Principal Product Designer
Alex Zapadenko
Product design leader with 15+ years across enterprise platforms, B2B SaaS, and 0→1 products. Currently directing AI-driven design at Banyan Software, shaping both the AI-assisted pipeline and the next-generation experiences it ships across a portfolio of 50+ vertical SaaS products. Recently led the design for re-platforming Intuit Mailchimp Transactional — a developer-focused email API — into the unified Mailchimp experience. Earlier, scaled TheoremOne's design team from 10 to 50+ and integrated a 200-person global design practice at Monks. Open to select fractional and advisory engagements where I can set strategy, ship complex products, and build the teams behind them.
Years of experience
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In design leadership
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Largest team led
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Designers hired
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Projects delivered
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Industries served
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Cases
Selected work
A selection of work spanning enterprise platforms, B2B SaaS, and 0→1 products.
Mailchimp Transactional
Unifying two Mailchimp products built and run as separate apps
EarthWonders
A 0→1 marketplace for fine-mineral collectors, built on trust
BlackLine
Modernizing an enterprise platform that can never stop running
DocRobot
An enterprise AI workspace, and what it becomes once the model runs locally
The Osage Nation
A member portal, and the system that lets it keep growing
Apple
A native Mac app for running multi-angle voice-assistant studies
Code
Experiments
Small products I build to test how AI changes product design, prototyping, and delivery.
Usage Graph
Every token, component and screen in this site, derived from source and drawn as one graph you can point at
Motive
A live fleet-tracking map with AI-generated telemetry, streamed from Postgres
Pathfinder
A Pathfinder 2e character builder with AI portraits that restyle every time you re-equip
Poppy
A voice-first AI assistant for teachers — lesson plans, parent notes, quizzes
Misc
Other client work
How I run a UX audit with Claude
The model writes the scan, walks the flows and drafts the list. A person decides what is a defect and what to do first, and that order is the audit. The same scan run on this site a week apart: 247 findings, then 255, and the same single defect both times.
What a fractional design lead actually does
Fractional design leadership, defined: they own design direction and the definition of good, part-time, as a member of your team. What separates it from advice is delivery ownership — and there is one question that tells you which one a proposal is really selling.
When to hire your first design leader
Hire when nobody owns the definition of good and it is costing you — usually at the third person who can independently decide. Two designers reconcile by talking; three cannot. Here are the two years you shouldn’t, and what being early costs.
AIUX
Patterns for AI products
The recurring problems in products whose output is generated rather than retrieved.
Resume
The path so far
Download resume
Banyan Software
Principal Architect, AI Product Design
May 2026 – Present · 5 mos
Direct AI-driven design for an internal Software Modernization Factory retooling a portfolio of 50+ vertical SaaS products across the group. Shape both the AI-assisted pipeline that does the work and the next generation of experiences it ships — embedding intelligent workflows into products where legacy interfaces stood.
Product Inc.
Principal Product Designer
Dec 2022 – Present · 3 yrs 10 mos
Run a fractional design practice for early-stage founders, from product strategy through launch. Anchor ongoing engagements at EarthWonders (e-commerce) and Edvo (B2C SaaS), and ship 0→1 concepts, marketing sites, and investor materials for Cracken AGI, Journify, UnboxAI, and other emerging startups.
Intuit Mailchimp
Product Designer (Contract)
April 2026
Set the design vision for collapsing Mailchimp Transactional into the core Mailchimp product — a re-platform that unifies two separate apps into a single workspace for marketers and developers. Made the case for swapping an incremental UI refresh for a full platform integration, and shaped the roadmap that followed.
Work together
Find the mode that fits
Three modes depending on where your team is. Currently taking on fractional work.
Fractional (1–3 days/wk)
OpenBest for: Growing teams that need senior leadership without adding a full headcount.
- Player-coach support for designers
- Tighter design/eng handoffs
- Hands-on design where it matters
Full-time Director
Not availableBest for: Teams that need a long-term design leader to scale people, systems, and delivery.
- Org design, hiring, leveling and coaching
- Design ops and governance
- Hands-on high-leverage work
Full-time Principal
Not availableBest for: Hands-on execution in complex areas where an expert IC leads by doing.
- Ownership of critical product surfaces
- Deep discovery, design and prototyping
- Close pairing with engineering and PM