# Ari Zilnik

> Ari Zilnik is Head of Design at Join, preconstruction software for construction teams, based in Toronto. Previously founding designer at Blockdaemon, where design grew from one person to seven, and design lead at Gradle and Walmart. Prototypes in code with AI, with a team that ships the same way.

Contact: ari@zilnik.com. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azilnik/. GitHub: https://github.com/azilnik.

## About

I'm Ari. I lead design teams and ship products.

Currently, I'm Head of Design at Join, preconstruction software used by 1,000+ construction companies, including DPR and STO Building Group. Previously, I was the founding designer at Blockdaemon (crypto infrastructure valued at $3.25B, backed by Goldman Sachs and SoftBank), design lead at Gradle (developer tools for Netflix and Salesforce), and at Jet.com, which Walmart acquired for $3.3B.

My career is mainly zero-to-one: shaping undefined ideas.

At Blockdaemon, I grew the design team from one to seven. At Join, I inherited a junior team now managing research and AI prototypes independently. My approach is staying close to the work—building alongside my team and prioritizing shipping real products over presentations.

Recently, "close to the work" means coding. I use Claude Code with real data to draft models and decide what ships.

In our free time, my wife and I chase our two little girls across Toronto.

Full page: https://ari.design/about

## Case studies

Client case studies are passphrase-protected: each link below answers with a lock screen (HTTP 401) until a passphrase is entered. The titles and summaries here are the public part. To read one, email ari@zilnik.com for a passphrase.

- [Prototypes Customers Can Drive](https://ari.design/work/join-design-kit): Join. Designers and PMs who don't code build real-data prototypes customers drive.
- [Reports That Drive Decision-Making](https://ari.design/work/join-reporting): Join. A report that opens on the decisions still owed, on screen and on paper.
- [Node Deployment Flow](https://ari.design/work/blockdaemon-nodes-checkout): Blockdaemon. Node deployment as e-commerce checkout. Self-serve replaced a multi-week sales cycle — usage grew 23x.
- [Construction Scenario Comparison](https://ari.design/work/join-scenarios): Join. Side-by-side what-if comparison. Owners weigh whole packages, not hundreds of individual decisions.
- [Flexible Filtering for Developer Diagnostics](https://ari.design/work/gradle-enterprise-filtering): Gradle. One typed input for experts and beginners, not a dozen dropdowns.
- [AI Recommendation Engine](https://ari.design/work/join-ideas): Join. AI finds cost-saving material alternatives inside estimates. Pivoted from marketplace, shipped in two months.
- [Institutional Crypto Staking Dashboard](https://ari.design/work/blockdaemon-staking-and-api): Blockdaemon. Zero-to-one staking dashboard and API marketplace. Shipped while scaling the design org 1 to 7.

## Side projects

- [Telop](https://ari.design/work/telop): Side Project. A 1984 Osaka weather broadcast, rebuilt down to the tape. Live on iPhone.

## Companies

- [Join](https://join.build): Preconstruction software. Contractors, owners, and architects use Join to track what a building will cost while it's still being designed.
- [Blockdaemon](https://www.blockdaemon.com): Like AWS for crypto. Banks, exchanges, and enterprises like Goldman Sachs and Microsoft use it to deploy crypto servers and stake assets without operating their own data centers. I joined as founding designer when Blockdaemon acquired my consultancy, Gravy.
- [Gradle](https://gradle.com): Developer productivity tools. Engineering orgs like Netflix and Salesforce use Gradle Enterprise (now Develocity) to diagnose slow tests and flaky failures across thousands of daily builds.

## What colleagues say

> Ari is one of the most talented people I know. He brings a keen design expertise to every project, paired with deep empathy for the user. He's equally at home working with product, design, or engineers — most often balancing all three simultaneously.
>
> — Kevin Scott, Senior System Software Engineer, NVIDIA

> Ari is one of the strongest design leaders I've worked with. From a product management perspective, he was an exceptional partner — highly organized, detail-oriented, and deeply thoughtful, while remaining practical and collaborative throughout.
>
> — Jeanette Popiel, Senior Product Manager, Join

> Ari is an exceptional product design leader who brings clarity and vision to difficult projects. He built a supportive and collaborative environment, encouraging the team to push creative boundaries and deliver work that mattered.
>
> — Andrew Athinodorou, Lead Product Designer, Blockdaemon

> Ari significantly improved our understanding of UX issues within the main product and led our design system initiative. His understanding of design strategy and his communication skills make him an exceptional leader.
>
> — Rob Lucha, Engineering Lead, Gradle

> Ari has been a tremendous mentor throughout my journey as a designer. He offers clear, constructive feedback grounded in real-world experience, with a unique ability to really listen, understand, and provide relevant advice.
>
> — Huyen Bui, Senior UX Designer, Keller Williams

> What stands out about Ari is his desire and ability to focus on the true challenge and solve the problem in every possible way. Time and again, I have watched him be highly influential on teams and with clients in delivering excellent work.
>
> — David Drake, Project Manager, Soostone

> Ari is a wonderfully positive and creative designer. He pushes himself to go beyond expectations and uses his knowledge of design and human psychology to create great experiences.
>
> — Nikki Wolfe, Principal Product Designer, VeraScore