to-end product thinking.

Marketplaces Healthtech Banking Figma
2023 — 2025 Open Banking

Tarabut

Lead Product Designer, leading design work with major banks in Saudi Arabia and the GCC, including AMEX. Took ownership of complex flows that connected banks, businesses, and end-users at scale.

Open Banking Fintech Design Systems RTL Arabic
Jan – May 2026 Procurement & embedded finance

BUILTOP · Product Lead

Promoted from Lead Product Designer to Product Lead. Redesigned signup from 1.6% to 8.2% conversion, built an Arabic-first design system for web and mobile, and delivered the Requests Portal frontend in React and TypeScript.

Product Strategy Design Systems React & TypeScript
2026 — Today Remote · Gulf time

Independent Product Designer & Builder

Designing and building Arabic-first products of my own, including Sila and Maqasi. I work remotely with product and fintech teams across the GCC, and I'm open to a full-time Senior or Lead role.

Product Strategy Fintech AI-augmented design
By the numbers

11 years of work, condensed.

11+
Years in product design
15+
Companies and teams
40+
Products designed
6
Industries served

Daily Tools

  • Figma
  • Figma Make
  • Sketch
  • Miro
  • Zeplin
  • Notion
  • Claude
  • ChatGPT

Design Specialties

  • UX Strategy
  • Design Systems
  • User Research
  • Mobile & Web
  • RTL Arabic
  • Prototyping
  • Design Ops
  • AI-augmented Design

Build & Prototype

  • Claude Code
  • Codex
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • HTML/CSS/JS
  • Firebase
  • Xcode
  • Android Studio

Industries I've designed for

Fintech & Open Banking

Tarabut Gateway, Emirates NBD

Marketplaces

Cars24 Arabia, Winfooz, Speero

Healthtech

Meddy, healthcare booking platforms

SaaS

Repair-shop management, admin tools

Construction Tech

BUILTOP, request portals, OCR flows

Arabic-First Products

Sila prayer and Quran app, Arabic SaaS, RTL design

That's my story. What's yours?

If you're building something in fintech, marketplaces, or any product where trust matters, I'd love to hear about it. The best work usually starts with a real conversation.

Book a 30-minute call