Proposal Pilot

My Role

As Head of Design, I was responsible for the end-to-end user experience of Proposal Pilot and all design initiatives to support the creation and launch of the product. I:

• Defined the UX vision and product strategy in collaboration with founders.

• Led UX research, and created high-fidelity design for the core platform.

• Worked closely with CTO and Chief of AI to collaborate on the build of our platform and define user flows and needs with scalability at the forefront.

• Built scalable design systems for product and marketing.

• Led design for Turingon’s brand and go-to-market presence.

• Recruited and strategized with Board of Advisors to craft competitive and compelling product for our niche users.

• Mentored a small cross-functional team and embedded design as a strategic function across the company.

My Approach

Rooted in Research

I began with extensive user interviews and online research—talking to proposal managers, compliance officers, small business owners in the GovCon space. I flew to Washington D.C. to meet with a board of leaders in the federal proposal space. My focus was on uncovering the problems and friction in the industry, uncover what was working well among our competitors and what goals were truly important to this audience. These conversations revealed consistent pain points:

• Major painpoints around time, expense, bandwidth, and compliance in writing RFPs

• No flexible tooling to handle different team structures or contract types

• Compliance errors often found too late in the process

• Overreliance on manual workarounds and legacy systems

• A general distrust in AI among contractors and fear of security issues

These insights shaped both product scope and interaction strategy.

Designing for Complexity and Scale

Government contractors don’t work one way. A key design challenge was building a system that could serve small business teams and prime contractors equally well. I focused on modular workflows and smart defaults that allowed customization without overwhelming the user.

The result: A UX foundation that supports varied org structures and evolving needs.

AI with Boundaries

I led the UX for AI-powered features across Proposal Pilot, working closely with engineers to shape how our custom LLM would be integrated into the platform. My goal was to design experiences that made AI feel like a trusted collaborator—not a black box. This meant ensuring interactions were intuitive, transparent, and easy to interrupt or override.

I created interaction models that supported:

• Human-in-the-loop workflows that guide users without removing control

• Modular AI components that flex to different team sizes and proposal types

• Smart prompting interfaces for generating outlines, narratives, and pricing strategies

• Transparent compliance review flows with explainable AI annotations

• AI-generated suggestions that users can refine, reject, or customize

• Safeguarded access to proprietary data via a company-trained, secure private LLM

Beyond Proposal Pilot's core RFP builder, I helped define a vision for future AI UX across our suite—including capture strategy, grants, pricing, and team matching tools. These systems had to work across enterprise and small business use cases, and my design ensured they were flexible, efficient, and grounded in trust.

See Proposal Pilot’s AI-powered features in action in the short demo below

Designing for Company Growth - Beyond UX

My mission as Head of Design extends beyond product UX—I use design to drive business growth across every touchpoint. Research not only informs features but also helps uncover what moves the company forward. Below are the deliverables I led that contributed directly to traction and pipeline:

• Marketing Website: Designed a clean, high-conversion site with clear demo and lead-gen pathways

• Sales Enablement: Created one-pagers, slide decks, and proposal PDFs to streamline the sales process and secure key interest.

• Brand Design: Built a visual identity and voice to convey trust and innovation in a conservative industry

• Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign: Launched and designed creative for campaigns across YouTube, Google Ads, Reddit, LinkedIn, and print for LeadGen

• Thought Leadership: Represented the company on podcasts and built visibility through strategic LinkedIn content in the GovCon AI space

• Social Media: Developed and executed a LinkedIn content strategy—creating a consistent post cadence to build industry credibility, highlight product updates, and engage our target audience with relevant, thought leadership-driven content

This work helped grow brand awareness and establish credibility with enterprise buyers—resulting in an inbound pipeline of ~10 qualified leads per week.—I focus on using design to grow the business across every touchpoint. I use research not just to inform features, but to uncover what supports company goals more broadly.

Overall, these intiatives have made design a key lever in growing our brand, building trust, and driving sales.