Yannis Paniaras

Yannis Paniaras is an accomplished principal director and designer with extensive experience in multi and cross-disciplinary product development and design management. Throughout his career at Microsoft and Nokia Design, Yannis has demonstrated his leadership and expertise across the United States, Europe, and China.

As a founding member of Microsoft Digital’s AI Center of Excellence, Yannis bridges design and AI strategy, connecting the Microsoft Digital Studio with the CoE’s programmatic initiatives. He brings a user-centered lens to AI efforts while fostering a culture of learning and collaboration that resonates across the organization. His collaboration with Horizon 1 to 3 initiatives drives the multidimensional orchestration of AI, ensuring cutting-edge employee experiences.

Over the past four years, Yannis has led AI-focused design across Employee Experiences, IT, and Corporate Functions as a horizontal leader. He has shaped agentic initiatives that streamline governance, orchestration, and decision-making across enterprise workflows. He converts strategy into scalable patterns and operating playbooks that align product, engineering, and research on measurable outcomes.

Yannis’ journey as a design leader began in 2002 when he relocated to China after being selected for the EU-China Managers Training Program, a visionary intergovernmental initiative sponsored by the European Commission and the Chinese government; he was the program’s first participant representing design in the creative industries. Following his graduation, he collaborated with Microsoft Research in Beijing, driving digital pen and ink innovations and human-centered advanced input experiences.

Since 2009, Yannis has led designers and teams, beginning with direct people management as a team lead. In 2011, In 2011 at Nokia Design, he established and directed a cross-studio mobile phones UX team across China and Finland, about 45 designers including managers, integrating it into Nokia Design’s global network of design studios.

Yannis holds a Master of Arts degree from Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, and has received comprehensive education in Italy, Finland, Sweden, China, and the United States. He is multilingual, fluent in English, Greek, and Italian, with basic conversational proficiency in Mandarin Chinese.