I’m David Nelson and lead the Bing design team focused on social experiences. Before officially joining the Bing team, I was the UI Creative Director for Microsoft’s Pioneer Studios – an design engine focused on creating new product offerings in the Entertainment & Devices division. Midway through my tenure there I was able take on a program looking at what the next generation of search could be and was instantly hooked on the search space. Having worked in range of design capacities throughout my career, intrepreneurial incubated efforts have bar far been my favorite area to work on and am truly lucky to be able to work on building out brand new services for a growing product as exciting as Bing.

The Social Search space offers some substantially different challenges than what comes from a traditional search engine. For one, we’re at the beginning of a new turn in the industry and most importantly we’re looking at putting human beings at the center of the traditionally very algorithmically defined core. Where looking at people and gaining insights from real people doing real things is the secret sauce to crafting great human things.

Microsoft has been a wonderful place to work at that truly fosters growth with a not only an extremely brilliant and talented group of colleagues but encourages participation in community events and conferences. Which I’ve been able to attend several world-class events, with the latest being SXSW Interactive. This was my first time down and proved to be an amazing networking and discovery experience – in leu of the cold and heavy rain that followed me from Seattle.

 

The rain, wind and cold did not stop the nearly 20,000 attendees at SXSW Interactive Conference and the folks at Bing made sure attendees were covered (literally) to stay warm from the wintry weather which is not normal for Central Texas during Spring Break.  Bing hosted the “Bing Lot” for the 4 days of the Interactive portion of SXSW and supplied those in attendance with Bing Ponchos, blankets and t-shirts and also provided heaters at the lot for warmth and comfort.

  

Amanda Papp from the Bing Staffing team was also at the Bing Lot and was able to answer tons of questions about the interview process and the types of candidates we look for on our team.

 We’ve got some pretty amazing and ground breaking things coming that we’ve been cooking up with a extremely talented team. If you’re looking to make a difference in millions of peoples lives every day, check out our job board and apply.

*Since 2000, David has been designing and building award-winning experiences for a vast array of clients and industries.

Originally from Madison, WI (via Milwaukee, Chicago and San Francisco), David is currently the Design Lead for the Bing Social Design team. He lives in Seattle with his wonderful wife and two sons. *

Amanda Papp has supported the Bing Staffing team for the past 2 years and is based in Texas.