Shu Lai in

Shu Lai

Initiator · DISC type Di
Head of Design at Outschool
📍 San Francisco Bay Area, United States

Shu Lai is the Head of Design at Outschool, specializing in design leadership, product strategy, and user experience. With a history of leading teams at Wonderschool, Coursera, and HOVER, he focuses on building strong teams to solve human-centric problems. Colleagues describe him as visionary, creative, insightful, and decisive.

Outside of his core roles, Shu is a startup advisor and a frequent public speaker on design topics. He is passionate about mentoring and advancing the practice of design leadership, dedicating time to fostering community and sharing knowledge. He holds a Bachelors degree from the California College of the Arts.

Shu is a member of the exclusive InVision Design Leadership Forum, a community for top global design leaders.

Read the full overview →
Experience
9 Years
Current Role
Head of Design
Job Level
Mid-senior
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, United States
Personality Overview

How Shu shows up

Risk-Accepting
Conviction Driven
Friendly Challenger

They don’t mind taking a stand if they believe in something. They respond well to objective pitches but also attach some value to relationships. They measure a product on its merit but can be influenced by strong testimonials.

Priorities

Topics Shu cares about

Design Leadership
His career is defined by leading and growing design teams at companies like Outschool and Wonderschool, and he is a member of the Design Leadership Forum.
Scaling Design Teams
He has guided design functions through hyper-growth at multiple startups and speaks publicly about the challenges of scaling design operations and culture effectively.
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Career

Work history

3-2025
Head of Design
Outschool
5-2018
Member, Design Leadership Forum by InVision
Design Leadership Forum
9-2022 - 2-2025
VP of Design
Wonderschool
7-2020 - 9-2022
Head of Design
HOVER Inc.
2-2017 - 7-2020
Head of Product Design
Coursera
In the press

Media appearances

No media yetWe could not find public media appearances for this person.
Education
2001 - 2003
Bachelor's degree
California College of the Arts
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

D

Dominance (D)

Dominance (D) reflects how goal and task oriented a person is, and their ability to accomplish results irrespective of how demanding the circumstances might be. Those scoring high tend to be motivated by winning, competition, and success.

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