Alex Gilev
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Miami, FL, United States
Toptal member since November 18, 2015
Alex is an AI product designer who ships code, with a high-agency mindset, focusing on product innovation. He helps teams design and build superlative, scalable product experiences for acquisition and retention flows while also helping startups achieve PMF. With a design career spanning over 16 years, Alex has worked for companies of all sizes, including Apple, CDC, Silicon Valley Bank, MasterClass, Wander, and Harvard.
Experience
- UX Strategy - 16 years
- UX Design - 16 years
- Product Design - 16 years
- Dashboard Design - 12 years
- Enterprise SaaS - 12 years
- Data Visualization - 10 years
- Design Leadership - 4 years
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) - 3 years
Portfolio
Agentic UI
MedTutor AI (Harvard Medical School)
Work Experience
Head of Design
O.XYZ
- Launched Ocean AI, the world’s fastest AI search engine. Featured by Forbes and powered by Cerebras chips. Designed and developed from the ground up. By the time TestNet had launched, there were 130,00 active users.
- Designed the Origin Platform as the central identity, authentication, and NFT management system for the ecosystem, integrating wallet connections and access controls, and establishing a frictionless user flow for millions of users.
- Designed and launched a voice authentication experience: Delivered the groundbreaking voice sign-in experience for Origin ID – a Web3 authentication experience combining a Siri-like voice login and setup.
- Managed external design studios of motion and brand designers to ensure alignment with business goals and visual identity, while overseeing cross-functional collaboration with PMs to ensure design deliverables were actionable and production-ready.
- Contributed to a unified product ecosystem: Led the design strategy and execution across the entire O ecosystem, creating a seamless and coherent user experience by standardizing a unified design language, which improved user satisfaction by 50%.
Principal Designer (via Toptal)
Boston Children's Hospital - IDHA Team
- Strategized and designed CyranoHealth, an immersive medical training app developed for Apple Vision Pro and used by Boston Children's Hospital. The app was featured by Fast Company and Apple.
- Led cross-functional teams in developing a user-driven UX strategy and design for MedTutor AI, a tutoring application that guides healthcare learners through complex medical cases. Awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Institute of Health.
- Directed the design for Vaccines.gov, a high-stakes CDC contract, creating an accessibility-first design system prioritizing inclusivity. Conducted over 80 usability tests to inform critical design decisions.
- Contributed to the platform, which successfully handled over 50-60 million user visits per year, delivering critical pharmacy information nationwide.
Staff Product Designer (via Toptal)
Silicon Valley Bank
- Led the UX strategy and design for a new banking service, streamlining complex account management for Sequoia Capital, enabling the management of over 1,000 startup accounts, and increasing operational efficiency by 30%.
- Led ongoing mission-critical bank projects, collaborating closely with veteran product managers and directors to align strategies and deliver tactical design solutions.
- Designed the SVB Go Back Office Notifications and Account Management Platform, leveraging stakeholder management to collaborate with senior leadership and product teams. Ensured alignment of business goals with user needs through design workshops.
- Contributed to the design system and developed several key user workflows that other team pods had adopted.
Staff Product Designer
DailyPay
- Established and managed a robust product design system within one month by raising awareness of the value of design thinking in partners while fostering a culture of design excellence across teams.
- Conducted over 50 internal user interviews to inform the design of a new B2B service, focusing on enhancing operational efficiency and seamless payroll API integration.
- Redesigned internal customer support software based on qualitative and quantitative user research insights. This enhanced user information retrieval and issue resolution during agent phone calls, resulting in a 40% boost in employee performance.
- Designed an innovative B2B product with real-time digital payments that recognizes employees in the moments that matter most. The project received the “Best HR Tech Award” in 2024.
Lead UX Designer
Coder Technologies Inc.
- Translated complex product requirements into user-focused platform designs with over 40 million open-source downloads, aligning product vision with user needs, which contributed to securing government contracts with the U.S. Air Force and Navy.
- Reduced design inconsistencies across projects by 50% by standardizing components and creating a shared design library.
- Launched a project management initiative that balanced short-term design fixes with long-term objectives; this approach facilitated a 20% increase in project delivery speed while ensuring alignment with company growth targets.
Founding Designer
Backbone
- Collaborated with C-suite and data science to execute the roadmap and design innovative planning software, leading to partnerships with clients like Stitch Fix, Allbirds, Movado, Warby Parker, Yeezy, and others.
- Helped secure $20 million in funding within a two-year period while collaborating with partners to develop core ideas through interactive design prototypes.
- Managed and coached the design team of four, helping them navigate the complexity and ambiguity of Backbone PLM business areas.
Senior UX Designer
Fantasy
- Led UX strategy for the first version of Twitter Analytics, driving improved data accessibility and insights for millions of users.
- Designed the Texas Teachers certification platform, streamlining the pathway for over 80,000 educators to earn their certification.
- Conceptualized and defined MasterClass’s first mobile design language, with two million active users at the time of launch, with a focus on premium user experience and superlative user interface design.
Education
Executive Education in Product Management
Stanford University Graduate School of Business - California
Certifications
User-centric Product-led Growth
Maven
Product Management
Stanford University
Product Leader Certification (PLC)
Product School (Silicon Valley)
Certified Product Manager (PMC)
Product School (Silicon Valley)
UX Certification | UX Management Specialty
Nielsen Norman Group
Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) + Outcome Driven Innovation (ODI) Masterclass
Strategyn, LLC
Digital Psychology Specialist
CXL Institute
Design Thinking (Cooper)
Udemy
Heuristic Analysis Frameworks for Conversion Optimization Audits
CXL Institute
Psychology and Neuroscience for CRO
CXL Institute
Applied Neuromarketing
CXL Institute
Mastering Business Models
Strategyzer
Designing a Business
IDEO
Disruptive Strategy
Harvard Business School
Mastering Value Propositions
Strategyzer
Skills
Tools
Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Adobe After Effects, Cinema 4D, Apple Keynote, Miro, Workday Payroll, GitHub
Platforms
Figma, Webflow, Web, Mobile, Vercel
Industry Expertise
Sports, Fashion, Retail & Wholesale, Psychology & Mental Health, Hotels & Lodging
Other
User-centered Design (UCD), Data Visualization, Design Systems, SaaS Design, Web App Design, Conversion, User Experience (UX), Responsive Web Design (RWD), Stock Market, Dashboards, User Interface (UI), UX Strategy, Web Design, Dashboard Design, Consulting, Product Strategy, Enterprise SaaS, Software as a Service (SaaS), Web Applications, Behavioral Design, Design Thinking, Business Strategy, User Research, Web App UX, Web App UI, UX Design, UI Design, UX Research, Prototyping, Product Design, Project Management, Framer, Interaction Design (IxD), User Testing, Spatial Design, Presentation Design, Pitch Decks, MVP Design, Qualitative Research, Design Sprints, Finance, Growth-driven Design (GDD), Design Leadership, Enterprise Design, Mind Mapping, Whiteboarding, Financial Design, Financial Products, Fintech, Wireframing, Analytics, Web UI Design, SaaS, Financial Data, B2B, B2C, Responsive Design, Tennis, CRM Design, CRM Systems, Interactive Prototypes, Sport Branding, Social Media Design, Style Guides, Startups, Web UX, Animated Prototypes, Interactive Design, UI Branding, Internet of Things (IoT), Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Rapid Prototyping, Web UX Design, Logotype, Logo Design, Procurement, Responsive Web Apps, Online Banking, Interactive Dashboards, Agile, UX Roadmaps, DesignOps, Psychology, Disruptive Strategy, Lean UX, Product Management, Strategy, Information Architecture (IA), User Flows, User Journeys, Behavioral Science, Business Models, Conversion Rate, Innovation, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Jobs to be Done (JTBD), Value Proposition, Design Strategy, Stakeholder Management, Usability, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Remote User Testing, Business to Business (B2B), Business Requirements, Presentations, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Blockchain, Dark UIs, Play, Product Growth, WebGL, Web3, Cryptocurrency, Coin, Tokenomics, voice authentication, Initial coin offerings, Web Application Design, R&D, User Experience Strategy, User Validation, Human-centered Design (HCD), Intranets, Sales, Leaderboards, Financial UX, Data-heavy Design, Charts, Graphs, Storytelling, Emotional Design, Product-led Growth (PLG), Growth Design, Accessibility, System Design, A/B Testing, PLGDesign, ActivationDesign, User Onboarding, UX Audits, Tablet UI, Ecosystem Design, Brand Ecosystems, App UX, Gamification, GPU Computing, Minimal UI, Mobile UI, Conversational AI, AI Agents, Agentic Frameworks, Consumer to Consumer (C2C), AI Chatbots, Fintech Design, Large Language Models (LLMs), Agile UX, Agile Project Management, Conversational UI Design, Web3.js, Conversational UX, Super AI, Voice Chat, Carbon Design System, Agentic AI, AI Voice Agents, Enterprise AI, Health Insurance, Product Thinking, Agentic Interfaces, Figma Variables, Website Design, Venture Capital, HR Tools, Financial workflows, Product-led storytelling, Data Visualization UI, Small business software, Investor Reporting, Enterprise, DevOps, Developer Experience (DX), Coding, Airbnb, Travel Design, Search, AI-enabled Search, Data-driven Design, User Experience Design, AI Design, Trading, Forex Trading, Algorithmic Trading, Options Trading, Money, Stock Trading, Stock Analysis, Stock Market Techinical Analysis, Stock Exchange, Software Design, Cursor AI, Claude Code
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