About me
I'm Ben Rowe, a product designer who still likes to roll up my sleeves and build things.
I've spent over a decade working across startups, scale-ups, and large organisations - from early stage designer to staff IC. Over time, I've learned that good product design still comes down to fundamentals: clear thinking, strong systems, and careful craft.
I'm originally from near Melbourne, Australia, and moved to San Francisco almost three years ago. I still wake up feeling grateful that this is the work I get to do.
Designing at the edge of AI
My recent work has been focused on what happens when AI enters high-stakes environments. At Block, I designed AI-first tools for customer support - copilots, agentic workflows, and the systems that make them trustworthy inside real operations.
I'm fascinated by the relationship between trust and autonomy. When software can reason and act, the interface becomes a negotiation layer. What should the system do on its own? When should it wait? How does confidence get communicated without overwhelming people? These questions sit at the centre of everything I design.
Systems thinking, always
At heart, I'm a systems thinker. I gravitate toward strong information architecture, reusable components, and mental models that scale. Whether it's object-oriented UX, modular interfaces, or evolving design systems - I like bringing order to complexity so products feel calm and coherent.
My design process is heavily influenced by Jobs to Be Done and Object-Oriented UX. I also believe in designing across different horizons ... to understand the future vision, then deciding on the minimum lovable product to ship today. I work in both high and low fidelity, and I think moving between the two is where the best design decisions happen.
How I work
The design tooling landscape has shifted more in the last two years than in the decade before it. I've leaned into that change rather than resisting it.
Working at an AI-first company meant constantly rethinking how I design, prototype, and test ideas. AI has reshaped the process itself. I use it daily as a thinking partner, a rapid builder, and an accelerator for craft.
Right now my core toolkit includes:
Claude Code
Cursor
Figma
Goose
Todoist
Capcities
V0
Linear
On the side, I've also been building web apps, and even native iOS apps with SwiftUI - something I never thought I'd be able to say. Side projects have become a core part of how I stay sharp and explore new tools. Must admit, I'm having more fun in my career than ever before.
What I'm looking for
I'm exploring both founding designer roles and senior IC positions (lead, staff, principal) where I can shape AI-first products from the ground up. I'm drawn to teams that are building something genuinely new — where design has real leverage on the product direction.
I'm based in San Francisco and open to roles in the Bay Area, Melbourne, Sydney, or remote.