# Ben Pepin > Product Design Leader | prev. Yext & Keller Williams & Mars & McKinsey Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/benpepin Product design leader with 10+ years crafting human-centered digital experiences and building the teams behind them. I've led design at Yext, Keller Williams, and Mars, spanning AI UX, SaaS platforms, and large-scale consumer products. 🏆 Led the consumer design org at Keller Williams, shaping the visual language, design system, and end-to-end experience for a platform serving 190,000+ agents and millions of consumers annually 🤝 Managed and mentored designers, balancing creative oversight with delegation to maintain quality and velocity 🧠 Drove AI UX strategy at Yext, owning the full design process from discovery and research through interaction design, prototyping, and launch across a suite of enterprise products used by thousands of businesses 🎨 Consumer design credits include NBA, Disney, Sanrio, and McDonald's, with a consistent focus on accessible, people-first experiences 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 End-to-end experience design · Design team leadership · Design systems · Figma · Stakeholder facilitation · User research · WCAG accessibility · Agile product development ## Work Experience ### Fractional Design Leader @ Unknown Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Fractional product design for early-stage startups. I work embedded with founding teams, setting product direction, running research, building design systems, and staying involved through engineering handoff. ### Director of Product Design @ Yext Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco Bay Area • Led UI/UX strategy across Yext's core platform, partnering directly with the CPO and engineering leads to align design with company-wide product and business goals. • Managed a team of designers and researchers, providing mentorship, setting direction, and maintaining quality across workstreams. • Shaped and shipped multiple AI features focused on delivering measurable customer value and improving key product metrics. • Established and overhauled design processes to improve team efficiency and cross-functional collaboration. • Reorganized design resources to better support strategic priorities, and communicated design vision to senior leadership, stakeholders, and clients throughout. ### Product Design Manager @ Keller Williams Realty, Inc. Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area I led the consumer design team at Keller Williams, the largest real estate agency in the U.S., overseeing a redesign of our home search and buying process. This included an ADA audit, revamping our brand, and modernizing our design system. I also managed internal designers and design agencies, aligning them towards a unified vision and ensuring seamless team collaboration. • Led all visual and UX design across Keller Williams digital consumer products • Oversaw hiring and onboarding, mentored direct reports, conducted evaluations and yearly reviews • Created Team Matrix and Leveling System • Ran weekly check ins, design reviews and critiques • Created a framework and roadshow to ensure ADA compliance • Updated JIRA workflow and design status to track team velocity and give more insight into timelines. • Managed multiple agencies on consumer redesign initiatives • Identified north star goals and metrics. Planned out research and design schedule. ### Product Designer @ McKinsey & Company Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | New York, United States I designed a healthcare cost calculator to help municipalities understand and plan their budgets. We worked from user research to polished UI to make a complex tool feel simple. Collaborated with analysts, developers, and clients to get it launched and adopted. ### Director Of Product Design @ Mars Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | Greater New York City Area As director of product design at Kinship and Mars - I evangelized design thinking to the leadership team and my colleagues. My main responsibilities were shaping company strategy, understanding the many types of pet parents and launching new tech companies in the petcare space • Developed five year strategy to position Kinship an Mars as a powerhouse in pet tech products. Supported product leadership in selling a vision of the next generation of petcare to the board. • Dove headfirst into the petcare industry - running a variety of research initiatives from focus groups to user testing sessions to surveys. Meeting anyone and everyone I could possibly talk to - from cat breeders to vets to dachshund moms. • Built out our "design stack" with all the necessary tools to have a successful design operation from ideation to research to design to handoff. Revisited and adjusted for a post pandemic world • Oversaw and collaborated with branding, research and dev agencies to hit tight deadlines • Launched many new successful companies at the beginning and height of the pandemic ### Lead Product Designer @ Quidd Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Brooklyn I was the lead product designer at Quidd - The world's largest digital toy store! Backed by Sequoia Capital, We work with Disney, Marvel, Naruto, Hasbro, the NBA, and many more to make digital goods for all ages to collect and play with. My time there was spent overhauling the app, paring down the visual language and updating the style guide to reflect modern purchasing behavior. I led all aspects of design -  from brainstorming to user testing to high fidelity handoffs to animation and interaction prototyping. • Led end to end design process for over 20 shipped features. Owned the full design cycle for iOS, Android and Web. • Worked closely with CEO, Live Ops, Head of Engineering, Creative Director, VP of Data and VP of Product to define kpis and the strategy to execute them. • Redesigned the individual set screen resulting in a large lift in retention and spending. • Redesigned the coin wallet resulting in a large lift in coin purchasing. ### Lead Product Designer @ StreamLoan Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area We make mortgage software that hundreds of people use each day to buy their first home. Our suite of products have reduced the time it takes to get a mortgage from 47 days to 24. • Designed and shipped six ios, android and web products for Agents, Home Buyers and Lending Banks • Built prototypes for internal testing and external product pitches that were used to win deals • Interviewed users and studied data to unearth pain points • Developed user journeys and product narratives to communicate how our product fit into loan orgination process • Crafted design principles and maintained style guide to ensure consistency ### Product Designer @ Kinsa Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area • Interviewed twenty new mothers to develop product features for school social network. Coded and organized results for clear presentation. • Collaborated with company stakeholders in design sprints ### UX Consultant @ Breeze Labs, Inc. Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 I performed research to help them figure out how they could improve their conversion rate. ### Product Designer @ ComixToon Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area End to end ios app redesign for a comic book reader app that could be used by people all over the world. • Usability Testing • Competitor Research • Information Architecture • Google Design Sprints • Visual Development • High Fidelity Prototyping • Iteration • Validation ### Product Designer @ Tradecraft Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area 3 months accelerated apprenticeship in Product Design working with startups as a Product designer and researcher. ### Production Coordinator @ Americana (feature film) Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Greater New York City Area • Planned and managed logistical/financial/creative matters. • Developed and managed call sheets, production schedules, cast and crew, and travel arrangements. • Staffed production assistants and ran casting sessions for extras and small roles. ### Production Assistant @ DreamWorks Animation Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 | Redwood City • Supported over 100 artists onsite and cross-site at Glendale and Bangalore locations. • Coordinated and ran dailies reviews for VFX Supervisor and Head of Lighting Department. • Organized assets to allow producers to track progress of film. • Helped ensure departmental productivity goals were consistently met. ### Facilities Clerk @ DreamWorks Animation Jan 2012 – Jan 2012 • Directed five-person team responsible for all onsite facility management • Trained incoming clerks in best practices of cataloging and distributing mail • Facilitated mid-production move of more than 600 work-stations • Developed moving strategy with head mover that hit deadline without disrupting production • Designed logistical and promotional documents including maps, directories and flyers ### Production Assistant @ Freelance Jan 2006 – Jan 2012 • Assisted on over 50 video shoots for VISA, EPSON and other Fortune 500 companies. • Answered phone calls in office, sent emails, managed tasks, Excel spreadsheets • Performed offline editing. ## Education ### BFA in Film Production Emerson College ### High School Urban School of San Francisco ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/benpepin --- Source: https://flows.cv/benpepin JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/benpepin/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13