Charles Schwab & Co.
RETENTION: BUILDING THE RETIREMENT APP OF THE FUTURE
As Experience Design Director, I guided the multi-year redesign of Schwab’s Retirement digital ecosystem (web + native app), spanning onboarding, rollover, client dashboards, plan sponsor software, and advisor tools.
Scope of work
Website SaaS design
App product design
Multi-product platform
5 products in one line of business
Results
Digital Rollover results: 44% increased assets, 28% increase CTR
Output: 34 UX releases in 2024
Retired legacy App saving > $4 Million yearly costs
Client Satisfaction raised from 3 NPS -> 6 NPS
6 months design + build + 6 months for data and backend surfaces
Key Callouts
Users on Platform: 1.8 million & $237 million managed
Highly complex platform with 5+ audiences
Product/Design/Developers work side-by-side to unravel legacy data architecture
Future-proofing in mind: Created dynamic and scalable solutions for omni-channel and eventual Retail integration
Role
Experience Design Director
Date
Aug 2024-Aug 2025
Team
104+ Team members
UX Director, 1 Team Manager, 5 Designers, 1 Researcher, 1 Content, 10 Scrum teams (80 engineers), 7 Product teams (14 product employees), 5 Marketers, 5 Business Strategists
Problem
Schwab’s Retirement digital experience—one of the largest 401k providers in the U.S.—was hampered by legacy architecture and an outdated user experience. With 1.8M users and $237B under management, The platform was expensive to maintain, difficult to scale, and struggled to keep pace with competitors.
Schwab needed to modernize in order to:
Simplify complex user journeys across 5+ distinct audiences (novice participants to plan sponsors & advisors).
Deepen client relationships through personalization and financial wellness tools.
Expand digital capabilities to stay competitive and scalable.
The Approach
Design Leadership & Methodologies
01/ Established research and discovery practices: personas, Kano modeling, participatory design workshops, and content-first strategy. 02/ Leveraged Adobe Analytics to validate design decisions and measure behavioral shifts in live environments.
Building Processes & Culture
01/ Introduced UX Bootcamps to educate Product and Engineering, building empathy and shared practices. 02/ Developed a UX-QA process inside Agile, increasing efficiency and trust by 200%. 03/ Coached designers on workshop facilitation and alignment practices, raising design maturity across teams.
Cross-Enterprise Integration
01/ Partnered with Schwab’s design system team to drive consistency in patterns and components across platforms. 02/ Influenced enterprise-level navigation and information architecture for both web and native channels. 03/ Shaped roadmaps with senior leaders, balancing client impact with business value.
Orchestrating Scale
01/ Directed a multidisciplinary team: 1 Manager, 5 Designers, 1 Researcher, 1 Content Strategist, collaborating with 10 scrum teams (80 engineers), 7 product teams, marketing, and business strategists. 02/ Fostered collaboration across silos—product, engineering, marketing, operations—to deliver an integrated retirement ecosystem.
Results
Digital Rollover results: 44% increased assets, 28% increase CTR
IMPACT
In 2 years LAUNCHEd
Redesigned and launched at least 1st phase of 6 interconnected experiences:
1. Enrollment & Onboarding
2. Rollover
3. Client Logged-in Experience
4. Record Keeping backend
5. Plan Sponsor Experience
6. Advisor Experience
BUILT PROCESS & CULTURE
01/ Created UX Bootcamps to educate Product and Engineering, which built empathy and shared practices.
02/ Developed a UX-QA process inside Agile, increasing efficiency and trust by 200%.
03/ Raised design maturity on team. Coached designers on workshop facilitation and alignment practices.
INCREASE FUNNEL & RETENTION
01/ Secured deals worth $300M with Airline and Healthcare companies because of work.
02/ Increased funnel conversion through rollovers and easier onboarding. Combined $29M AUM and 12,000 clients impacted first year.
03/ Customer satisfaction increased with combined app and easier to understand data, architecture and design.
SELECTED WORK
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