Lead Product Designer
I'm a product designer who works on data-heavy, high-stakes platforms. Most of my work happens before a single screen is created: finding the framing that makes the design problem solvable, and returning to it when execution pressure starts pulling everyone away from it.
These five projects span 2023 to 2026 — a period when AI moved from background noise to the center of enterprise software. Each one reflects a different moment in that shift: a product built before AI was in the room, systems designed to introduce AI without breaking trust, and most recently, products where AI is the core workflow. The design challenge at every stage was the same — figuring out what users were actually ready to trust AI with, and building for that honestly.
Mid 2026 · Phase 1 release Sep 2027 · AI is the product
A workflow for creating deals from AI-extracted documents, designed around imperfect extraction rather than assumed completeness. AI was also my thinking partner in solving it.
Early 2026 · Release 2027 · AI in product + process
Digitizing a manual, relationship-dependent order entry workflow for two audiences with opposing needs — without making automation feel like a threat to either side.
2024–early 2025 · AI entering the product for the first time · Project ongoing
Introducing AI-driven automation into a trust-sensitive financial platform without eroding the system it was built on. Multi-phase design leadership across collection, extraction, mapping, and submission.
Mid 2024–2025 · AI-readiness shaped the mandate · Dev implementation ongoing
Rebuilding a fragile, platform-wide calculation engine to support sophisticated analytics — without breaking everything already depending on it.
Early 2023 · Pre-AI integration era
Turning a vague post-merger synergy charter into a user-driven product — while influencing system-level decisions that shaped how future work at iLEVEL could be built.
About
I do my best work when the problem space is still open — before the solution has been assumed and the team is heads-down making it real.
Design work has always pulled toward execution. AI has made that pull stronger. Someone has to keep pulling back toward the problem, making sure the work stays connected to the right question, not just the immediate one. That role matters more now, not less.
Open to senior IC and lead roles in product design.
racheltruong.design@gmail.com →