Chris Kark

Chris Kark

Product Designer in United States, He/him/his

About

I'm a product designer with a background in communications and content strategy. My work centers on crafting simple yet flexible user experiences that humanize the technologies they inhabit.

Work Experience

2022 — Now
  • Played a key role in launching Lightning Studios, a cloud-based AI/ML platform, accelerating model and AI product development by 60%.

  • Designed features that speed up key phases in the AI/ML pipeline: by 400% for training, 600% for prototyping, and 90% for model fitting.

  • Developed a multi-node training feature that led to a 20× increase in training speeds across thousands of nodes.

  • Shipped 12 major features, reaching a community that spans 10K+ organizations.

2021 — 2022
Remote
  • Spearheaded enterprise design for investors managing multi-million dollar real estate portfolios.

  • Managed a team of 3 enterprise product designers.

  • Partnered with product leaders to fashion Roofstock's B2B strategy and product vision.

  • Created and oversaw an enterprise design system across 3 products.

  • Designed and shipped an AI-powered underwriting tool used across dozens of markets.

  • Pioneered a working group to align design systems with the adoption of micro front-ends.

2021 — 2021
Remote

• Led product design for native e-commerce and shoppable content technologies in conjunction with the head of product, CPO, and technical leads.
• Designed and managed an integration with Shopify.

2018 — 2021
Denver, Colorado

• Led product design for suite of apps to manage employee benefits and perks.
• Shepherded 3 web apps from research and ideation to launch.
• Introduced a design system in which ThrivePass's 5 primary web apps appear.
• Managed identity and brand strategy.

2016 — 2017
Stanford, California

• Served as the chief communications designer for the humanities disciplines at Stanford.
• Shaped a comprehensive communications strategy for the Stanford Humanities Center.
• Edited and produced several dozen articles in the Stanford Report, the university's official news publication; mentoring graduate students and coordinating with freelancers to maintain the highest possible standards for publication.
• Managed a team of communications specialists.

2014 — 2015
San Francisco, California

• Owned content and communications design for the Trust & Safety and Public Policy teams.
• Designed several dozen presentations in Google Slides and Keynote for the digital citizenship program at the Twitter NeighborNest.
• Consolidated and localized around 500 support macros (response templates) into 9 languages.

Side Projects

2022

With Griddle, you can arrange any number of selected elements into a grid in Figma without leaving the command bar.

2021

Ghost is a lightweight plugin that converts high fidelity mockups to loading or “skeleton” screens.

LinkedIn
Figma
GitHub

Education