Black and white photo of a bearded man wearing a short-sleeve shirt, looking thoughtful. He has a tattoo on his left arm and is resting his chin on his hand.

HOLA :)

LEO GONZALEZ IS A PRODUCT DESIGNER LIVING OUT OF AUSTIN

Staff Product Designer shipping the product work that moves core business metrics proven through IPO, acquisition, and every scale in between.

VIEW RESUME

HONORS AND AWARDS

NY State of Design: Web Design Winner

AIGA: American Institute of Graphic Arts
(April 2015)

awwards HONORABLE MENTION

Best new tech website & rebrand (September 2022)

SUNY NEW PALTZ ALUMNI SPEAKER

Delivered an engaging presentation to students on building a standout product design portfolio (April 2025)

I didn't always know I'd be a designer, but I've always been drawn to figuring things out and making them better for the people who use them.

That curiosity pulled me toward early-stage product teams. The first startup I joined went public. The second was acquired. It's the pattern I love: coming in early, building the design culture, process, and systems that let small teams ship like bigger ones.

Along the way, I've moved the numbers that matter—125% more enrollments at Optiwatt, $2.30 off every claim at Clyde, 11.5% conversion on a new D2C channel at XCover, 5,000+ signups in week one at AppointIt.

I design because I care. And I care because I've seen what good design can do.

MY DESIGN JOURNEY

HOW I WORK

How can I add value to your team?

I take ambiguous product problems and make them legible. The work that moves metrics rarely has a clear owner on day one. I'm the designer who pulls the thread — talking to users, unpacking the funnel, reframing the problem — so the team can ship with conviction instead of consensus-by-exhaustion.

I speak PM and engineering fluently. OKRs, PostHog funnels, usability tests, Userbrain sessions, competitive benchmarking, AI-assisted ideation — whatever is required to turn "what should we build?" into "this is why, this is how, and this is what we'll measure."

I make design compound. Program-agnostic systems at Optiwatt, pattern libraries across claims and commerce, research rituals a team can actually run without me in the room. The goal is always the same: three designers shipping like six.

The team matters more than the work, I raise the floor, not just the ceiling. Good design culture outlasts any one designer.

IF IM NOT DESIGNING…

Paddle boarding

Catch me on the lake chasing turtles, soaking up the sun, or swimming all over.
GOING TO SHOWS

Live music? Dancing? You will find me there, always on the search for good tunes.
TRAVELING

Traveling is the best form of learning, currently trying to reach 50 different countries visited.
READING

Reading is my form of meditation, getting lost in a book & taking a break from technology.