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Dave Keller

Dave Keller

principal product designer & design engineer

Strategic product thinker, Figma expert, and front-end/design engineer. I was writing front-end code before AI — now primarily designing in the browser with Claude Code, Codex, and Tailwind — validating functional prototypes and shipping production code in days, not weeks.

Highlights

  • 15+ years leading design at early-stage startups — from 0 → 1 through 2.0 and GTM. Across AI, data science, entertainment, messaging, ecommerce, and fintech.
  • A pixel-perfect designer who ships in code. Sweating the visual details — prototyping end-to-end flows and refining high-fidelity production UIs directly in front-end code.
  • Design systems architect and process builder. Architected multi-platform design systems. Built a product process that organized a ~45-developer company into 4 cross-functional teams shipping on a steady cadence.
  • Track record. 40+ products across web, iOS, and Android — including a #1 Paid iPhone app and a 0 → 1 platform that grossed $33M in year one.
  • Founder & client services. Co-founded a 20-person design/dev agency and a $3M-funded messaging app. The agency became a concepting and prototyping shop for Warner Bros. — with work for Ellen, DreamWorks, and The Economist along the way.

Skills

  • Expert in Figma & design systems — multi-platform component libraries, prototyping, hand-off
  • Experienced designing in the front-end (prototypes to production) with Claude Code, Cursor, and Tailwind
  • Comfortable writing HTML / CSS / JS and working in React / Next.js / Tailwind CSS / TypeScript
  • Fluent in GitHub — push/pull, branches, and PRs; Linear, Trello, and Notion for sprint planning and docs

Experience

Strangeworks

Oct 2023 – Present · Remote / Austin, TX

Principal Product Designer & Design Engineer

Lead product strategy and design at this data-science consulting company, building a suite of tools, apps, and optimization interfaces for Fortune 500 science teams running AI and quantum/HPC compute.

  • Promoted to Principal Product Designer in 6 months. Researched internal processes and designed the vision for our workflow app Aura — hands-on from business strategy to production code
  • Embedded with engineering, leadership, and the science team to prototype and ship across our compute platform, the Aura workflow app, docs, and multiple marketing sites
  • Designed an AI-assisted app for data-science problem formulation and computation on HPC/quantum, plus dozens of client apps for optimization problems like staff scheduling and fleet vehicle routing

QuotaPath

Jan 2022 – Oct 2023 · Hybrid / Austin, TX

Senior Product Designer

Led design across multiple product teams at this Series B SaaS platform for sales commission planning and tracking.

  • Shipped platform features monthly, from comp modeling and onboarding to sandbox and payout workflows
  • Designed and launched the Compensation Hub, a commission library and modeling tool that drove $1.5M+ in new pipeline in a year
  • Co-created a product-development process across 4 cross-functional teams and mentored its designers

OneAssembly

Feb 2021 – Jan 2022 · Austin, TX

Lead Product Designer & Front-End Developer

Designed and built this B2B device auction platform from idea to launch in a year, grossing $3M+ in the first beta month and $33M+ in year one.

  • Took the product from whiteboard to production launch on a 3-person dev team
  • Designed most of it directly in code (React, Tailwind), plus the brand, marketing site, and go-to-market

BnbFinder (now Savvy.com)

May 2019 – Feb 2021 · Austin, TX

Lead Product Designer & Front-End Developer

Designed and built this travel listings platform to 8K subscribers (4K+ paid) in under a year on a 3-person team.

  • Built the consumer, owner, and admin apps in Elixir and React/Next.js on a custom Tailwind framework
  • Shipped responsive front-ends across all three surfaces, demoing to stakeholders every two weeks

Phobio : Rodio

Jan 2018 – May 2019 · Austin, TX

Principal Product Designer

Designed Rodio, a retail workforce communication platform. Partnered with Fortune 100 Kronos and signed MarketSource (Target/Best Buy), reaching millions of daily interactions.

  • Built Rodio's multi-platform design systems (master, web, iOS, Android) and led a team of 20 to 20K+ paid users
  • Designed and pitched the demo that closed the Kronos and Form.com contracts and led to acquisition

Timebomb

Sep 2015 – Dec 2017 · Austin, TX

Co-Founder & Lead Product Designer

Co-founded and designed this conditional messaging app (iOS and Android). Raised $3M from angels including Katy Perry and Warner Bros., with a marketing partnership from Ellen.

  • Led a product team of 10 from concept to launch and 20K+ users
  • Designed the pitch decks behind the $3M raise

Made by Rocket

Aug 2009 – Nov 2017 · Austin, TX

Co-Founder & Product Designer

Co-founded and grew this agency to 20 people across 30+ projects, including a #1 Paid iPhone app and work for Ellen, Need for Speed, DreamWorks, and The Economist. Became an ideation and prototyping lab for Warner Bros.

  • Designed and shipped A Beautiful Mess, a photo editing app that hit #1 Paid on the App Store and held top-100 for over a year
  • Designed and prototyped apps for 30+ clients, from Ellen and DreamWorks to early-stage startups

Interests

Tools & Technologies