# Kim Lai > Staff Product Designer | Strategic UX Leader | Systems Thinker & Mentor Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/kimlai Hi, I’m Kim — a Staff Product Designer who thrives in ambiguity and loves bringing clarity, connection, and momentum to complex product challenges. I’m often brought into early-stage, undefined spaces where vision needs shaping and alignment is tough — and that’s where I do my best work. I’m known for being a highly collaborative partner to PMs and engineers, someone who makes the process feel smoother, more human, and more effective. At Guild, I’ve helped drive meaningful business results — including contributing to a 1% lift in student persistence (a multi-million dollar ROI) by integrating career and skills data into our platform. I also dedicate a large part of my time to mentoring designers, improving design–engineering–product collaboration, and building inclusive design spaces where great ideas can surface. I’m looking to join a team that values strategy, clarity, and care — and where design has a real seat at the table. ## Work Experience ### Staff Product Designer @ Guild Education Jan 2021 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Lead end-to-end product design in ambiguous and high-impact spaces, including initiatives that drove a 1% increase in student persistence—equating to several million in additional ROI. Partnered closely with cross-functional teams to define product vision, realign design direction, and ensure execution excellence in mission-critical projects. Became the “go-to” designer for PMs and engineering leaders due to my ability to simplify complexity, drive clarity, and create strong design/product/engineering synergies. Spearheaded efforts to integrate career and skills data into the platform, helping drive long-term retention and product stickiness. Advocate for and co-create safe design spaces; mentor junior and senior designers across craft, vision, and stakeholder management. Driving internal design operations improvements, including sprint process reform, prototyping with AI tools, and refining designer-engineer collaboration. Up-leveled team velocity by experimenting with hands-on frontend execution (CSS), rapid prototyping in Figma, and lean UX testing methods. ### Lead UX/UI Designer @ Kanopi Studios Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | California, United States Led responsive web and content-rich product design projects from discovery through development for mission-driven clients. Partnered with clients to define goals, shape design strategy, and translate user insights into clear, measurable experiences. Focused heavily on content strategy and storytelling — creating narrative-driven user flows that aligned with client KPIs and audience needs. Brought together UX best practices, accessibility guidelines, and behavioral psychology to deliver inclusive, high-impact design solutions. Collaborated closely with developers, project managers, and clients in an agile environment; delivered designs that balanced user value with technical feasibility. Championed user engagement research and introduced improved processes for wireframing, prototyping, and user validation. Helped elevate the design practice by refining team processes and documentation for client onboarding, user research, and visual QA. ### UX Strategist & Designer @ Kanopi Studios Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Bay Area End-to-end products reimagined with a unified user experience. Facets of the design process include user research and testing, high-fidelity wire frames, brand strategy, prototyping, and pattern library creation. Working closely with stakeholders and owners, end users, designers and developers to determined value-add opportunities and create deliverables. Unify under a shared language used by clients and developers alike. My philosophy is to provide data-informed design solutions that are straightforward and delightful. ### Lead Web Designer @ Giant Rabbit Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area I lead a lean design team who helped non-profits pursue their mission in the online space. Shepherded many successful end-to-end design processes with budgets ranging from $10K to $500K. Together with information architects, developers, and project managers I defined the scope of work. Used research to create a visual language; unique to the client's voice. Created multiple human-centered content strategies. Designed from low-fi wireframes to high-fi prototypes. Develop internal processes that emphasized UX best practices and established design processes. Improved key business practices that increased employee productivity, optimized work pipeline, and enhanced client facing documents. ### Web Designer @ Giant Rabbit Jan 2015 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area Daily tasks include: - Brand Strategy - Information Architecture - Content Strategy - Lo-fi wireframes to hi-fi prototypes I design in Illustrator, Photoshop, Sketch, and InDesign. And prototype in Webflow and Invision. ### Designer @ Freelance / Self Employed Jan 2013 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area / Anywhere Provide design services that range from develop brand strategies, logo design, web design, and print design. Clients include The Mecahnics' Institute Library, Gauntlet Gallery, and Minimo Wine. ### Online Media Assistant @ Exploratorium Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | Pier 15 (Embarcadero at Green Street) Assisted in the content management of the main Drupal-based website. Re-designed and developed the "Science of Baseball" website. Modernized the aesthetic and made the website responsive to all devices sizes. ### Analyst II @ Situs Jan 2012 – Jan 2015 | 150 East 52nd Street Cash flow due diligence analyst in the AUP group under Sean Cannaday. Analyze historical cash flows on commercial real estate including malls, strip centers, CBD office buildings, hotels, and resorts. Able to accurately interpret and extract key information from leases and compare it to a Borrower's rent roll, an Argus rent roll, and an Offering Memo rent roll. Can expertly build common area recovery calculations and tax recovery calculations. Has a solid understanding of real estate and any cash flow variance flags including, high occupancy costs, bank statements, tax bills, insurance statements, and percentage rents. ### Marketing / Branding Intern @ Thistle Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 Assist in the conception, development, and design of marketing materials for Thistle. Help in the development of this start-up's brand identity. thistle.co ### Associate Analyst II @ Moody's Investors Service Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 | 7 World Trade Center A credit analyst in Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities in the new issuance group. Analyzed historical cash flows on malls, big box centers, strip centers, multifamily buildings, offices, hotels, industrial centers, land, and non-performing loans. Analyzed third party reports and able to recognize any red flag events. Understand the structure of loans and any credit positive or credit negative additives. Conduct sight inspections for 60% of the portfolio by balance. Grade properties based on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Can expertly navigate and adjust the conduit model. Able to look at a 100+ pool and Have a strong knowledge of the workings and intricacies of all the working pages of the model and how any adjustments will effect the overall waterfall. Have knowledge of the ending waterfall structure. ### Social Media Marketing Intern @ Textile Arts Center Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | Brooklyn, NY Manage content for the company's Facebook, Wordpress blog, and website. Performed daily administrative activities. Taught an adult silk painting class. ## Education ### Masters in Web Design and New Technology in Web Design: User Experience/User Interface Academy of Art University Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 ### B.A. in Mathematics Skidmore College Jan 2006 – Jan 2010 ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kim-lai-028b6625 - Portfolio: http://www.kimelai.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/kimlai JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/kimlai/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-30