# Cris Dobbins > Founder & CEO at Soffi | Redefining how enterprise teams build products with AI Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/cris I’m the Founder and CEO of Soffi, a new collaborative product development environment redefining how enterprise teams build, edit, and ship software. Recent advances in AI are enabling a complete rethinking of the product development lifecycle — from static handoffs to seamless, versioned collaboration across product, design, and engineering. Soffi is built for that future. Before founding Soffi, I was a founding designer at HashiCorp, helping scale the company from 30 people to IPO. I later served as a Product & Experience Executive (CPXO) for venture-backed startups, leading product strategy, AI-driven design systems, and go-to-market execution to bring products from first build to product-market fit. With two decades of leadership across product, growth, and developer experience, I focus on building AI-powered products that scale, enabling engineering velocity, and driving adoption through clear product strategy and execution. ## Work Experience ### Founder & CEO @ Soffi Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Soffi is a collaborative product development environment redefining how enterprise teams build, edit, and ship software. ### Strategic Advisor, Design and AI Products @ Plural Jan 2025 – Jan 2025 ### Product & Experience Executive (CPXO) @ Kaleido Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States • Set product vision, brand position, and go‑to‑market strategy for AI and developer‑tool clients from pre‑seed through IPO. • Led discovery sprints, translated insights into metrics‑driven PRDs, and presented investment cases to founders and boards. • Orchestrated every customer touchpoint—product, web, docs, marketing, and support—to deliver one cohesive brand and user experience. • Architected activation, engagement, and expansion funnels that lift revenue and cut CAC. • Stood up AI-driven design systems, front‑end frameworks, and DevEx standards that reduce UI build time by 40 %. • Established OKRs, analytics loops, and hiring plans that scale cross‑functional teams. • Advised on fundraising narratives, strategic partnerships, and enterprise buyer requirements. Impacts ▶ Grew weekly active users 3× for a RAG platform within 90 days. ▶ Converted 18% of trials to paid for an AI‑ops tool. ▶ Raised onboarding‑to‑activation completion from 5% to 43 % for an AI PaaS client. ### Strategic Advisor, Design and AI Products @ Dosu Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States ### Strategic Advisor, Design and AI Products @ MindsDB Jan 2024 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States ### Vice President of Design & Marketing @ Cleanlab Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco, California, United States Cleanlab is a data-centric AI platform that automates detection and correction of label errors, outliers, and low-quality data to improve the reliability of ML models across various data types. As a founding executive team member at Cleanlab, I led design and marketing, driving product design, research, and strategy to shape an intuitive and scalable AI platform. My role focused on creating a cohesive and trustworthy experience across every customer touchpoint. I defined and implemented design systems that supported both product and brand consistency, ensuring seamless user experiences. I also oversaw go-to-market initiatives, product launches, marketing strategies, and website design to align product growth with business objectives. Additionally, I hired, mentored, and managed a team of designers, marketers, and front-end engineers. My goal was to drive design excellence that enhanced product adoption, user engagement, and Cleanlab’s market presence. ### VP of Design @ Plural Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands Plural is a Kubernetes management platform that helps enterprises automate upgrades, enforce policies, and run AI-powered diagnostics across multi-cluster environments. As a founding executive team member, I led and shaped all aspects of design for the company, focusing initially on product design and building a comprehensive design system from the ground up. Applying fundamental user experience research, design systems thinking, and research principles, I delivered a developer-focused product that attended to customer's needs. I developed and implemented a clear design vision, strategy, principles, processes, and systems aligned with company goals. I established brand guidelines and oversaw website design, marketing, and go-to-market (GTM) design strategies. Additionally, I played a pivotal role in defining processes, practices, and culture, including hiring, onboarding, and mentoring new team members to build a strong, cohesive design team. Collaborating closely with the design team in a player-coach capacity, I led by example to foster innovation and excellence in a fast-paced environment, ensuring a strong foundation for future growth and success. ### Product Design Lead - Developer Experience @ HashiCorp Jan 2019 – Jan 2022 | Miami, Florida, United States Founding designer, from 30 people through IPO. Led Developer Experience product design. Responsible for design strategy, resourcing, roadmaps, processes, and execution. Our team goal was to design developer tools that engage with the HashiCorp developer community by providing seamless access to product resources used by millions. Areas of focus included: Product value proposition, onboarding, documentation, integrations, education, community forums, support, certifications, and digital events. ### Design Manager - Experience Marketing @ HashiCorp Jan 2016 – Jan 2019 | Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands Founding designer, from 30 people through IPO. The programs I led helped influence over $100M in annual revenue. Responsibilities included establishing creative strategy, brand guidelines, UX, websites, and design team systems and processes from the ground up. Including managing team goals, timelines, resourcing, onboarding, large-scale budgets, vendors, creative agencies, and design contractors. Our team goals were to engage the developer community to create brand advocates while building brand awareness and trust. ### Brand Consultant @ Sentry (sentry.io) Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands Consulted with Sentry's Marketing team to design a creative strategy and brand guidelines for their annual community conference. ### Creative Director @ Definition Inc Jan 2013 – Jan 2015 | Los Angeles, California, United States Creative Director at a design firm working with various long term corporate clients and non-profits. Managed a team of 15 designers and web developers, including contractors, agencies, vendors, and manufacturers. Client work included brand strategy, UX/ UI, advertising, product design, industrial design, print design, and spatial and experiential design. ### Brand & Product Design Manager @ Riedell Shoes, Inc. Jan 2010 – Jan 2013 | Los Angeles, California, United States Managed brand, product design, print design, and marketing design across four of Riedell’s sub-brands. Led the UX, visual design, and development of their e-commerce platforms. Including a full company rebrand, development of brand guidelines, and marketing campaigns. ### Senior Product Designer @ NeighborGoods Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | Los Angeles, California, United States Senior product designer at NeighborGoods a safe online community where members can save money and resources by sharing stuff with their friends. Worked on branding, UX/UI, illustration, and marketing design projects. ### Brand & UX Designer @ Wesumer.com Jan 2008 – Jan 2010 | Los Angeles, California, United States Brand and UX Designer for Wesumer an environmental startup adding community and gamification to individual conservation effects. Managed brand, UX/UI, and marketing design. ### Illustrator & Art Consultant @ ART SOURCE L.A., Inc. Jan 2006 – Jan 2008 | Los Angeles, California, United States Curating art collections for both private and corporate clients. In addition to creating an in- house art collection with original illustrations and designs. ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/cris-dobbins - Portfolio: https://soffi.ai/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/cris JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/cris/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13