nahiyan khan

I lead technical design teams and design zero-to-one products and platforms. From product direction and interaction design through implementation, and adoption.

Today, I work at Block and am redefining software creation. We build generative UI systems, code-first design workflows, and open-source agent environments like Goose, Berd, and Buzz to enable real-time human and AI collaboration.

Before that, at Cash App, I stood up its design systems practice, architecting a code-first system that drives 95% of its surfaces for 60 million users.

about

I’m a design engineering leader with a hands-on view of both disciplines. I work from product direction through production code, so my design decisions are informed by how software behaves, and my engineering decisions by the experience I want people to have.

how i work

I develop ideas through working prototypes and carry design decisions into production. Working in code lets me test assumptions early and tune interaction details against real behavior. It also gives me a practical understanding of the tradeoffs: where complexity is worthwhile, where a simpler approach will do, and which details deserve more time.

Today, AI is central to that process. I use agents to explore approaches and implement them, and put care into the environment they work in: repo structure, configs, lints, and domain context. I want the workspace to handle as much routine correctness as possible so I can give more attention to architecture, visual weight, and interaction feel.

I stay responsible for the result. That means reading the code, using the product, and questioning choices that look reasonable at first glance. Generating more software makes that judgment more important.

how i lead

I hire designers and engineers and build teams where both help shape the product through delivery. Early in my career, a manager paired me with a developer and gave me the chance to design in production code. I want the people I lead to have that same room to learn and contribute beyond their role.

At Cash App, I put that into practice by bringing engineers into design critiques and designers into implementation reviews. We made decisions together, with shared responsibility for what shipped.

At Block, I helped a 480-person design organization work toward a concrete goal: everyone would contribute a production PR. We reached it through months of training, hands-on support, and rethinking how designers worked with AI.

experience

Jan 2025–present

Block

Principal Design Engineer

2022–2025

Cash App

Staff Design Engineer

  • 2018–2022

    ADP

    Senior Design Engineer

  • 2013–2018

    Pearson

    Senior Product Designer

  • 2010–2013

    Macalester

    Graphic Designer

education

  • 2019–2022

    Johns Hopkins University

    MS, Software Engineering

  • 2009–2013

    Macalester College

    BA, Math and Computer Science

say hello

I welcome a reach out. Let's chat about a project you have in mind. Or share musings about the industry and practice. Maybe just send me your favorite sci-fi recommendations.

  • LinkedIn
  • GitHub
root about contact
Drag the active highlight to preview pages. Release to choose. Escape cancels. Or use arrow keys and page links.