About Austin
I'm a product designer with twelve years of experience turning complex problems into clear, usable interfaces, from caregiver tools at Careforth to pet pharmacy at Chewy. I care about the details, and just as much about how design fits into the bigger picture, so I work closely with developers and product teams to ship work that holds up. Whether I'm building systems, refining flows or jumping into code to understand a constraint, I like being in the full process. I listen first, think critically and lead by staying in the work, always looking for ways to make things better for users, for teams and for the work itself.
— Austin Soares
Experience
I'm not just a designer — I'm a partner. I work best in the messy middle: when the product is still being shaped, when the problems aren't fully defined, and when the team needs someone who can think broadly and act precisely.
I've shipped for early-stage startups and scaled systems for teams of 40+ engineers. I've collaborated with founders, PMs, and engineers to turn fuzzy ideas into robust features. And I've led design on everything from mindfulness apps and caregiver platforms to iOS shopping experiences.
I bring an engineering mindset to my design work. I write front-end code, understand system constraints, and often prototype directly in SwiftUI or the browser to stress-test ideas. I make things real—and easier to build.
What I'm known for
Product discovery
Zero-to-One thinking
Systems thinking from concept to code
Web, iOS, Android and macOS design
Full design system architecture
Tight design-dev collaboration
Documentation
Building/scaling design systems
Service Design
HTML, SCSS, JS and SwiftUI
Accessible, responsive, performant UI
Productive workshops and actionable feedback
Pragmatic and explorative
Mentorship, clarity, and smooth teamwork
Where I've been
At Full Nelsen, I lead design for startups and growing teams to lead end-to-end design—from early discovery to dev handoff. Recent highlights include a modular system builder for SimpliSafe and a full app redesign for Ten Percent Happier.
At Careforth, I shaped caregiver support tools in a complex, regulated space, improving engagement by 30% and launching a unified design system that streamlined development across platforms.
At Chewy, I owned the iOS experience, driving an 18% boost in installs with a full redesign and launching their first iPad app—expanding the platform and opening new customer channels.
Before that, at iFactory, I led design across 80+ higher ed sites, gaining deep experience in accessibility, responsive systems, and collaborative delivery.