About me.

I'm Malavika Oak, a product designer based in the bay area specialising in enterprise and fintech products. Currently at HealthEquity, I lead end-to-end design for complex financial tools that serve millions of users.

With enterprise products experience of 10+ years, I bring a research-driven approach to every project — balancing business goals, technical constraints, and real user needs. I care deeply about making dense, data-heavy products feel approachable and trustworthy.

I believe great design comes from deep understanding. My process starts with stakeholder alignment and user research, moves through rapid prototyping and testing, and continues through development handoff and QA.

I advocate for users while navigating complex organisational dynamics — finding the overlap between what people need, what the business requires, and what engineering can ship. That tension is where the most interesting design problems live.

I'm drawn to moments where clarity feels impossible — where compliance requirements, legacy systems, and user expectations seem irreconcilable. Getting through that is the work I find most rewarding.

My foundation in human-computer interaction informs how I approach every project — not just the screens, but the systems, the decisions, and the people those systems affect. I came to product design through a genuine curiosity about how people make sense of complexity.

That curiosity has only deepened working in fintech, where the stakes of a bad experience aren't just abandoned carts — they're financial anxiety, costly errors, and broken trust.

I'm always open to conversations about design, product strategy, or potential collaborations. Whether you have a role in mind, a tricky problem to solve, or just want to talk craft — my inbox is open.