# Sharon C. > Product Design Leader | Platform & Systems Design | AI-Native Workflows Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/sharonc A design leader who designs. Over 15+ years I've built and led product design teams through two IPOs — shipping work, scaling systems, and solving hard problems alongside my teams. What I'm best at: → I'm a maker who ships. I’ve got a hands-on visual design background, with real products in the world, including an app I've built independently using AI. → I think in systems. I connect design, teams, and products, and build the infrastructure for great work at scale. → I lead with care. A player-coach who earns trust fast, builds strong team cultures, and helps designers do their best work. Right now I'm investing in AI literacy and coursework at Harvard, because the designers who'll thrive in the next five years are the ones adapting now. I'm open to full-time or consulting roles where I can stay close to the work — managing people, leading craft, or both. Especially drawn to civic, cultural, and educational organizations. ## Work Experience ### Independent Product Design & Research @ Sharon Cardinal Design Consulting Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Founder & Product Designer, Free City Arts, a location-based cultural discovery platform (product strategy, information architecture, design system, CMS schema & API, interactive MVP). Design AI-assisted prototyping and structured content workflows using Figma Make and LLMs to accelerate system design and concept validation. Graduate coursework in Museum Studies (Harvard Extension), focused on digital interpretation, institutional strategy, and visitor experience design. Publish essays on design systems, cultural infrastructure, and technology’s role in public institutions. ### Senior Product Design Manager, Platform @ BILL Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | San Jose, California, United States Managed and cultivated a team of six designers who designed and launched features across settings, notifications, identity, and search, meeting both business and user objectives. Pioneered a design system and team, delivering 40+ components, achieving over 90% designer and 50% engineer adoption, boosting product quality and speed. Overhauled settings, updating 125+ pages into an efficient, scalable web application that achieved 100% ADA compliance & responsive design, and full automation test and analytics coverage. Elevated design visibility and transparency across the organization by executing a design review process, leading to a more cohesive and consistent user experience. Organized two multi-day offsites for 100+ people from 20 locations, fostering team unity in a well-received, productive event that strengthened team bonding and unity. ### Staff Product Designer @ BILL Jan 2018 – Jan 2022 | San Jose, California, United States ### Senior Experience Designer @ Adobe Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco, California, United States Designed an intuitive onboarding experience that streamlined SMB and enterprise customer product orientation, ultimately improving overall customer retention and loyalty. Identified requirements through user research and stakeholder interviews, leading to an optimized onboarding UI design that positively impacted user satisfaction and overall experience. ### UX Design Lead @ Intuit Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | Mountain View, California, United States As part of the Innovation & Advanced Technology Group, coordinated a customer-centric design strategy for a pivotal product feature in Mint to help customers track income and bills together. Conducted thorough primary and secondary research to gain actionable insights into the target audience and inform the design strategy. Pioneering the use of a new design system, I designed an embedded and integrated product that allowed for easy expansion and adaptation by other teams. ### Design Director @ Glint Inc. Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | Redwood City, CA Designed and shipped an innovative Action Plans feature that connected data and insights from employee engagement surveys so that managers could strengthen scores and team performance. Drove early stage startup growth by establishing and promoting a human-centered design culture, implementing research methods, design processes, and principles. ### UX Design Manager @ Trulia Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco, California, United States Managed a team of 5 UX and visual designers, delivering impactful designs for Product, Corporate, PR, HR, and Finance departments, leading to improved user satisfaction and brand perception. Optimized account setup for internal users and new customers, resulting in an 88% completion rate after first purchase, driving increased user engagement and satisfaction. Led the successful collaboration between product and marketing teams, resulting in a increase in campaign performance and alignment across departments. Redesigned the home page with an innovative component system, aligning it with new branding, and improving the user experience. Users entering via the homepage sent 60% more leads than other access points. ### User Experience Designer, Agent Products @ Trulia Jan 2010 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco, California, United States ### User Experience and UI Designer @ Adaptive Path Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | San Francisco, California, United States Designed an in-house CMS web application for a leading media company's 450-member marketing team. Orchestrated design of 200+ features encompassing keyword search, file sharing, asset viewing, metadata editing, and more. ### Senior Visual and UI Designer @ 23andMe Jan 2009 – Jan 2009 | Palo Alto, California, United States Designed and shipped a new checkout UI. Contributed to feature updates and optimizations. ### Senior Interaction Designer @ Yahoo! Jan 2007 – Jan 2008 | Sunnyvale, California, United States Developed interaction models, designed visual concepts, architected flows and wireframes to support a working prototype that allowed users to browse content on their TV's. ### Associate Creative Director @ Schematic Jan 2005 – Jan 2007 | Los Angeles, California, United States Managed creative teams on a variety of interactive platforms including set-top box navigation concepts for Time Warner Cable and Sling Media, ABC News, DirecTV, and Comcast networks. ### Senior Art Director @ RPA Jan 2004 – Jan 2005 | Los Angeles, California, United States ### Art Director @ Razorfish Jan 2002 – Jan 2003 | Los Angeles, California, United States ### Senior Designer @ Avenue A | Razorfish Jan 1999 – Jan 2001 | Los Angeles, California, United States ## Education ### Graduate Certificate Candidate in Museology/Museum Studies Harvard Extension School ### Master's of Fine Arts (MFA) in Graphic Design California Institute of the Arts ### Bachelor's Degree in Art, Entertainment, Media Management Columbia College ### Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Graphic Design School of the Art Institute of Chicago ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/scardinal - Portfolio: https://www.sharoncardinal.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/sharonc JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/sharonc/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13