About

A woman with long curly dark hair, wearing hoop earrings and a black top, smiling at the camera with a city skyline in the background on a clear day.

I'm Cassondra Hegyes, a Senior Product Designer specializing in complex B2B SaaS platforms and operational workflow systems. I work on products where the experience is not just about screens but how systems behave across teams, workflows, and real-world constraints, including self-service quoting tools, multi-role operational platforms, and AI-assisted product systems.

My work spans compliance-sensitive, multi-role environments where lifecycle workflows, system visibility, and measurable KPIs directly impact how reliably teams operate and how confidently they make decisions.

At Ship Smart, I led the transformation of the platform, unifying fragmented internal and customer-facing tools into a single operational system that supports quoting, fulfillment, vendor coordination, and customer communication. By introducing clear lifecycle workflows, shared interaction patterns, and measurable product metrics, the platform became easier for teams to operate and more reliable for customers, while strengthening the operational systems that underpin the business. A critical output of this work was an AI-assisted conversation system built from analysis of 2,783 live chat transcripts, which turned a previously passive channel into an active acquisition and service tool, driving 173% growth in live chat engagement.

Impact at Ship Smart

  • 173% increase in digital engagement

  • 60% reduction in status-related support demand

  • 92% vendor compliance through accountability-driven dashboards

  • 24% increase in quote completion and 18% increase in conversion

  • ~30% year-over-year revenue growth supported by improved platform reliability

I design role-based dashboards, workflow-driven interfaces, and operational tooling for environments where sales teams, operations staff, vendors, and customers all interact with the same system in different ways. Small workflow improvements in these environments directly impact revenue, operational efficiency, and customer experience

Each project begins with questions. How does the system actually work? Where does ownership break down? Where does friction build across roles?

Before designing screens, I map workflows, responsibilities, and failure points across teams to understand how the system behaves in practice. That process often reveals where small issues compound into larger operational problems and where product decisions can create clearer ownership, stronger workflows, and more reliable outcomes. Once the system dynamics are clear, the interface design becomes far more effective.

Before moving into SaaS platforms, I co-invented and scaled a consumer product from concept to national retail distribution, later expanding the business through licensing partnerships. Working across manufacturing, supply chain, retail distribution, and licensing taught me how design decisions impact real operational systems and business outcomes, which is where systems-first thinking became foundational to how I approach product design.

I hold a Master of Science in Human-Centered Design from Brandeis University and am a co-inventor on three U.S. patents.

To me, good UX is good business when systems work clearly and reliably for the people who depend on them.

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Work Experience

Senior Product Designer

Led platform transformation across a multi-stakeholder logistics system, establishing lifecycle workflow architecture, role-based permissions, pricing consolidation, and KPI instrumentation across acquisition and fulfillment workflows. Designed and configured an AI-assisted conversation system built from analysis of 2,783 live chat transcripts, turning a passive channel into an active acquisition tool, driving 173% engagement growth.

Ship Smart, Inc. · 2020–Present

Senior Product Designer & Co-Inventor

Led 0–1 development of a patented consumer product platform, balancing product design, manufacturing governance, retail distribution, and IP licensing across regulated environments.

Bloomers! Edutainment 2013–2019

Core Capabilities

  • Workflow and lifecycle design · State and permissions modeling · Role-based systems · System-of-record design · AI-assisted conversation design · Knowledge base architecture

  • Decision-support systems · Operational dashboards · Multi-party coordination · Pricing architecture · Workflow governance

  • KPI definition · Funnel integrity · Data-informed design · Conversion optimization

  • Product strategy · Cross-functional alignment · Roadmap influence · Design systems governance

  • Figma · Jira · Google Analytics · Airtable · SendGrid · LiveChat · UserTesting · Chat Transcript Analysis

Credentials & Qualifications

  • Master of Science, Human-Centered Design — Brandeis University

    Bachelor of Arts. Film & Digital Media — University of California, Santa Cruz

  • Co-Inventor on 3 U.S. Patents — USD724480-S, US10499569-B2, US11324170-B2

    Startup Chile Innovation Grant — Selected for a $40,000 grant recognizing product innovation, operational rigor, and international scale potential.

    Google Ad Grant Recipient — Managed and optimized a six-figure Google Ad Grant program, structuring campaigns around product funnel stages and acquisition performance

    Stanford International Design Challenge Finalist — Recognized for human-centered systems thinking and structured problem framing in complex user environments.