I'm a product designer who's spent 15+ years turning complex problems into products people actually use. I've worked across digital health, cybersecurity, and enterprise SaaS — always at the intersection of strategy, research, and craft.

Leon Penkovich
Jun 2024 – Present

Independent Projects

Product Design & UX Consultant

  • Owned end-to-end design for complex B2B products across new technical domains — from user research and ideation through high-fidelity delivery, using AI to accelerate iteration and validate decisions in real time.
  • Improved UX of a resource management game by refining core flows and HUD clarity, leveraging AI-driven prototyping to iterate faster without manual pixel work.
  • Built and refined AI-assisted design workflows, including controlling Figma directly through Claude to automate end-to-end design updates across files.

Key Skills

UX Research Product Design UX Architecture Vibe Coding
Jan 2021 – Apr 2024

Totango

Lead Product Designer

  • Reduced onboarding time by 30% through role-based, self-guided UX flows.
  • Improved platform adoption by overhauling the design system and simplifying UI patterns.
  • Drove ongoing design system redesign and maintenance, ensuring component consistency, accessibility, and scalable implementation across teams.
  • Increased workflow efficiency by up to 70% via AI-driven UX solutions.
  • Led UX research initiatives including user interviews, usability testing, and A/B testing — using data-driven decisions to identify pain points, validate concepts, and measure usability impact.

Key Skills

UX Architecture Design Systems AI-driven UX Team Leadership Competitive Research User Research
Jan 2019 – Sep 2020

Source Defence

Sr. Product Designer

  • Led UX redesign of the core platform through research, data insights, and iterative design, improving engagement and efficiency.
  • Functioned as design lead, aligning engineering, marketing, and sales around customer-centric goals.
  • Built scalable UX processes and documentation to ensure design consistency and team alignment.

Key Skills

UX Research Platform Design Product Strategy Product Marketing
Nov 2017 – Nov 2018

Ideo Digital

Head of Design

  • Managed and mentored a hybrid team of 3 designers, leading UX strategy and creative direction across projects.
  • Partnered with R&D teams to design responsive web products and digital assets for government and tech clients.
  • Collaborated with executives on budget, effort analysis, and project planning to align design strategy with business goals.

Key Skills

Team Management Product Design Responsive Web
Jan 2016 – Aug 2017

Wizecare

Lead Product Designer & Product Manager

  • Directed product design across WizeCare's multi-platform ecosystem.
  • Collaborated with the CEO and stakeholders (clinics, therapists, patients) to define features and deliver an MVP successfully launched to market.
  • Designed modular, reusable UI components to accelerate development, improve consistency, and simplify onboarding in a resource-limited startup environment.

Key Skills

Product Management UX Architecture Multi-platform Design Usability Testing User Research
Jan 2014 – Nov 2015

Netcraft

Project Lead, UX/UI Designer

  • Led most complex UX/UI design projects, driving strategic vision through client meetings from concept inception to onboarding, and contributing to winning tenders.
  • Empowered a team of new designers by providing UX/UI mentorship, ensuring seamless client interactions across diverse projects.

Key Skills

UX/UI Design Project Lead Mentoring User Research Usability Testing
Nov 2009 – Dec 2013

Studio Pop

Founder, Product Design & UX Consultant

  • Founded Studio Pop, a product design consultancy for web and digital platforms.
  • Delivered UX strategy, ideation workshops, and end-to-end product design.
  • Collaborated with clients and external partners to deliver high-impact, user-centered solutions.

Key Skills

UX Strategy Product Design Consulting
2004 — 2009

Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design

B.Des, Visual Communication · Jerusalem

Design & UX

Product Design UX Architecture UX Research Prototyping Usability Testing Design Systems Information Architecture

Strategy & Product

Product Strategy PLG & JTBD Roadmap Planning Stakeholder Management Cross-functional Leadership

AI & Tools

AI-Enhanced Design Figma Claude Gemini AI Workflow Automation
sports_basketball

Still in the Game

From league basketball to beach volleyball — sport is my reset button. Still competing, still learning what performance under pressure really means.

Still in the game
Bonus time
sports_esports

Bonus Time

Commodore 64 to PlayStation to PC. Gaming runs deep — from late-night solo sessions to couch co-op with my kids. Where play meets design most directly.

casino

Family of Dice

Board games are a family religion at our house. Phones down, dice out — just enough trash talk to keep it interesting.

Family of dice