PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING
TESSA CASHWELL
Product Designer | Product Builder | Product Strategy | Fintech & Enterprise SaaS
SUMMARY
Product Designer with 6 years of experience building fintech and enterprise SaaS platforms across the full arc of product development, from stakeholder discovery to shipped code. Combines product strategy, UX, and the ability to output functional code that gives development teams a working starting point rather than static specs.
Served as the founding designer at a payments analytics company, building the design function entirely from scratch: design system, research practice, documentation standards, and handoff process included. Works across complex, regulated financial domains where translating business requirements and user needs into clear product direction is the job, not an afterthought. Uses AI-assisted tools including Figma Make and Claude Code to close the gap between design and engineering and accelerate delivery cycles.
CORE COMPETENCIES
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Rapid Prototyping
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Functional Code Output
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Design Systems Architecture
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Fintech & Payments UX
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Data Visualization & Analytics UX
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0-to-1 Product Development
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AI & ML Product Integration
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User Research & Usability Testing
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Cross-Functional Collaboration
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Requirements Writing
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Stakeholder Presentations
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Developer Handoff & Documentation
EXPERIENCE
Product Designer, CareRev | October 2022 - December 2023
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Designed across two healthcare workforce applications: a mobile-first experience for per diem clinicians and a web platform for hospital facility administrators, balancing the distinct needs of both user groups.
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Identified a gap in the contract experience, wrote the requirements, designed the solution, and shipped a rapid contract workflow that generated over $70,000 in revenue within its first month.
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Took on full design ownership across two products following multiple reductions in force, maintaining quality and continuity without missing a single delivery commitment.
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Used Sprig, Maze, UserTesting.com, and Lookback to run usability testing and identify drop-off points in onboarding and shift booking flows, then iterated based on findings to improve completion rates.
Product Designer, Method | October 2021 - October 2022
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Designed digital products across healthcare, financial services, and energy sectors for a consultancy, working across multiple client engagements simultaneously.
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Worked directly with clients including Wells Fargo and Walgreens to translate complex enterprise requirements into clear, scalable product solutions, facilitating stakeholder workshops throughout.
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Established detailed documentation and annotation standards that became the baseline for developer handoff across client projects.
Product Designer, Xceleration | December 2019 - October 2021
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Designed incentive and rewards platforms for enterprise clients, working within technical constraints while maintaining strong UX standards and meeting each client's specific business needs.
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Contributed to a shared design system and client intake process that shortened onboarding time for new engagements.
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Collaborated closely with engineering and client partner teams throughout build cycles, developing a foundation in cross-functional collaboration and production-ready handoff.
Product Designer, Optimized Payments | April 2024 – Present
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Joined as the founding and only designer; built the entire design ecosystem from the ground up, including a component library of 250+ elements adopted across 2 product platforms and 2 engineering teams, plus documentation standards, research process, and developer handoff workflow.
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Led discovery sessions with merchant clients and internal stakeholders to surface business requirements, identify user friction points, and shape product priorities alongside the executive team.
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Drove the 0-to-1 redesign of the core payments analytics platform covering transaction monitoring, authorization rate dashboards, dispute tracking, and financial KPI reporting for enterprise clients.
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Wrote product requirements and ran cross-functional workshops to align engineering, product, and marketing on roadmap priorities, contributing directly to quarterly planning and sprint cycles.
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Used Figma Make and AI-assisted tools to produce functional code outputs that gave developers a working starting point rather than static specs, shortening feedback loops and accelerating delivery cycles.
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Designed and shipped AI-powered features including anomaly detection and a conversational chatbot for financial insights, collaborating closely with ML engineers on interaction patterns and edge cases.
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Designed the platform experience used by over 100 clients to monitor and optimize card processing, supporting analysis of 33B transactions and $792B in sales volume.
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Presented product strategy, research findings, and design direction to executive leadership on a regular cadence.
SKILLS & TOOLS
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Design & Prototyping: Figma, UXPin, Framer, Adobe Creative Suite
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Research & Testing: Sprig, Maze, UserTesting.com, FullStory, Amplitude, usability testing, stakeholder interviews
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Product & Strategy: Miro, FigJam, Notion, Atlassian, Requirements writing, PRD documentation, roadmap planning, agile workflows, workshop facilitation
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Development Collaboration: Working knowledge of HTML, CSS & JavaScript; Cursor, VS Code, Lovable, Claude Code, Replit, Storybook
EDUCATION
Thomas Edison State University | Bachelor’s Degree
PROFICIENT IN













