# Joel Van Wert > Product Designer turning AI hype into actual user growth, building cross-platform ecosystems, and owning end-to-end strategy across mobile, web, and hardware. Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/joelvanwert With over a two decades of experience, I’ve helped organizations rethink and design products for higher achievement. My focus on communication and process have built creative teams that succeed together. I continue to push my work everyday through observation and inspiration. I am a firm believer that repetition and collaboration is the best way to push the limits of creativity. You can currently find me residing in San Francisco available for freelance and any other creative opportunities. Let’s build something together! ## Work Experience ### Staff Product Designer, Growth @ Square Jan 2023 – Present | San Francisco, CA Turning seller onboarding into something that actually builds momentum, not friction. • Lead design for onboarding and growth across web and mobile • Rebuilt onboarding flows to reduce friction and improve activation across seller segments • Built AI-driven setup and automation to guide sellers through business configuration with less manual work • Partner with product, engineering, data, and UXR to run iterative experiments across onboarding, lifecycle, conversion, and pricing surfaces • Use journey mapping, research, and metrics to identify drop-offs and prioritize improvements that move key business metrics • Helped shape and launch new pricing and packaging, and led experience design for migrating sellers to the new structure ### Design Manager, Buyer Experience & Systems @ Square Jan 2020 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States Built and led teams while creating the systems that make good design easier to ship. • Managed and mentored a team of product designers across buyer experiences and internal systems • Led design across key buyer journeys on web and mobile, improving consistency and usability • Built and scaled design systems to support faster, more reliable product development • Partnered with product and engineering leadership to align roadmap with business goals • Established critique culture and team processes to improve quality and collaboration • Balanced team leadership with hands-on design across high-impact projects ### Product Designer, Ecommerce @ Square Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area Helped sellers go from idea to live online business, faster and with fewer blockers. • Designed ecommerce tools and experiences across web platforms, including supporting the migration of close to a million sellers onto Square’s ecommerce platform • Improved onboarding and setup flows to help sellers get to launch faster • Partnered closely with product and engineering to ship end-to-end features • Contributed to early design system work to improve consistency across the product • Supported growth and onboarding initiatives across the ecommerce ecosystem ### Lead Product Designer @ Weebly Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area Focused as a lead designer between shipping product work and leveling up how the team worked together. • Led product design across onboarding, growth, and core product surfaces • Built and evolved design systems to improve consistency and speed • Led a team of 3 designers, driving execution across key initiatives • Ran critiques, working sessions, and design culture efforts to improve team quality • Facilitated collaborative working sessions to unblock and move large projects forward • Partnered with product and engineering to align design decisions with roadmap priorities ### Head of Design @ Tint Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 Joined TINT in it's early startup stage and helped scale design as the company grew quickly. • Led design during a period of rapid growth, team scaled from 6 to 50 • Built and managed a small design team (3 designers) • Created a UI system to bring consistency across the product • Ran working sessions, hackathons, and collaborative problem-solving efforts • Partnered with marketing to define brand voice and visual direction • Helped shape product direction alongside leadership during key growth stages ### Lead UX Designer @ Groopt Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay Area Wore a lot of hats in a small team during the era of "unicorn designer", making things simpler and more cohesive as we scaled. • Led UX across product, marketing, and front-end development • Designed web and mobile experiences with a focus on usability and retention • Built and maintained a style guide to unify product and brand • Streamlined website production workflows, reducing timelines and improving margins • Collaborated across digital, print, and motion projects • Worked closely with engineering to bring ideas to life quickly ### UX Designer @ Groopt Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 ### Interactive Designer @ Aon Hewitt Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Greater Chicago Area • Designed web experiences and digital campaigns across multiple clients • Worked across UX, visual design, and information architecture • Delivered client-facing work aligned with business and marketing goals • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ship high-quality work ### Web Designer @ Celect Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 | Greater Chicago Area • Designed and built websites across a range of clients • Developed front-end skills (HTML/CSS) to better execute design work • Supported digital marketing efforts including email and social campaigns • Worked across design and development to deliver end-to-end projects ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/joelvanwert - Portfolio: http://joelvanwert.com/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/joelvanwert JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/joelvanwert/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13