11+ years designing
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
11 years of work, condensed.
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
Moments from the journey.
Workplaces, teams, and quiet moments along the way.
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.