# Chai Riphenburg

> Hands-on design strategy and leadership

Location: San Rafael, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/chairiphenburg

My name is Chai, and I call the San Francisco Bay Area home. I come from a graphic/web design and animation background, now focusing on high-fidelity prototyping and design systems with lean methodologies.  I'm enthusiastic about software experiences and have a proven track record of driving innovation and execution across Fortune 500 companies and diverse industries including finance, social networking, healthcare, gaming, and beyond.

A natural systems thinker, I'm driven by cool concepts and how humans will evolve with technology.  On the job I leverage my expertise to push the boundaries of industry toolsets, optimizing workflows and elevating design and downstream team execution.  I’ve coached and mentored many, helping organizations to master tools & best practices, build comprehensive design ecosystems with governance models, and lean methodologies to drive efficiency and innovation.

Myers-Briggs says I’m an INTJ.   Project deep-dives and professional references available upon request.

More info on my site: http://chai.riphenburg.com

## Work Experience
### Systems and design lead @ Unknown
Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area
Web, app and software design for social, financial and security related efforts.

### Senior Lead Product Designer @ Wells Fargo
Jan 2022 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States
Senior Lead Design Architect focused on Figma design systems, risk averse working processes and rapid, high-fidelity prototyping.

### Senior Digital Design Architect @ Wells Fargo
Jan 2015 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco
Accountable for:
- Defining, teaching/mentoring and advocating for rapid, iterative prototyping as a delivery model for project teams across the organization.
- Interaction design leadership, specification, prototyping and strategy.
- Developing design ecosystems & governance models.

Direct outcomes:
- Numerous large-scale design refreshes and enhancements across multi-platform digital customer experience (over 20 million users).
- Supporting organizational changes with design toolsets, asset migrations, documentation requirements, general design process, and operation refinements.
- Training and mentoring of many designers/analysts to advance their skillsets and career growth.

### Senior Consultant @ iRise
Jan 2012 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Bay Area
I worked through the middle of my career as a consultant, delivering professional design services to fortune 500 - healthcare, financial, retail, social media, government, transportation, and tech companies worldwide (this included a ridiculous amount of travel, 70% at peak).

The high volume of work and exposure to numerous business situations gave me unique insight on the general similarities in our software experiences across industries.

Common engagements:
- Project leadership/augmentation
- Software and methodology adoption programs including training/mentoring, and center of excellence development
- Organizational change management

### Lead Prototype Designer @ id8 Inc.
Jan 2006 – Jan 2012 | SF Bay Area
Consulting tempered my soft skills and sharpened my professional lens on:
- How design efforts integrate in waterfall, agile, and hybrid methodologies.
- Design communication for cross-functional teams (research, analyst, dev/QA, sponsor/stakeholder)

Design strategy and facilitation:
- Simulating with business stakeholders ‘at the speed of conversation’.
- Facilitating weeklong design-sprints with business stakeholders to achieve MVP prototypes.
- Working with varied business teams at Protothons – delivering clickable prototypes of fresh concepts.
- Building component libraries and design systems

### Senior Application Analyst @ id8 Inc.
Jan 2006 – Jan 2007

### Senior User Interface Designer @ InQuira
Jan 2007 – Jan 2008 | San Bruno, California, United States
Lead interface & interaction designer for an enterprise wide content management suite of tools.  Working on prototypes of key experiences and design migrations for enterprise search capabilities.


## Education
### Santa Rosa Junior College

### Fine/Studio Arts in General
Victor Valley College


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/chairiphenburg
- Portfolio: http://chai.riphenburg.com

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Source: https://flows.cv/chairiphenburg
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/chairiphenburg/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-13