← Work

Zūm

Role
Design Lead2024–present
Team
Hands-on design lead, working with Zūm’s product and engineering leads.
Outcome
Designing Zūm’s next generation of AI: conversational and agent interfaces, AI-assisted routing and real-time monitoring. Helped launch 8 school districts since I joined, as Zūm grew from 5,500 to 7,500+ schools and its revenue grew 35% in 2025.

I lead design for Zūm’s Connected Mobility Experience: the dispatch, driver, parent and planning products used by more than 7,500 schools. Zūm runs student transportation for school districts across the US.

I design for everyone who touches the ride to school: the yard and school operations teams who plan and run the day, the drivers on the bus, and the parents waiting at the stop. Zūm brings them together in one system, the Connected Mobility Experience, so a district, a driver and a parent all see the same bus at the same time. Where it helps, I prototype in code with AI. Those prototypes are tested with drivers, dispatchers and parents first, then guide what engineering builds. Product and engineering leads review each one before it reaches users, and our design system stays in Figma.

Two Zūm dispatchers at their desks, the morning’s map on the wall behind themDispatch Control Center: every bus on the map, marked on time, potential delay or delayed, beside a list of the delayed routes

Dispatch Control Center

I designed the yard’s view of the morning: every bus on the map, marked on time, at risk or late. When a driver calls in sick or a bus runs behind, a dispatcher assigns a standby driver or splits a run before a family notices.

A driver in her bus at the yard, holding the tablet with the day’s ride on it

The driver’s tablet

Drivers clock in on a tablet I designed: the day’s stops, turn-by-turn directions, and at each stop who’s getting on, with a note for any student who needs help.

A parent on her couch, smiling at the Zūm app on her phone

The parent app

Parents follow every ride in an app I designed, from the driver on the way to picked up and dropped off, with the bus on a live map. No more waiting at the stop and wondering.

A routing planner at his desk with Route Explorer on his monitor

Route Explorer

I designed where the school year gets planned: every student, school and run, mapped together. I put problems first, like a student without a ride or an address that changed, so they’re fixed before the first day.

A student taps her Zūm card on the bus’s reader, which shows her photo as she boards

Signing up for the bus

I made sign-up work from a phone: families register, see right away whether their student is eligible, and get a ride. Once school starts, a tap of the student’s card on the bus tells the parent they’re on.

Still going

Next, I’m taking the same idea further: a shared view of every ride, from the yard to the bus to the parent’s phone.