YEAR:
2022
ROLE:
SENIOR PRODUCT DESIGNER
COMPANY:
CASH APP
EXPERIENCE:
0-to-1, SYSTEMS THINKING, SERVICE DESIGN
Unifying Identity at Scale
Unifying Identity at Scale
about.
Cash App had six siloed identity verification flows — one per product vertical, each with its own content and no shared compliance standard — creating both a fragmented customer experience and growing regulatory risk if teams continued building independently. As the sole designer, I built Identity Hub from the ground up: a unified, modular identity verification framework that became the foundation every product team now builds on.
Cash App had six siloed identity verification flows — one per product vertical, each with its own content and no shared compliance standard — creating both a fragmented customer experience and growing regulatory risk if teams continued building independently. As the sole designer, I built Identity Hub from the ground up: a unified, modular identity verification framework that became the foundation every product team now builds on.
60%
60%
overall verification increase
254%
254%
more document verifications
31%
31%
more electronic verifications
challenge
Identity verification is rarely something customers want to do — and Cash App's fragmented approach didn't help. Verification is required to access key product verticals like Cash App Card, Investing, Lending, and more, but customers were hit at inopportune moments with little context for why their information was needed. When they weren't prepared, they dropped off and didn't come back — and with no predictable place to return to and no unified system that remembered what they'd already completed, most never did.
Internally, each vertical had built its own one-off flow with its own content and no shared compliance standard — meaning every regulatory change required every team to solve the same problem independently.
Identity verification is rarely something customers want to do — and Cash App's fragmented approach didn't help. Verification is required to access key product verticals like Cash App Card, Investing, Lending, and more, but customers were hit at inopportune moments with little context for why their information was needed. When they weren't prepared, they dropped off and didn't come back — and with no predictable place to return to and no unified system that remembered what they'd already completed, most never did.
Internally, each vertical had built its own one-off flow with its own content and no shared compliance standard — meaning every regulatory change required every team to solve the same problem independently.
Before
Before
solution & impact
This wasn't a motivation problem—it was a friction problem. I mapped regulatory and engineering constraints across every vertical to architect a single, modular framework for identity verification. It created a predictable, 'evergreen' entry point where customers can return on their own terms, pick up exactly where they left off, and see the tasks that remain.
The system is unified enough to minimize compliance upkeep for our teams, yet flexible enough to serve each vertical's unique needs. This led to a dramatic lift in verifications and a shorter path from discovery to first use. Identity Hub is now the org-wide standard that every product team builds on.
This wasn't a motivation problem—it was a friction problem. I mapped regulatory and engineering constraints across every vertical to architect a single, modular framework for identity verification. It created a predictable, 'evergreen' entry point where customers can return on their own terms, pick up exactly where they left off, and see the tasks that remain.
The system is unified enough to minimize compliance upkeep for our teams, yet flexible enough to serve each vertical's unique needs. This led to a dramatic lift in verifications and a shorter path from discovery to first use. Identity Hub is now the org-wide standard that every product team builds on.
