New faces at the Figma helm | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Figma is entering a new phase as demand for design and collaborative tools grows across the technology industry. To support that growth, CEO Dylan Field announces Eric Wittman as the company’s first COO and Kris Rasmussen as Vice President of Engineering. Their experience scaling collaboration-focused businesses will help Figma expand its operations, revenue, technology, and team.

Figma’s Growth Opportunity

• Companies increasingly view design as central to creating products customers value.
• Large organizations such as IBM and GE are expanding their design teams, while Facebook has pursued a high designer-to-engineer ratio.
• Figma argues that the tools available to designers have not kept pace with this demand.
• Improving collaboration remains the company’s guiding priority.

Eric Wittman: Operations, Strategy, and Revenue

• Wittman joins after leading Atlassian’s Developer Tools business, including Bitbucket.
• As COO, he will focus on:
  • Recruiting and finance processes
  • Go-to-market strategy
  • Revenue and business operations
  • Company strategy and values
• His career spans:
  • Customer support and product management at Macromedia, where he eventually led Flash product management
  • CEO of music player company Songbird
  • General manager of Developer Tools at Atlassian
• Figma highlights his unusual combination of operational expertise and strong product enthusiasm.
• Before the announcement, he had already helped Figma launch its pricing model and refine its strategic direction.

Kris Rasmussen: Engineering Leadership

• Rasmussen initially joined Figma as a part-time contractor but quickly became an influential, informal leader.
• He is appointed Vice President of Engineering and will oversee major engineering initiatives and technical-team development.
• His background includes:
  • Leading engineering at Asana during its early growth
  • Scaling engineering at Aptana, a web-application developer-tools company
  • Building personal projects involving 3D graphics
• Figma values his ability to resolve disagreements, identify necessary actions, and combine technical skill with leadership.
• His primary mission will be building a world-class engineering organization and infrastructure for collaborative design tools.

Continued Hiring

• Figma says it is still early in its development and expects significant opportunities and challenges ahead.
• The company invites engineers, designers, writers, and product managers who are passionate about design to apply for open roles.

Figma’s leadership changes are intended to turn growing demand for collaborative design software into scalable business and technical execution. Wittman will strengthen operations and commercial strategy, while Rasmussen will lead the engineering organization needed for Figma’s next stage.