Steve Sanshwe
I am a Product Design Lead specializing in end-to-end design and strategy for complex SaaS and enterprise platforms. I thrive on shaping long-term product vision and delivering features that define what companies do.
Lead Product Designer
Yext, New York, NY
May 2022 – June 2024
Yext is a digital presence platform that empowers multi-location brands to manage their online information through a knowledge graph CMS and AI-powered products.
Led product design across Yext’s portfolio (Content, Search, Chat, Social, and Listings), delivering intuitive, scalable experiences aligned with business goals. Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams to transform user insights into impactful solutions. Mentored designers, facilitated workshops, and drove the evolution of scalable design systems to ensure quality, consistency, and innovation across the platform.
Spearheaded the design and launch of Yext Social, a high-priority SKU for managing multi-location social campaigns. Partnered with engineering and product teams to evaluate build-vs-buy options, conduct competitive research, and implement an executive directed conceptual design system. Delivered the product to general access in under 6 months, increasing listings performance by 24% and saving 175 hours in campaign management.
Directed the design of Studio, a standalone no-code visual site builder that enabled users to build React websites powered by the Yext Knowledge Graph CMS. Mentored an associate designer and delivered development-ready designs in under 3 months, ensuring a successful proof-of-concept MVP launch.
Redesigned the Yext Search configuration experience, taking ownership of improving navigation, information architecture, and integrating new AI indexing features. Achieved a 44% reduction in setup time, powering 44.1M monthly searches, and trained a new designer to continue the product’s growth.
Led the design efforts for Yext Chat, empowering users to create AI chatbots leveraging the Knowledge Graph and Search index. Extended existing design patterns I developed to accelerate delivery and directed an associate designer in building a goals-and-instructions framework pivotal to chatbot functionality.
Drove enhancements the Self-Serve Listings Launch feature, designing PLG flows and guided configurations that reduced internal support costs by 70% for 435 listings during a 2-month launch.
Designed an AI-powered review response feature, introducing a high-impact, low-effort solution that reduced response times by 57%.
Translated Yext’s platform for mobile, leading the adaptation of key desktop features into a standalone mobile experience. Secured $200K in ACV and unlocked $1.1M in reseller revenue.
Senior Product Designer
Yext, New York, NY
May 2018 - May 2022
During this time, Yext made a strategic shift from a Listings and Reviews company to a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) by embracing a graph database system and launching new product SKUs.
Led the design of Yext’s transition to a graph-based content management system, conducting research into common entity type configurations across verticals. Prototyped the conceptual “Yext Brain” vision and designed features to support multiple entity types, relationships, and scalable data management for 8M+ entities, driving $8.5M ARR. Received patents for contributions to the Yext Knowledge Graph.
Designed an ETL tool for seamless multi-source data ingestion and transformation into the Knowledge Graph. Simplified a technical framework into an intuitive interface for mar-tech users, powering 3.9K+ connectors with 3K daily updates.
Led the design of a centralized content approval platform for multi-user accounts, creating an approvals workflow interface that accelerated data approvals by 3x for multi-source content.
Established Yext’s first design system in Figma by standardizing components, creating best practices, and empowering designers to consistently implement them across the product suite.
User Experience Designer
TripleLift, New York, NY
October 2012 – February 2018
TripleLift was a leading adtech company that pioneered programmatic native advertising, seamlessly integrating ads into placements that matched the look and feel of site content.
As TripleLift’s first product designer, I crafted the foundational platforms for native ad campaign management, collaborating with founders, engineers, and campaign managers to deliver user-centric solutions in a fast-paced startup environment.
Designed the buyside platform, creating intuitive tools for advertisers to manage native campaigns on TripleLift’s first-party exchange. Key features included support for multiple campaign objects, nested line items, tactics, creatives, and an integrated asset management system. Additionally, designed a portal for third-party DSP integrations, collectively driving $100M in revenue across 11K advertisers.
Led the design of the sellside platform, developing user-friendly interfaces to empower publishers to manage ad inventory and Private Marketplace (PMP) packages. The platform supported 2,300+ publishers, including Condé Nast, Gannett, and Hearst, to deliver 19.9B monthly impressions.
Designer
Various, Brisbane, Australia
January 2010 – December 2012
Designed a platform for Hello Sunday Morning, enabling thousands of Australians to reassess their alcohol consumption and make positive behavioral changes through an online community.
Facilitated and taught design thinking workshops in Queensland high schools with the Smart Artz Organization, empowering students to solve real-world problems using design methodology.
Designed websites for small businesses and created print materials while working at Brisbane agency Simjen
Achievements
Certified Product Owner® (2024)
Patent Co-Inventor: Knowledge Search System (US12056164B2): Product Design, Yext Knowledge Graph Platform
Patent Co-Inventor: Multi-Source Data Suggestion Management (US20210294792A1 ): Product Design, Yext Suggestions
Patent Co-Inventor: System and Method for Artificial Intelligence Cleaning Transform (WO2024026266A1): Product Design, Yext Connectors AI Transform
Skills
Design Expertise: Wireframing, prototyping, interaction design, UI design (web & mobile), design systems, scalable components, enterprise information architecture; tools: Figma, Framer, FigJam, Jira, Sketch, Adobe Suite.
Product Strategy & Execution: Product vision, aligning user needs with business goals, MVP delivery, A/B testing, user analytics, KPI measurement, agile methodologies, cross-functional collaboration.
User Research & Insights: User research, persona development, usability testing, competitive analysis, feedback synthesis, tools: UserTesting.com, Pendo, heatmaps.
Leadership & Collaboration: Team leadership, designer mentorship, stakeholder engagement, workshop facilitation, cross-team alignment, sprint planning, agile project coordination.
Technical Proficiencies: CMS, no-code platforms, SaaS design, AI solutions (chatbots, predictive analytics, content generation), HIPAA compliance, API-driven workflows, ETL tools.
Education
Bachelor of Creative Industries, Communication & Interaction Design (Distinction)
Bachelor of Business, Advertising
Queensland University of Technology, Australia