Nicole Nussbaum
Impact-driven Product Design Leader, designing products people love to use, and teams that make it happen.
Brooklyn, NY
Experience
Director, Product Design
Sr. Manager, Product Design
Rakuten Rewards
2024 – Present
Leading design across two business units — from shopping trip conversion to payouts. Spearheading vision work, craft direction, establishing new workflows, and building AI fluency across a team of 4 Product Designers and 2 Content Designers.
Product Design Manager
Lead Product Designer
Senior Product Designer
AbleTo (acquired by Optum)
2020 – 2024
Grew from Senior Product Designer to leading the consumer design team — hiring 4 designers and managing a team of 6, shipping two 0-1 products, influencing product strategy across our product suite, and retaining headcount through an acquisition.
Senior Product Designer
Meetup
2018 – 2020
Designed across the end-to-end member journey — from discovering and evaluating events to RSVPing, and closing the loop with a feedback system that continuously improved how members found the right fit.
Product Designer
ClassPass
2016 – 2018
Designed features across both the consumer and studio-facing apps — helping people choose the right plan, discover and evaluate classes, invite friends along, and feel great about their achievements.
Product Designer
MeYou Health
2015–2016
Owned design for web and mobile app “Walkadoo”, building features from concept to completion in order to help people make small but meaningful changes to their lives by setting and tracking walking goals.
UX Designer
PayPal
2013–2015
Designed and developed emails and geo-targeted mobile advertisements compatible across all clients, browsers, and devices.
About
Hi, I'm Nicole!
I'm a problem solver at my core, relentless about asking "why?" and understanding context before jumping to solutions. I care deeply about craft, about growing the people around me, and about product strategy that actually moves the needle.
Outside of work, I've spent time building off screen — from a UX/UI mentorship program with Emergent Works to create pathways to tech for formerly incarcerated people, to playing bass in local punk bands, volunteering with Girls Rock camps, and teaching yoga.