By Lisa Stiffler
Publication Date: 2026-05-15 16:58:00
— Microsoft has named Jon Friedman as its first chief design officer. Friedman, who has been with the tech giant for more than 22 years, said the new role recognizes the challenge of innovating in an AI-dominated world where customers need products they can trust, find intuitive to use and that retain a sense of humanity.
The chief design officer role “spans boundaries, connecting design, engineering, and product to ensure that what we build comes together as a unified, human-centered experience. It exists to reduce fragmentation, increase alignment, and make innovation at scale real across the company,” Friedman wrote on LinkedIn.
The position sits within Microsoft 365, the suite of apps and services that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams….
