Ben Pepin
Product Design Leader
I’m a software designer and manager from San Francisco. Currently, I work for myself - helping new companies get their first version off the ground, but I led large consumer design teams before that.
• I designed the first digital happy meal experience for McDonalds and the first digital collectible experience for Disney and Marvel
• I built out design and research functions at Mars Petcare driving significant growth for many of our portfolio brands.
• I led the consumer design team at Keller Williams - building software for 180,000 agents and 30 million consumers.
0 -> 1 Design Strategy for Pet Parents
Mars
Design System, Team and Process Overhaul
Yext
App and Platform Design Overhaul
Keller Williams
The most widely used collectible app
Quidd
AI Real Estate for Commercial Brokers
Termeta
Brand and usability research for wisdom panel
Mars
Building Breed Specific Ecom Brands
Mars
Experience
Yext
Director of Product Design
2024 to 2025
Keller Williams
Manager of Product Design
2022 to 2024
McKinsey
Product Designer
2021 to 2022
Mars
Director of Product Design
2019 to 2021
Quidd (acquired)
Lead Product Designer
2017 to 2019
Other Startups
Product Designer
2015 to 2017
Dreamworks Animation
Production Assistant
2012 to 2014
Kind Words
Vimal Bisundial
Director of Design, NBA
Ben’s a truly exceptional product designer who leads end to end with creativity, practicality, and skill. He excels at research, both qualitative and quantitative, and has a rare ability to turn complex insights into clear, actionable direction.
Joel Cox
VP Design, Yext
Ben's combination of craft excellence, strategic thinking, and genuine investment in developing the team made a lasting impact. He is exceptional at balancing strategic vision with execution. He built our AI UX practice from scratch, hired some great designers and leveled up the people he inherited. He established many of the systems that enabled us to ship great work consistently.
About
Over the past decade, I’ve worked in small startups as a product designer and within larger organizations as a manager or director. I have built teams, stood up design systems, led large cross platform overhauls, design audits and more. My career has spanned projects with McKinsey, the US government, real estate agents, pet parents, and even film production.
3 of my biggest skills
Building focused design teams with complimentary skills
Enhancing speed and quality
Creative Ideation & Extreme Collaboration
2 moments I live for in desgin
The first is finding clarity in ambiguity. I love writing down a problem, exploring all the potential solutions, and then turning that into something we are all excited to build.
The second is the moment I see something I've designed in someone's hands. No better feeling on earth. I love watching people interact with what I built, understanding why it works or doesn't and making adjustments based on the feedback.
1 side project I'm a big fan of
Birdsbirdsbirds.net. An online birding experience built entirely by me. I also lead a bike tour of San Francisco's west side.
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