Nate Tanemori

About Nate Tanemori

OPENTOWORKI’m a Product Designer who makes complex systems actually work under the hood. I turn technical logic into clear, usable product behavior and scalable systems. With over 15 years of design expertise — including 5+ years of end-to-end product leadership — I bridge the gap between brand, product, and system architecture. Simply put, I turn chaos into clarity AND trust.STRATEGIC AUTONOMY:I thrive in small-to-mid-sized teams where designers have real agency. I am often the first or only designer on a project, responsible for defining the full scope — from architecture through interaction models — from zero.SYSTEMS THINKING ROOTED IN CRAFT:What distinguishes my approach is a systems-driven perspective rooted in brand. I don’t just design interfaces; I build scalable design languages that reduce cognitive load and ensure that what gets built holds up under real-world complexity. This allows me to ensure the product experience reflects the brand\'s core values, whether I\'m working with a startup or a global enterprise.DEEP DOMAIN EXPERIENCE:I have spent the last several years solving challenges in high-velocity product/UX environments:• AI & EMERGING TECH: Designing conversational interaction patterns, prompt design, and AI-assisted workflows that feel intuitive.• ENTERPRISE B2B & SAAS: Designing dashboards and API integration diagrams that clarify technical infrastructure for users.• FINTECH & LENDING: Optimizing complex data-dense workflows and financial application funnels to drive measurable conversion.THE THROUGH-LINE:Clarity is the objective in everything I do — in decisions, trade-offs, and execution. My goal is to help product, brand, and business speak the same language to build experiences that people trust.LONG TERM:I’m growing toward Staff or Principal IC roles — shaping strategy, influencing without authority, and helping product, brand, and business speak the same to full-time, contract, consulting, or select freelance engagements. Remote-first preferred; open to hybrid in the South Bay/San Jose area.While my recent work has centered on product and UX, I am a generalist at heart who thinks and executes across disciplines. My background spans the broader design spectrum — including brand systems, visual storytelling, presentation design, and digital experiences.

Experience

1. Design Lead (Fractional)

   Cardinaltalent.Ai

   Feb 2025 — Present · Palo Alto, CA, US

   AI-powered talent acquisition platform leveraging LLMs and predictive analytics to automate candidate sourcing and matching for high-growth tech teams.• STRATEGIC PRODUCT VISION: Serving as a fractional lead guiding the post-MVP evolution of the platform, overseeing product vision, AI interaction strategy, and scalable UI systems.• AI & CONVERSATIONAL DESIGN: Refining conversational workflows and interaction patterns for recruiter and candidate experiences, including prompt strategies, personas, and state modeling to improve task clarity.• BRAND & VISUAL IDENTITY: Leading a comprehensive brand refresh, including the redesign of the logo and core mark to align the visual identity with the product’s AI-driven evolution.• FULL-SPECTRUM CREATIVE EXECUTION: Redesigning exterior and interior web pages; developing high-conversion landing pages, email templates, and presentation decks, while creating custom illustrations to establish brand identity.• PERFORMANCE & METRICS: Refining AI interaction models to reduce user friction, resulting in increased candidate completion rates and improved web usability.• DATA VISUALIZATION: Redesigning recruiter dashboards with actionable pipeline indicators and visual summaries to surface critical insights from complex data sets.• CROSS-FUNCTIONAL ALIGNMENT: Creating product ecosystem diagrams, logic flows, and visual architecture models to align engineering, marketing, and founding teams.• SCALABLE CRAFT: Building and evolving foundational Figma component libraries and visual frameworks to ensure a cohesive and scalable interface across the entire platform.• STRATEGIC AUTONOMY: Operating independently in a high-ambiguity environment, partnering directly with founders to influence product direction and validate decisions.

Education

• The University of Texas at Austin

  Certificate, Industrial and Product Design

• San José State University

  Bachelors, Graphic Design

Skills

• Instructional Design
• Premiere
• Interaction Design
• Drawing
• Photography
• Brand Development
• Technical Writing
• Corporate Identity
• Adobe Acrobat
• Advertising
• Wordpress Design
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Illustration
• Mac
• Packaging
• After Effects
• Motion Graphics
• Photoshop
• Animation
• Flash
• Direct Mail
• 3d Modeling
• Video
• Retouching
• Graphic Design
• Branding & Identity
• Art
• Marketing Communications
• Dreamweaver
• Illustrator
• Microsoft Office
• Keynote
• Copywriting
• Typography
• Web Design
• Art Direction
• User Interface Design
• Logo Design
• Graphics
• Html + Css