- Builder
- AI-Native Designer
- Strategist
I'm Derek.
I turn ambiguous problems into shipped, measurable products.
Staff Product Designer who ships human-first, AI-driven products.
I care about the person on the other end of every product decision. That's been true whether I was creating an easier way to book a vacation rental, track an order, find the right vaccine, or get food to their car door faster. Ten years in, that hasn't changed — what has is the toolkit. Now AI is part of how I build, not just what I build on top of.
Brands I've worked with
- Vrbo
- Expedia Group
- FedEx
- ShopRunner
- ADT
- Albertsons
- Safeway
- Dove
- Wellstar
- Frontier
- Pollo Tropical
- OG&E
- Christian Brothers Automotive
- Ritchie Bros.
- Expedia
- Taco Cabana
- Metronet
- Charity Navigator
- Hotels.com
01Selected work
Things I built
& shipped.
Three records from the crates. $63M recovered, 11.9B touchpoints reimagined, and a brand-new app shipped in six months.
Vrbo AI Penalty Box. $63M in unpaid host-cancellation fees, recovered by an AI enforcement system.
Expedia Comms Manager. A fully agentic system that turns prompts into email, SMS, push and in-app comms — in days, instead of weeks.
ShopRunner by FedEx. FedEx's first consumer-facing ecommerce native app. Designed, built and shipped in six months.
Latest Projects
5 projects- 2026Expedia Comms ManagerStaff Experience Designer & Strategist (Lead)TravelSee the work
- 2025Vrbo AI Penalty BoxStaff Product DesignerTravelSee the work
- 2023ShopRunner by FedExLead UX DesignerEcommerce, LogisticsSee the work
- 2021Charity NavigatorLead UX DesignerNonprofitSee the work
- 2020Pollo TropicalSenior Experience DesignerQuick Service RestaurantSee the work
02Skills
From the whiteboard to the codebase.
This job is a little like playing chess, being Sherlock Holmes, and serving as a therapist all at once. I frame the problem, design the experience, and build it — with AI woven into every step, from first question to shipped product.
The stack
What I actually work in, day to day — and how it all fits together.
- Figma Make
- User Research
- Design Systems
- Accessibility
- Miro
- GitHub
- Agentic Workflows
- Product Strategy
- Cursor
- Claude
- Amplitude
- Figma MCP
- Figma
- UserTesting
- Claude Code
- AI tools & workflows
- Design & delivery tools
- Practices
03About
Who's
Derek?
Curious by default. I can zoom into the pixels and zoom out to the business model without losing either one.
I'm empathetic by nature, which is probably why I ended up in a field that's fundamentally about understanding what other people actually need. My entire life I've advocated for my sister, who has special needs, and that's shaped how I see my role: the products I work on reach millions of people, and designing for accessibility and inclusion is one way I make sure the design I lead improves humanity.
I'm a Staff Product Designer building AI-native products that make people's lives measurably easier. When I'm not working, you can find me spinnin' on the decks, fly fishing, snowboarding, or traveling to new cities and trying foods I may not know how to pronounce. If you want to talk about work, ideas, or travel, reach out.
Off the clock
Behind the decks 
On the river 
First chair 
Somewhere new
04References
In their words.
Derek is one of those rare designers who makes genuinely hard problems look easy—not because he simplifies them, but because he thinks at a level most people don't. During his time at Expedia Group, Derek led the UX for one of our most complex AI initiatives... The numbers were remarkable—90%+ reduction in time-to-market, 40%+ operational efficiency gains, $100M+ in combined revenue and cost impact—but what I remember most is how Derek earned trust across every team he touched.
05Contact