# Nanxin "Peter" Zhao

> Product Design Leader | System Thinker | Educator

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/nanxin

👋🏼 I'm Peter Zhao 👦🏻 — a system thinker, explorer, and visual communicator dedicated to creating meaningful experiences, solving business problems, and bringing positive impacts to users.

With over decade of industry experience, I've evolved from a craft-driven creator into a system thinker and design leader. I specialize in architecting scalable design solutions, leading high-performing cross-functional teams, and translating strategic visions into products that drive measurable impact across enterprise and startup environments.

From an early age, I've had a deep yearning to understand the 'why' and 'how' of everything and experiment with new ideas. I'm not one to shy away from the unfamiliar and never satisfied with "just good enough." I thrive in ambiguity, finding clarity where others see confusion, and building systems that create lasting organizational impact.

Outside of work, I'm an enthusiast cinema photographer, die-hard techie, toys collector, and huge proponent of new experiences through adventure.

Let's connect! I'm always looking for new lessons to learn, new stories to hear, new dots to connect, and passing on that learning.

## Work Experience
### Vice President, Product Design Lead @ JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jan 2024 – Present | Palo Alto, California, United States
▪️ Led enterprise design system transformation from inception to organization-wide adoption, establishing pattern library that standardized experiences across Commercial and Investment Banking applications
▪️ Managed cross-functional design team while architecting object-oriented design frameworks that significantly improved design consistency and reduced development time across multiple product lines
▪️ Spearheaded Ambassador program that enhanced design system adoption and contribution processes across hundreds of designers throughout the organization
▪️ Established design culture initiatives including ceremonies and office hours that achieved high satisfaction rates and influenced organizational design practices
▪️ Led AI integration strategy for core banking products, developing comprehensive roadmaps for search and AI-driven insights that reshaped user experience in digital banking applications

### Principal Product Designer @ JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jan 2024 – Jan 2024
▪️ Architected enterprise dashboard framework adopted across multiple high-profile applications including Digital Banking and Sales Enablement, standardizing dashboard experiences while enabling customization capabilities
▪️ Designed complex enterprise systems including role-based entitlements and notification frameworks that enhanced platform security and enabled multi-entity functionality
▪️ Created scalable design solutions including standardized widget libraries and frameworks that significantly reduced design and engineering efforts while improving user experience consistency
▪️ Drove strategic planning initiatives for AI-powered banking experiences, establishing integration points and defining user experience transformation across core banking workflows

### Founder @ Ecru Dot | 星也
Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area
▪️ Founded and scaled Ecru Dot to serve 2000+ professionals within 12 months, creating community focused on soft skills development, career advancement, and design thinking. Established platform as trusted resource for professional growth and meaningful connections.
▪️ Created comprehensive content ecosystem with podcast episodes and hosted 60+ events, establishing thought leadership in professional development and design thinking space. Built strategic programming that combines events, podcasts, and peer connections to drive community engagement.
▪️ Built and led distributed team, creating scalable content and event operations. Developed processes and culture that enable remote team to consistently deliver high-quality programming and community experiences.
▪️ Developed platform strategy and user experience that enables organic community growth through strategic content programming and event experiences, creating foundation for long-term professional development impact.

### Advisor @ Collov AI
Jan 2023 – Present | Palo Alto, California, United States
▪️ Advised on product and business strategy for Collov’s new AI platform. 
▪️ Collaborated directly with the CEO and CTO. Created the 1-year product vision, consolidated product market fit strategy, and defined target archetypes.

### Product Design Academy Instructor & Advisor @ Dribbble
Jan 2022 – Jan 2024
▪️ Instructed over 200 students from various design experience backgrounds to learn product thinking, visual design, and the tech industry. Helped hundreds of students to get their first designer role, advance in their career path, and improve their craft.
▪️ Created the fireside program, built part of the curriculum, and helped Dribbble Education program grow into a 1700+ student program within a year.

### Senior Product Designer @ project44
Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States
▪️ Architected the MVP of the Movement platform from 0 to 1, which now leads the Gartner Magic Quadrant for RTTVP (Real-time transportation visibility platforms) on both the “ability to execute” and “completeness of vision” axes.
▪️ Led user research, product strategy, and design for the core filter, search, and workspace system. 
▪️ Defined the core patterns to retrieve, visualize, and analyze shipment information, which was patented and adopted by other product teams.
▪️ Collaborated with Product Manager, Tech Lead, and C-suite leaders to define the product strategy, map the experience, and create a 2-year vision for product roadmaps.

### Design Fellow @ On Deck
Jan 2021 – Jan 2022

### Sr. Product Designer & Product Team Lead @ Collov Home Design
Jan 2021 – Jan 2021
▪️ Pitched and developed the product strategy that scaled the online interior platform product line to a multi-million-dollar business within a year. Built and pitched to CV the 3-yr product plan and business strategy with CEO which led to $8 million Seed round funding.
▪️ Managed a team of 3 Designers, 2 Product Managers, and 6 Engineers in a rapidly changing startup environment.
▪️ Designed the core case platform for in-house and contract interior designers, that shortened case completion from weeks to days.
▪️ Established new product processes and SOP with engineering and design team, that reduced turnaround time by 60% for cross-functional partners.

### Product Designer II @ Collov Home Design
Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | Menlo Park, California, United States
▪️ Architected and designed AI-driven workflows and internal tools, which helped shorten interior designers’ brainstorming time by 50%.
▪️ Established an all-new interactive design system and components that unified the design across the platform.

### Lead Product Designer @ Direct Action Everywhere
Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area
- Led the redesign of the marketing website and boosted the awareness of the website by 51% and doubling the subscription rate.
- Managed the design team and developed digital strategies that led to success beyond the goal.
- Established an all-new interactive design system and components that unified the design across the platform.

### User Experience Designer @ General Assembly
Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area
- Led the redesign of the client's websites, resulting in improvement on all KPIs.
- Led the user research and user experience design.
- Improved digital strategies and process.
- Manage the internal design team.

### Freelance Product Designer and Visual Designer @ Freelance UI/UX designer · Product designer
Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area
- Accomplished more than 40 projects, covered UI/UX Design, User Research, Graphic Design, Video Production, and other design fields.
- Managed re-branding projects, full website redesigns, print, and trade show materials.
- Produced series commercials for Toyota Avalon and RAV4 for launch events in Asia, which gained over 400k views.
- Designed digital and print assets for Kolmostar, which resulted in clear brand identity for users to recognize and connect with.
- Led the user research and user experience design for the HMNTY international e-commerce app.

### Co-Founder and Lead Product Designer @ Bloom Water Pipe
Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area; Shanghai
- Collaborated with a cross-functional team to take the design from ideation to prototype and manufacture-ready.
- Iterated over 12 versions of prototypes and patented the final design, which leads to a seed round funding over $250k.

### Product Design Intern @ GoRun Technology, Beijing
Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Beijing City, China
- Re-designed gamification experience and the reward system for marathon runners, which leads to a 7.4% lift in accomplishments over the first 30 days.
- Refined design system and design style guide, which unified the appearance and expanded the app components library.

### Visual Designer - Contract @ 09UI Studio
Jan 2016 – Jan 2017
- Re-designed branding for a variety of clients, including Tencent Video and Lenovo Lemon Phone, which bridged traditional brand identity and younger generation users.
- Designed icons and visual library for MiUI 6, which redefined Xiaomi brand identity to flat design language and was used by over 1 million users.

### Web Developer @ Pixate, Inc.
Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | Palo Alto, California, United States


## Education
### Bachelor of Science - BS in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, Computer Science
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

### Master of Fine Arts - MFA in Industrial and Product Design
Academy of Art University


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nanxin-zhao
- Portfolio: https://nanxinzhao.com

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