I lead UX teams that build with AI, from first research to finished code.

At Red Hat, I run UX for Lightwell and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. I also lead how Red Hat's UX organization is redesigning the way it builds software with AI.

Mike Franke
Mike FrankeUX leadership team · Red Hat

2launches in 90 days

My team designed both public launches of Lightwell, IBM and Red Hat's AI security product.

65AI skills

ready-made instructions that teach AI tools a UX task. Open source, built in 3 months by 12 contributors.

12people, 5 products

the UX team I lead, across infrastructure, security, and AI products

Selected work

AI security launch

Lightwell · IBM and Red Hat · Launched July 2026

Lightwell is IBM and Red Hat's AI security product. It finds and fixes weak spots in open source code, and more than 100 people across both companies build it. I wrote the UX staffing plan and grew the team as the program scaled.

IBM's Lightwell product page, with the Lightwell heading and ring artwork
The Red Hat Hardened Images catalog home page

Safer software catalog

Red Hat Hardened Images · Shipped May 2026

My team designed and shipped a catalog where developers find safer, pre-secured software, on time for Red Hat Summit. A principal designer led it. A product designer and a UX developer built it with AI tools they made themselves.

Map of the ai-helpers toolkit: the UX jobs it covers, feeding ai-helpers, which runs in Claude Code and Cursor

UX for building with AI

AI software development · Red Hat · March–October 2026

Red Hat's engineering teams were each setting up their own way to build software with AI, and none included UX. A small group I started built UX tools once and brought them to team after team. When Red Hat settled on one shared process, UX was already in it.

Simply put, this is the most concise and clearest cross-product/portfolio demo I've ever been part of at Red Hat. … Our [UX] team … created the perfect storytelling interface to drive it.
VP, Technical Marketing, Red Hat, on the Lightwell demo my team designed

Red Hat AI Excellence Award, Product Engineering, 2025. I led the work that made daily AI use the norm across Red Hat's UX organization.

Send me a message, or find me on LinkedIn.