Role
Head of Design - 2022-2024
Contribution
Operational & Strategic Leadership, Design Innovation, Whitespace Thinking, Business Impact, Executive Influence, Cross-functional Collaboration.
Team
Achieving growth through strategic design leadership to reach 100M Users in 5 years. By incorporating a new design methodology and improving the working model, we were able to reach 67M new users in two years.
67M
New User Acquisition
40%
Increase in Offer Take Rate
$430M
Increased Conversion
46%
Growth in Monthly Active Users
About CreditWise
CreditWise is a free credit monitoring tool designed to help users understand, track, and improve their credit health. Backed by Capital One, it provides personalized credit score updates, tailored financial education content, dark web alerts, and relevant product recommendations. By simplifying complex financial information and using data-driven insights, CreditWise empowers millions of users to make more informed decisions about their financial futures, ultimately fostering trust, confidence, and long-term engagement.
Situation
When I joined as Head of Design at CreditWise, the organization stood at a pivotal crossroads. We needed to scale from a well-known credit monitoring app into a fully realized credit wellness platform—one that not only attracted 100M users by 2028 but also deepened engagement, improved Net Promoter Score (NPS), and increased revenue through marketplace offers. Despite its potential, CreditWise faced several challenges:
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A lack of alignment between design, product, and technology teams.
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Limited understanding and buy-in for human-centered design principles.
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Inefficient delivery processes leading to delayed time-to-market.
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Designers operating reactively rather than as strategic drivers of experience.
Additionally, our business objectives were bold:
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Grow the user base to 100M by 2028.
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Deepen engagement by increasing 90-day MAU retention by 20%.
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Drive 2M NABs annually and generate $500M in yearly revenue.
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Increase the NPS from 60 to 70 by 2024.
Context
CreditWise is a free credit monitoring tool that offers users credit education, dark web alerts, and personalized offer recommendations. The goal was to focus on new user acquisition, improve team efficiency, and define a product vision that would foster growth and reach ambitious targets. At the time, the team faced several challenges: a lack of cohesive delivery processes, insufficient collaboration, unclear OKRs, and a need to enhance the quality of design and accessibility.
Challenges
When I joined, the CreditWise design team faced challenges across several dimensions:
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Ambitious Growth Goals: We needed to deliver a five-year growth roadmap to reach 100 million users by 2028.
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Productivity and Collaboration Gaps: Misalignment between product, design, and technology limited the team’s ability to deliver efficiently.
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Lack of Design Excellence: The absence of structured design standards and accessibility reviews often led to compromised user experiences.
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Team Dynamics: The design team was transitioning from its forming to norming stages. I needed to assess and establish effective team rituals, strengthen cross-functional partnerships, and bring back a sense of pride and ownership to the team.
Task
My mission was to embed human-centered design into the organizational DNA, improve design quality and velocity, and rally stakeholders around a shared vision. I aimed to:
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Gain cross-functional buy-in for UX as a strategic differentiator.
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Introduce robust research practices to anchor product decisions in user insights.
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Implement scalable design frameworks and systems that speed time-to-market.
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Elevate the design team’s role from reactive executors to proactive, strategic partners.
Action
I took a series of targeted steps to drive transformation and deliver on ambitious business goals
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Stakeholder Alignment Workshops: Led sessions with product, tech, and marketing leaders to map out business priorities, customer pain points, and growth opportunities.
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UX 101 Sessions: Educated leaders on human-centered design principles, using industry benchmarks and user research examples to illustrate ROI.
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Research Tower Creation: Established a dedicated research arm to generate continuous user insights, including competitive analysis, diary studies, and feature validation sessions.
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Dual-Track Agile Model: Balanced rapid discovery with steady delivery, allowing teams to test ideas swiftly while maintaining a reliable production cadence.
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Gravity Design System: Adopted a robust design system to streamline component reuse, reducing landing page creation time from months to mere weeks.
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New Frameworks for Product Scoping: Introduced standardized briefs and product scoping templates, ensuring cross-functional alignment and strategic decision-making at the earliest stages.
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Discovery Committee: Formed a cross-functional group to prioritize high-impact features like AI-driven credit coaching and multi-scenario simulations.
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Executive Engagement: Leveraged quarterly strategy updates to share research findings, highlight successful UX interventions, and set future strategic direction.
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Cross-Functional Partnerships: Fostered strong relationships with enterprise design, brand creative, and outbound marketing teams, uniting efforts behind the credit wellness mission.
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Design Standards & Audits: Implemented accessibility best practices (WCAG 2.1) and regular critiques to ensure design excellence and inclusivity.
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Continuous Improvement Loop: Embedded user testing within the product cycle to maintain a user-first perspective, driving higher satisfaction and retention.
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RESULTS
67M
New User Acquisition
46%
Growth in MAU
$430M+
Increased Conversion
72NPS
Increased NPS score
Results
67M
New User Acquisition
46%
Growth in Monthly Active Users
$430M+
Increased Conversion
72NPS
Increased NPS score
By shifting the mindset from “design as an afterthought” to “design as a strategic differentiator,” we achieved:
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User Growth: Expanded the user base to 67M in just two years, well on the path to the 100M target.
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Enhanced Engagement: Increased Monthly Active Users (MAU) by 46% and tripled early sign-ins, enriching the user experience and retention.
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Marketplace Revenue: Generated $430M+ annually by launching eight 3rd-party offers and improving card, bank, and auto loan offer adoption.
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NPS Improvement: Raised NPS to 72, exceeding the original goal of 70 and validating that user-centric strategies drove stronger brand advocacy.
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Operational Efficiency: Reduced design and development cycles dramatically, enabling the team to deliver 25 personalized landing pages in 8 months—a 75% reduction in time-to-market compared to previous efforts.
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Delivered 7 new features, and contributed new components and capabilities to the global Capital One Design system.
Most importantly, these outcomes validated the power of human-centered design as a core business strategy. Leaders who once questioned UX investment became champions of user insights. The design team evolved into a respected, proactive force guiding strategic decision-making. Ultimately, these changes not only delivered short-term wins but also set a durable foundation for ongoing innovation, user trust, and sustainable growth.
"I worked under David for 2 years on the CreditWise product. Prior to his leading our team, our design scope and direction were unclear. Once he joined our team, he set standards with our partners for working with design and was able to align with stakeholders on clear priorities and roadmaps. As a new designer, I truly appreciated his guidance. David is an amazing leader who not only excels at his craft, but also effortlessly guides strategy conversations. He was able to elevate our design work with our partners and emphasize the value that our team brought. He also always provided honest, constructive feedback to help me improve and I feel my skills as a designer grew drastically because of this. I would happily work with David again."- Valerie Fox
TESTIMONIALS
"David has been an exemplary leader when I worked under him. He consistently had the team’s well-being in mind, inspired us to do our best work and gave us the space to grow. He never spoon fed us the answers: he listened, asked questions, pushed us to think analytically and what user problems we were trying to solve. He allowed us to present work to stakeholders, guiding us in how to communicate and craft stories. He was deeply involved in long term vision, working with partners to develop roadmaps that spanned the next decade. He was a champion of his team and design, and elevated us as strategic partners that helped craft intent and shape the portfolio. With David, I can confidently say he is one of the best leads I’ve had the privilege to work under and I owe a lot of my management skills to him. Any team would be lucky to have him as he can contribute so much and has such versatility, whether it’s UX/UI design, marketing, strategy, management, branding, app development. He runs the full circuit." - Danny Machado
TESTIMONIALS
David not only has all the foundational skills expected of a senior designer, but he's also the partner you'd want to have to help drive the best outcomes for your business and customers. David is proficient across the design process from discovery to delivery and has proven results working in collaboration with cross-functional teams. In particular, during his time leading our CreditWise design team, David was instrumental in launching new features such as a redesigned first-time user experience (FTUX), including a dynamic task tracker, as well as a "credit goals" MVP that provides actionable insights to customers so they may improve their credit score. Moreover, David's direct reports consistently shared feedback that reinforced David's commitment to being an empowering, inclusive, and inspiring leader. - Brekan Kohlitz
TESTIMONIALS
"David has had a big impact on CreditWise design since joining. He has established a solid design process for generating intent and he's been a very helpful thought partner for understanding & solving the challenges tech and design have faced. Because of his influence and leadership the engagement team is closer than ever to creating a robust, strategically aligned product roadmap." - Patrick Kee, Director of Technology
TESTIMONIALS
“I have found David to be an excellent partner on the CreditWise team. He is super knowledgeable of our product and our customer base, a pleasure to work with (responsive, positive / can-do attitude, intellectually curious) and brings thoughtful and insightful ideas / contributions to Product and broader CreditWise Leadership Team meetings.”- Sarah Reynolds, Sr. Director Product
TESTIMONIALS
"David consistently supports team members in driving results and communicating high-level strategy. His leadership has been instrumental in breaking down barriers to collaboration, ensuring we’re always focused on the highest-value work." - KR Ling, Director Product
TESTIMONIALS
Selected CreditWise Projects
Empower users to reach financial milestones (e.g., raising credit scores, qualifying for better loans).
Credit Improvement Goal Setting Feature
CreditWise Projects
These featured projects exemplify how a recalibrated operational model, strategic leadership, and cross-functional co-creation elevated the design practice at CreditWise. By blending human-centered design, data-driven insights, and continuous iteration, we delivered initiatives that not only advanced business goals but also resonated deeply with our users. Each project represents a milestone in building a more innovative, user-focused culture and achieving long-term, sustainable success.
Mobile App Early Engagement (FTUX) Strategy
Led a redesign of the CreditWise onboarding experience to address a significant drop-off in early user engagement, focusing on personalization and reducing friction. By developing and testing three onboarding concepts, the new FTUX aimed to boost the 90-day retention rate by 20%, with early feedback showing improved user satisfaction and higher engagement.
Moments That Matter - CreditWise SEO Strategy
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CreditWise Simulator Redesign
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