Sophie Shepherd

Sophie Shepherd

Austin, TX

sophshep@gmail.com

sophshep@gmail.com

LinkedIn

LinkedIn

GitHub

GitHub

About me

About me

👋 Hi, I’m Sophie. I'm a product design leader with over 10 years of experience.

I most recently spent three years at Stripe, leading the “money-as-a-service” design org. At Stripe, I learned a lot about financial infrastructure, APIs, trust, and security. Most importantly, I learned that I love building teams made up of fun people who really, really care about the details.

Prior to this, I spent six years at GitHub. At GitHub, I learned how to lead teams through big changes, and that I am motivated by building tools for fellow builders.

I pride myself in my ability to break big, complex problems down into manageable chunks, and that I always put people—both colleagues and users—first.

I am currently taking a sabbatical to travel around the world with my family. I will be looking for full time work again in Spring of 2026.

Experience

Experience

Remote

Stripe

2022 – 2025

Head of design, Money-as-a-service org

  • Led a team of 12 designers working across many products and surfaces: Platform experience, Risk, Connect embedded components, Tax reporting, Storage, Payouts, Card issuing, Capital financing, and Crypto. These products were used by over 90% of Stripe users, and accounted for over 60% of Stripe's payment volume.

  • Accountable for all team output, from ensuring UI quality to defining and communicating a multi-year product vision

  • Dotted line leadership of supporting functions: user research and content design

  • Maintained a sustainable high-performance culture—this was not only the most impressive team I've ever built, but also the most fun

Remote

Stripe

2022 – 2025

Head of design, Money-as-a-service org

  • Led a team of 12 designers working across many products and surfaces: Platform experience, Risk, Connect embedded components, Tax reporting, Storage, Payouts, Card issuing, Capital financing, and Crypto. These products were used by over 90% of Stripe users, and accounted for over 60% of Stripe's payment volume.

  • Accountable for all team output, from ensuring UI quality to defining and communicating a multi-year product vision

  • Dotted line leadership of supporting functions: user research and content design

  • Maintained a sustainable high-performance culture—this was not only the most impressive team I've ever built, but also the most fun

Remote

GitHub

2015 – 2022

Staff Product Design Manager

  • Led the designers responsible for core surfaces (Pull requests, Issues, Projects, account management), 0-1 products (Sponsors, Codespaces, Discussions), and GitHub's first iOS and Android apps.

  • Worked through acquisitions, including overseeing integration of MSFT designers into the GitHub team.

  • Contributed components (inc. design, code, and documentation) to our core design system, Primer

  • In adition to Product Design leadership, I oversaw the web designers responsible for github.com and docs.

Remote

GitHub

2015 – 2022

Staff Product Design Manager

  • Led the designers responsible for core surfaces (Pull requests, Issues, Projects, account management), 0-1 products (Sponsors, Codespaces, Discussions), and GitHub's first iOS and Android apps.

  • Worked through acquisitions, including overseeing integration of MSFT designers into the GitHub team.

  • Contributed components (inc. design, code, and documentation) to our core design system, Primer

  • In adition to Product Design leadership, I oversaw the web designers responsible for github.com and docs.

Remote

Ushahidi

2014 – 2015

Product Designer / Front-End Developer

  • Led redesign of Ushahidi's core platform

  • Created and built Ushahidi's design system

Remote

Ushahidi

2014 – 2015

Product Designer / Front-End Developer

  • Led redesign of Ushahidi's core platform

  • Created and built Ushahidi's design system

Austin, TX

Happy Cog

2010 – 2014

Designer

  • Led redesigns of many websites across many industries and clients, such as: Harvard University, Ben & Jerry's, MTV, Coldwell Banker, Lagunitas Brewing, and AMC Theatres

  • Led workshops with clients & conducted user testing

Austin, TX

Happy Cog

2010 – 2014

Designer

  • Led redesigns of many websites across many industries and clients, such as: Harvard University, Ben & Jerry's, MTV, Coldwell Banker, Lagunitas Brewing, and AMC Theatres

  • Led workshops with clients & conducted user testing

Education

Education

New York, NY

Long ago

BFA, Film

New York University

I thought I wanted to be a cinematographer but then I realized I was not passionate enough to make up for the long hours and networking required. But I still dream about returning to filmmaking some day, and I'd love to nerd out about recent movies with you!

New York, NY

Long ago

BFA, Film

New York University

I thought I wanted to be a cinematographer but then I realized I was not passionate enough to make up for the long hours and networking required. But I still dream about returning to filmmaking some day, and I'd love to nerd out about recent movies with you!