# Mari Ettlinger > Founding Product Designer/Design Manager | AI/ML UX Leader | Startup & Enterprise Design Strategy | From 0→MVP to Scale | Agentic AI & UX Strategy Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/mariettlinger I’m a Principal Product Design Leader with 15+ years of experience driving high-impact design outcomes for startups, scaleups, and enterprise teams — especially in AI, SaaS, healthcare, fintech, and productivity spaces. Work exclusively in Figma Design, Figma Make, and Claude. Over the past 10+ years, I have been helping engineering-led companies meet critical product milestones as a founding designer. I specialize in stepping in at pivotal moments — pre-MVP, post-acquisition, post-funding —to deliver fast, strategic UX that drives traction, scalability, and long-term product value. Companies include GEICO, Pixar, Atlassian, Genba AI (acquired), and multiple VC-backed startups in AI and SaaS. My strength lies in crafting a strategy not just for what needs to be designed, but how it should be built, rolled out, and maintained. While consulting has been incredibly rewarding, I’m now open to full-time leadership opportunities — ideally with a startup or mid-sized team that needs strong design ownership, strategic execution, and mentorship for growing design talent. Specialties: • Leading design from 0→MVP and MVP→Scale • AI/ML tools + agentic UX • Product strategy, UX systems, and cross-functional leadership • Mentoring junior designers and maturing design orgs • Building scalable systems and onboarding that drives conversion Let’s talk if you're looking for someone to take the reins on product design — and take your UX to the next level. ## Work Experience ### Founding Product Designer @ Re:Build Manufacturing Jan 2025 – Present | Framingham, MA • Founding designer with deep experience translating complex systems into clear, human-centered products. Partner closely with product leaders to shape early-stage B2B platforms, including AI- and LLM-enabled experiences, while mentoring designers and other junior team members and strengthening design practice across teams. • Re:Build Manufacturing is a family of industrial businesses combining cutting-edge enabling technologies, operational superiority and strategic M&A to build America’s next generation industrial company. Our mission is to help revitalize the U.S. manufacturing base over the coming decades, creating substantial opportunities for our employees and the communities where we operate facilities. Our work includes highly complex systems and products, and we seek to develop and leverage advanced software, digital, AI, and ML solutions to deliver superior results ### Principal Product Designer & Founder @ Stealth AI Startup Jan 2024 – Jan 2026 | San Francisco, California, United States • Spearheading the product vision and end-to-end user experience for a unique literary-focused social platform. • Defining a product strategy and developed MVP flows to ensure a successful market entry. • Collaborating with cross-functional teams to align design with business objectives, enhancing user engagement. ### Principal Product Designer & Founder @ MEDD (Design Consultancy) Jan 2016 – Jan 2026 | San Francisco, California, United States Highlights: • Genba AI (2022–2023) – Redesigned AI transcription platform and led UX operations through acquisition by RealWear. Increased usability and team productivity. • Noded AI (2024) – Led rebrand and full UX/UI overhaul for a customer success platform. Delivered a high-fidelity design system and transitioned work to agency partner post-MVP. • CareCar (2020–2021) – Unified dispatch experience for internal ops. Boosted vendor satisfaction and created scalable architecture diagrams for AI workflow expansion. • Peregrine Land Investments (2021–2022) – Designed interactive ML-powered mapping interface for land investment decisions. Handed off to a larger firm for scale. • Altitude Networks (2018–2019) – Designed MVP for cloud security SaaS, including early workflows and UX strategy. Product was successfully acquired. • Other clients include: Pixar (RenderMan animation tool), Atlassian (productivity skunkworks), Hoag Hospital (UX audit), Must Discuss (literary social app) Founded a high-impact design consultancy helping startups and growth-stage teams ship their most critical products — from zero to MVP and beyond. I specialize in leading UX and product design in engineering-led environments where design needs to mature fast. I work with AI, SaaS, and health tech startups to improve usability, accelerate time to market, and build scalable UX systems that drive growth, funding, and acquisition. ### Principal Product Designer – AI Experiences @ GEICO Tech Jan 2025 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, CA • Leading the design of GEICO's Agent Assistant platform using agentic AI and large language models (LLMs), improving agent efficiency and decision-making. • Directing a cross-functional design team (Conversational Designer, Sr. Product Designer) to develop real-time coaching flows based on IVR and intent signals. • Developing a strategic vision for Agent Assistant 2.0 (Q3 2025 launch), aligning design goals with product and engineering roadmaps. ### Founding Head of Product Design (Full-Time) @ Titeg Jan 2016 – Jan 2020 | Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Built the product design function from the ground up for a fintech startup. Led product vision across mobile and web platforms, established scalable design systems, and hired and mentored a team from 0 to 5 designers. Contributed directly to successful fundraising efforts and product launch. ### Sr. Product Design Manager @ McKesson Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | Emeryville Directed UX design for a suite of B2B healthcare tools. Embedded user-centered design practices into agile engineering teams. Led a redesign of patient communication flows that reduced call volume by 70% in just two months. ### Director of User Experience, Product & Visual Design (Employee #56) @ Marqeta, Inc Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | Emeryville, CA Led UX strategy and implementation for onboarding and admin experiences. Audited the product and drove a complete MVP revamp, which enabled the company's pivot from SMB to enterprise payment tools. ### Lead User Experience Designer @ Adobe Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco First UX hire for the Adobe.com web experience team. Piloted Creative Cloud product integration for .edu customers and led early initiatives around responsive web design for Adobe’s marketing site. ### Visual UX Design Lead @ Symantec Jan 2005 – Jan 2012 | Mountain View/Remote Led UX across Norton, SMB, and Enterprise product lines. Oversaw two global site redesigns and developed navigation systems and interaction patterns. Received executive recognition at launch for UX leadership. ### Associate Design Director @ Walmart.com Jan 2004 – Jan 2005 | Brisbane, CA • Led the digital marketing team of 12 direct reports that included producers, writers, UX/Visual designers. • Led the design and development of full page and banner ads for Sunday circulars and email campaigns. • Art Directed photoshoots for the online catalogue for Walmart.com • Led the design a 17-room design showcase for Kansas City, displaying new merchandise for buyers. • Produced schematics detailing how to integrate all Wal-Mart in-store brands into one single brand. ### Art Director @ Frog Jan 2003 – Jan 2003 | Sunnyvale • Lead a team of 5, with 2 direct reports, in the creation of the Symantec Norton Packaging System. • Client facing role, including having meetings with clients to gather requirements and then presenting final comps and ideas to a room of 20 stakeholders. • Art directed photoshoots for packaging of different Norton products and sourced props, while managing the overall design budget. ### Adjunct Professor @ UC Berkeley Jan 1997 – Jan 2002 • Taught and mentored students in studio theory classes that included Graphic Design Studio 1, History of Design, Color Theory, Typographical Design and Final Portfolio Review. ### Senior Art Director @ March First (Formally USWeb/CKS) Jan 1998 – Jan 1999 • Designed and art directed a team of junior designers, production and programmers to produce marketing materials for all of Kinkos, Inc.’s 7000 stores. • Directed product and people photo shoots as well as designed product guides, shelf toppers, style guides, and direct mail. • Onsite Print Check and Management for all products in Los Angeles. ## Education ### Master's of Science in Design and Visual Communications Pratt Institute ### Bachelor of Science (BS) in Art/Design University of Wisconsin-Madison ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mariettlinger - Dribbble: http://mgsquared.dribbble.com/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/mariettlinger JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/mariettlinger/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13