James Christian

Designing and building products to help people become better versions of themselves - at work and at play.

I am a product manager, team builder, designer, entrepreneur, and engineer. I am passionate about deeply understanding customer problems and leading interdisciplinary teams to identify and deliver the right products to meet their needs. I believe in testing fearlessly, failing early, and delivering incrementally. I excel at building teams and bringing alignment through clear product vision and strategy. My background stems from a user-centered design education including an engineering masters from MIT and a product design joint-degree from the University of Michigan.

Currently, I serve as a Lead Product Owner at Target were I focus on empowering our customers through 3rd party subscription, finance, and service integrations. I’ve played a critical role leading cross-functional teams to envision new product opportunities and bring them to life from early stage prototypes through product launch. I have honed my skills as an agile product owner working on complex systems with many stakeholders.

Prior to Target, I spent five years starting and running a company where I owned the product vision, roadmap, and design for connected hardware and software products that were recently acquired and still in use today. Through my experiences at companies both large and small, I’ve learned that teams open to new ideas and learning will consistently outperform those who think they’ve got it all figured out.

In my time outside of work, I enjoy leading workshops on design process and ideation sketching, and serving as a mentor for entrepreneurs seeking their next product opportunity. I love art, design, and the outdoors. I’m a mountain biker, skier, and backpacker.