Ian Alexander

Head of Product Design

MAY 2023 - AUG 2025 · 2.3 years

Rebuilt the design function and product experience for Kustomer's CX platform. Started within Meta's ecosystem, continued after divestiture. Introduced AI into the core workflow — not as a bolt-on feature, but as a fundamental rethink of how agents interact with the platform. Scaled design team from 1 to 7. Set the hiring bar, built team rituals, and built close working relationships with Product and Engineering leads Shipped an AI-powered copilot that helps agents understand what automation is doing and step in when they need to. Designed guided onboarding so users trust the system before relying on it Worked with CEO, CPO, and CTO to simplify the information architecture and define a multi-year platform vision Relaunched the design system and introduced DesignOps practices. Design system adoption in shipped code went from 25% to 69% Delivered the first full product redesign in years — simplified the workflows customers used most Impact: NPS from 3.4 to 25. First profitable quarter post-divestiture, attributed to agentic features we designed and launched.

Head of Product Design

OCT 2022 - MAY 2023 · 8 months

Hired into Meta following their $1B acquisition of Kustomer. Led 19 people (17 ICs, 2 managers) on the Kustomer product while working within Meta's design org — collaborating with design leaders on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Business Messaging. Maintained product ownership of Kustomer while operating within Meta's standards, tooling, and review processes Worked with Heads of Design on other Meta products to integrate functionality between platforms Brought Meta's DesignOps practices and design system standards into the Kustomer product Impact: Design system adoption in shipped code from 25% to 69%

Head Of Design

MAY 2021 - SEP 2022 · 1.4 years

Led brand, marketing, and product design for Gladly's customer service platform. Brought all three under one coherent direction. Partnered with the C-suite to reposition the product narrative and go-to-market strategy Ran an innovation track on conversational and voice-first customer service Set up career growth frameworks, a user research practice, and DesignOps processes the team didn't have before Impact: 5x pipeline growth over 12 months. G2 Crowd "Easiest to Use" and "Market Leader" awards.

Senior Director Experience Design

AUG 2018 - SEP 2019 · 1.2 years

Relaunched the product offering from email to all-in-one small business platform, introduced an award-winning redesign and launched the original content platform - "Mailchimp Presents." Led the strategy and design for GTM pricing upgrades and product journey upsell triggers. Drove the product innovation track - rethinking the small business platform. Strategic design leadership - focused on people, culture, and users. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, I established quarterly goals and integrated roadmaps for a design team of 120. My direct team was responsible for all marketing initiatives including digital, print, and events. I worked to create end-to-end experiences and consistent cross-functional processes. -Strategic Design initiative led to +90% y/y growth in new paid subscriptions Servant leadership - to brand, product, marketing, UX designers, and content strategists. I established new research and cross-functional design processes and focused the DesignOps efforts. In service to the design department, I created the first career pathing framework and scaled the team to support new initiatives.

Senior Director Design

AUG 2018 - SEP 2019 · 1.2 years

Mailchimp was an email company becoming a marketing platform. The rebrand told the market a new story — but inside, brand design and product design were in silos. The experience didn't feel like one thing. Member of the Senior Leadership Team. Led experience strategy, product innovation, and marketing design for a 100-person design organization Broke the silo between brand and product design by changing how the teams worked together — open process, shared critiques, cross-team influence built into the workflow instead of happening by accident Led pricing and upgrade strategy for the platform transition. Launched "Mailchimp Presents," the original content platform Restructured the design function: moved Content Strategy under Design, built the first career pathing framework, increased collaboration between DesignOps + Marketing Design + Product Design to fast track innovation. Impact: Pricing and upgrade redesign drove 90% YoY upgrade lift

Senior Director User Experience

AUG 2016 - AUG 2018 · 2.1 years

Charged with the digital transformation of IBM Marketplace & Commerce. Over 3,000 products, fewer than 50 available digitally. Redesigned the global nav for IBM.com Built a design org from zero to 11 for IBM Cloud Marketplace Co-led the IBM Cloud Duo design system rollout and unified pattern library Created a global research repository so teams stopped duplicating each other's work Impact: Duplicative research requests down 65%

Experience Director

FEB 2014 - AUG 2016 · 2.6 years

Led creative and UX teams on Ford Motor Company ($15M account). Hiring, scoping, pitching, prototyping — designed for mobile, desktop, and in-vehicle. Launched Ford Solution Finder (Webby Honoree) Supported Spotify "Year in Review" (One Show Gold Pencil) Winner of Razorfish Restless Award

Founder + User Experience & Creative Director

JAN 2005 - JAN 2014 · 9.1 years

Started a digital agency from a desk and a laptop. Grew it to 7 people and $1M+ in revenue. UX, content strategy, and brand work for SAP, McKinsey, and JinglePunks (brand work supported their $60M exit).