Director of Product Design, Design Lead
StormForge
2020 - March 2025
I was the founding designer for our flagship product Optimize Live which was successfully acquired by CloudBolt. I was in charge of the UX of every workflow for 2 of our 3 products as well as the user interface design. Our focus at StormForge is optimizing large enterprise Kubernetes environments using machine learning.
- Designed the entire product in partnership with executives, product and engineering following standard design processes.
- Created the design system and worked with engineering and marketing to implement.
- Served in the Product team where I helped craft our product vision and user interface experience.
- Coordinated with leadership, other designers, contractors, and other stakeholders from around the company around process, and internal policies.
- I've led and guided product decisions.
UX Manager, Principal UX Designer
Sauce Labs
Dec 2016 - Nov 2020
At SauceLabs our mission was to provide software testing solutions to the entire software development market. I took over the lead design role, and over time built a team of designers. I took part in integral decisions and managed the user experience for our suite of products.
- Oversaw strategy, UX research/planning, user stories, journey mapping, personas, wireframes, prototypes and visual design along with a UCD focus.
- Design system creation and retrofit.
- Delivered multiple product features and enhancements.
- Integral piece of the product team and assisted in planning, and OKRs.
- Domestic and overseas staffing and team design.
User Interface Developer, UX Engineer
SoFi
2014 - Q3 2016
With SoFi, I was in a hybrid role where I was half in design, and half in engineering. SoFi was in the growth stage when I joined. I focused on the main product flows, but also contributed in spin-off projects including a social wealth indicator and an online bank.
- Designing UX workflows and prototypes for web and mobile based applications.
- HTML / CSS / JS Implementation.
- User testing of proposed and existing user interfaces.
- Collaboration between UX teams, engineering teams, product and project managers.
UX Engineer, Senior Designer
Dell
Jan 2013 - Q3 2014
With Dell, I worked within the design team as a UI/UX engineer. My main responsibilities was for a website called Insight.com. We also contributed to their service desk products - both desktop and mobile.
- Designing UX workflows and prototypes for web and mobile based applications.
- HTML / CSS / JS Implementation.
- User testing of proposed and existing user interfaces.
- Collaboration between UX teams, engineering teams, product and project managers.
Lead Designer
Indaba
Jan 2010 - Oct 2013
I was in charge of the user interface design and development for this start-up focussing on finding the best crowd-sourced deals from the internet.
- All UI design and essential workflows.
- Owned the presentation layer of the codebase.
- Worked closely with all business stakeholders across the company.
- Created our design system before they were called such.
Web Developer / Multi-Media
Kinetic Advertising Group
2009 - 2010
Kinetic is a Montana-based advertising agency. I served as the staff web-designer and multi-media specialist. I wore a lot of hats here including:
- Developed dozens of websites for a wide range of clients.
- Motion and video producer.
- In-house photographer.
- Illustration and print design.
Lead Designer, Design Manager, Co-Founder
Dealerspan
Oct 2004 - Mar 2009
Dealerspan was an end-to-end automobile dealership solution. I was a co-founder here, and served many roles at this series B startup with about 20+ employees. My main role was to oversee all aspects of design but served for a time overseeing both design, product, engineering, and QA.
- Received industry attention to our unique user interface, and seamless UX.
- Many if not all business functions including seeking out and acquiring funding.
- Hired and built both engineering and design departments.
- Served as founding designer creating initial workflows and interface elements.
- Served as Creative Director.
- Helped raise funding.
Online Manager, Webmaster
Lee Enterprises
2000 - 2004
With Lee Enterprises, I served as the resident lead web designer, and managed all aspects of the online department.
- Worked with customers to develop websites and online advertising strategy raising online revenue about 300%.
- Managed and hired content staff.
- Created, developed, and managed the helenair.com website.
- Worked with customers to develop websites and online advertising strategy raising online revenue.
- Managed and hired content staff.
- Created, developed, and managed the helenair.com website.