Design Product Partner · Fractional Head of Design · AI Acceleration
I partner with founders and product teams to make critical product decisions — pairing strategic UX and product thinking with AI-accelerated execution that actually moves the business forward.
Let's TalkClarity before execution
They fail because teams build the wrong things, in the wrong order, for the wrong reasons.
That's where a partner comes in.
With 18+ years across startups, scale-ups, and enterprise, I work as a strategic design partner — helping teams decide what to build, what to fix, what to ignore, and what will actually move revenue, adoption, or retention.
Since 2010
Great companies don't fail from lack of ideas — they fail from lack of alignment and validation. I pressure-test raw ideas, find the highest-leverage opportunity, and translate vision into a strategy the whole team can execute against.
Most revenue leaks look like small friction points — unclear messaging, confusing flows, misplaced hierarchy, weak onboarding, buried value. I uncover the subtle decisions that quietly suppress conversion, retention, and expansion.
Most teams design for the next release. I design for the next stage of the company — scalable experience architecture that aligns product, engineering, and business so the product can evolve without constant redesign.
When these functions operate in silos, progress slows and decisions conflict. I bring them into alignment through a shared system — where experience, roadmap, and revenue reinforce each other instead of competing.
In their words
Zach is a brilliant design partner — from the first strategy session we knew he could change the future of our business. The most consistent feedback we receive is on the simplicity of our product. If you're building new tech, add Zach to your team.
Jon Co-Founder at PayRecs
Zach was my UX partner while we were evolving the servicing ecosystem at Hopper. He consistently paired strong execution with clear strategic thinking, navigated complex conversations with product and CX leadership with empathy and clarity, and helped drive alignment across teams.
Jim Product Manager at Hopper
We worked with Zach on several UX/UI initiatives, and he was an outstanding addition to our team. He brought not only strong execution, but strategic product alignment that made a meaningful impact. We highly recommend him as a design and product partner.
Ciarda VP of Product Design at Gartner
After the new experience was implemented, we met with several of our largest clients in New York. Within 15 minutes, everyone was confidently using the product. The clarity and strategic improvements Zach brought made a significant, measurable impact.
Dave Founder at ShowSeeker
How I work
Every engagement starts with thinking, not screens. AI accelerates the delivery — it doesn't replace the judgment.
You don't just get designs — you get confidence in the direction.
Ways to work together
A focused, senior-level analysis of your product to identify the UX & product decisions costing you revenue.
Ideal for — Founders, PMs, and leadership teams who need clarity before investing more time or money.
End-to-end strategy and execution for new products, complex workflows, or major redesigns.
Ideal for — Teams building something new, or realizing their current product isn't scaling.
Ongoing strategic oversight across product, UX, and design decisions.
Ideal for — Companies that need senior design leadership without hiring full-time.
Bring AI into how your product and team actually work — accelerating design and delivery, and automating the repetitive work that slows the team down. Augmentation, not replacement: your people move faster and focus on higher-value work.
Ideal for — Teams that want to ship more and grow without adding headcount.
Selected work
On-going partnership with PayRecs on future-state feature ideation and product concepting to improve discoverability, retention, and engagement.
Square co-founder Jim McKelvey's team brought me in to help validate and conceive Invisibly — a new product that helps people leverage their spending habits.
Partnering closely with DriveCentric across a number of products, feature sets, and R&D initiatives over years.
Close collaboration with bchex to rethink and redesign their core platforms (chexpass, chex365 & mystory) as a cohesive, integrated experience.
Working with the founder of BetterGood to roll out a more intuitive experience, visual redesign, and design system for a go-to community-engagement solution.
An on-going partnership with VolunteerHub to help them create the most comprehensive and user-friendly volunteer management software.
Top-to-bottom rollout of new branding and elevated UX/UI to help CartStack become a state-of-the-art multichannel cart-abandonment & customer-recovery platform.
Partnering closely with Chatsi's founder to conceive an innovative new form of shopping AI that cleanly integrates with Shopify.
Closely collaborating with the Chronicle Medical team to deliver MVPs from concept to dev-ready designs.
Partnering with the EllaVox founding team to work through complex AI interfaces — redesigning their web app while making an intuitive core flow that matched their vision.
Evolving Everblue's new product through UX strategy, plus UX/UI to help their users monitor and quickly complete home energy rebates.
Partnering with Gartner, one of the top business-insight and executive-decision-making platforms, on a number of products and feature sets.
Working with the team at ExF to roll out a category-defining brand for the new Gilley's Casino website.
Conceiving an innovative new AI product for Gloo's users to harness the power of AI for a Higher Purpose.
Collaborating closely with Hopper's in-house product teams on design ideation, research, and strategy for their trip-insurance products.
A mobile overhaul for Juggernaut AI, the category-leading powerlifting app — new features and a progressive design roadmap to boost engagement and user longevity.
Going from concept to MVP iOS product for Kindbridge Behavioral Health, aiding in the treatment of mental-health issues and behavioral challenges.
Redesigning Labcorp's digital ecosystem and vision to support growing offerings. The result: a clearer experience and lifts across checkout, product search, and cart performance.
A new mobile experience for Mad Mobile making POS ordering easier — reimagined dashboards, streamlined order flows, and a feature that helps restaurants better serve their guests.
Rapid transformation and reconstruction of Monorail, the wealth-management platform. Recently acquired by Parlor.
Partnering with the ShowSeeker founding team to conceive an innovative cloud-based order-management system. Since acquired by Spectrum.
Creating a new, visually engaging, high-converting website for Snagajob that elevates core product experiences.
Partnered with Velou to turn static catalogs into agent-ready product data — supercharging ads, search, and personalization as autonomous shopping agents reshape the path to purchase.