PrizePicks

Overview

Joined PrizePicks as Lead Product Designer when the design team was just 2 people, and built it into a 14-person design and research organization. Advanced to Sr. Manager reporting to VP of Product, overseeing design across both the consumer app and the internal back office platform. Transformed design from a reactive service function into a strategic driver of product innovation.

The Challenge

Design operated reactively with no formal processes, no design system, and no research practice. Engineers iterated directly on the product without designer collaboration. The company was scaling fast — the product and the team needed foundational systems to keep pace.

The Double Diamond framework I established for Discovery, Define, Develop, and Deliver

Building the Team

Hired and mentored 12 designers and researchers across product design, UX research, and content design. Defined the career ladder, interview process, and team rituals. Established a culture of critique, cross-functional collaboration, and user advocacy that became core to how PrizePicks shipped product.

Design System

Partnered with a few designers to establish the foundations of PrizePicks' first design system — defining color, typography, spacing, and component standards that unified the consumer app experience. Then hired a dedicated design systems lead to scale and maintain it. The system became the shared language between design and engineering, accelerating delivery and reducing visual inconsistency across the product.

PrizePicks design system — colors, typography, and component standards

Research & User Validation

Established user research as a core practice. Led journey mapping interviews across 11 participants to understand how members discovered, used, and engaged with PrizePicks. These insights shaped the product roadmap for the first time — directly informing priorities for onboarding, live scoring, and social features.

Synthesized journey map from 11 participant interviews

Design Sprints

Pushed for a process that integrated design sprints into Shape Up — giving teams a structured way to tackle complex product problems within the existing development cycle. These sessions brought product, design, and engineering together to rapidly explore solutions using 'How Might We' exercises and real-time ideation.

Live Scoring design sprint — cross-functional ideation

Onboarding Redesign

Redesigned the full onboarding flow to reduce friction and improve conversion — streamlining sign-up, location verification, and registration into a clear, progressive sequence.

Live Lineups & Live Scoring

Designed the Live Lineups and Live Scoring features end-to-end — giving members real-time visibility into their entries during games. This became one of the highest-impact launches in company history, driving a 235% increase in in-app time and a 6% lift in net revenue.

End-to-end user flow — board to lineup to live scoring

Impact

Built the design team from 2 to 14 designers and researchers. Established the design system, research practice, and design sprint process from scratch. 10x+ user growth during tenure. 235% increase in in-app time during live games. #1 in App Store Sports category. 6% net revenue increase. Design became a strategic function reporting into product leadership.