10+ years helping products and teams grow. To solve the right problems, in the right way, with the right people.

Currently at GitLab, the leading platform for software development, and one of the largest all-remote orgs. I helped mature and integrate UX, from 5 to 30+ designers, from startup to IPO and beyond.

Before, I helped a startup grow 25% each month and reach #1 on Product Hunt. Also led the design team at a SaaS.

I'm known as someone who can shape unclear problems into clear opportunities. I'm strong at easing design operations, and establishing useful design systems. Not only that, but I also ensure product plans fit user and business needs.

As a leader by example, I mentor designers and bring teams together to create a solid design culture. Particularly in fast-paced, remote work settings. I'm flexible and can be hands-on and technical, or overseeing and diplomatic.

Expertise

  • Design Leadership
  • Coaching and Mentoring
  • Product and UX Strategy
  • User Experience Design
  • Design Operations
  • Design Systems
  • Business Design
  • Remote Collaboration
  • Public Speaking

Experience

  1. – Present

    Staff Product Designer (AI products)

    GitLab

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    Designing AI products for software development at GitLab. It's the leading open source platform and one of the largest all-remote orgs. Trusted by 50%+ of Fortune 100 and 30m+ users. Previously products for Code Review, Source Code, and Project Management. Helped mature and integrate UX, from 5 to 30+ designers, from startup to IPO and beyond. Role description

    Key results

    • Enhanced designer career progression and responsibilities. Boosted collaboration and belonging with distributed design studios and revamp of internal UX Forum call.
    • Improved planning and alignment by introducing prioritization sessions. Increased deliverable quality with an upgraded UX QA process.
    • First designer assigned to projects, for broader impact and the most complex and critical business needs.
    • Partnered with Google Cloud to unlock revenue stream and introduce the first cloud integration.
    • Contributed to GitLab's leadership in Gartner's MQ for AI Code Assistants, by developing AI UX vision and strategy, establishing UX benchmarks, and aligning teams.
    • Mentoring designers on leadership, communication, collaboration, iteration, and more.

  2. –

    Senior Product Designer

    GitLab

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    Key results

    • Improved usability and sales potential of revenue-drivers (Source Code and Code Review) by enhancing discoverability and integration of quality, security, and compliance features.
    • Scaled design system through coaching and contributions to process and all design layers. Introduced object modeling and semantic layouts.
    • Optimized design allocation and collaboration during team restructuring.
    • Piloted and improved our UX benchmark methods and metrics, such as SUS, ratio of strategic:reactive work, or UX scorecards.
    • Enhanced designer workload management with commitment inventory and other methods.
    • Interviewed ICs to Directors, and defined interviews for a diverse, global candidate pool. Onboarded new designers.
    • Represented GitLab at industry events, speaking about UX processes and remote design collaboration. See talks and slides.

    Major learnings

    • Methods, tools, and rituals to mature a UX, from hiring to measuring impact.
    • Mentor and delegate work to junior designers.
    • Interview and create exercises for dozens of candidates.

  3. –

    Product Designer

    GitLab

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    Key results

    • Led first major navigation redesign, and introduced a workflow based on research, boosting user efficiency and satisfaction.
    • Established the design system and its foundations, ensuring consistency as the team and product grew.
    • Improved design operations by enhancing tooling, process, and contribution workflows.

    Major learnings

    • Iteration, reduce a solution to its most essential parts, learn fast.
    • Transparency, share more and often, inside and outside the company. See GitLab public recordings playlist.
    • Communication, write and speak concisely and efficiently.
    • Collaboration, async with colleagues and users.
    • Efficiency, plan own work and adjust work environment for best output.

  4. –

    UX Teacher

    EDIT. Digital Design & Tech School

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    Lectured UX in the “Front-end Development” program: Content Strategy, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, and Responsive Web Design. Enabled students to embrace any kind of web challenge, from responsive websites to mobile apps. Students ranged from professional web designers and developers to recent graduates in IT and Design.

    Key results

    • Grew semester-over-semester enrollments, with continued development of an up-to-date program curriculum.
    • Assisted students growth and career paths through after-school mentoring.

    Major learnings

    • Continued own education, kept current with trends and industry best practices.

  5. –

    Design Consultant

    Self-employed

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    Consulted for Milan Design Week, British Council, Landing.jobs, SensesLab, ExperimentaDesign, Faculty of Architecture of Lisbon, Clube Português Artes e Ideias, Portuguese Popular Art Museum, among others.

    Key results

    • Contributed to 25% MoM growth of Landing.jobs with their redesign. After launch, they reached #1 on Product Hunt.
    • Spoke at public events and companies about Design Systems and Responsive Web Design.

  6. –

    Product Designer

    Driven

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    Led UX Design on various projects at Driven (currently ALTA Digital), a strategy, design, and technology consultancy. Assisted in Front-end Development, Project Management, and Stakeholder Management. Designed internal and external branding. Worked with Drupal, AngularJS, Symfony, and Magento.

    Key results

    • Defined product strategies and roadmaps based on research, such as a mobile app and intranet for the largest postal company in Portugal (CTT).
    • Cultivated data-driven design and implemented website analytics.

    Major learnings

    • Consolidated knowledge of multiple business and user research methods.

  7. –

    UX Designer

    DRI

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    Led UX Design on various projects at DRI, an international customer experience consultancy. Assisted in Front-end Development, Project Management, and Stakeholder Management. Worked with World Health Organization, Galp Energy, DPD, and more. Played a major role in internal and external branding. Worked with Drupal, AngularJS, Symfony, Android, and SugarCRM.

    Key results

    • Boosted project completion speeds and visual cohesion with Style Tiles and Atomic Design.
    • Improved quality by cultivating detail-orientation and systematic organization.
    • Led the design of projects across platforms, audiences, and industries.
    • Enhanced dialogue among clients and coworkers with websites for responsive wireframes (used Pattern Lab).
    • Team was often praised by clients for timing, quality, and customer experience.
    • Wrote and spoke in public about workflows and responsive web design best practices.
    • Fostered the internal design culture, through talks and newsletters.

    Major learnings

    • Learned professional communication skills between stakeholders and coworkers.
    • Gained knowledge about project management, customer acquisition, and contracts.
    • Further fine-tuned ability to multitask and set priorities on major projects.
    • Consolidated knowledge of Agile approaches, such as Scrum and Kanban.

  8. –

    Designer

    Rupeal

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    Led design team at InvoiceXpress and worked on other products, such as BestTables (now TheFork by TripAdvisor). Regularly designed internal communication. Rupeal is a company that develops Software as a Service (SaaS) products and does IT staffing. Products and clients included the telco NOS and Jazzdesk, among others.

  9. –

    Lead Designer

    InvoiceXpress

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    Led design team for the product and website of InvoiceXpress, the #1 invoicing SaaS for SMBs in Portugal. Developed front-end for Ruby on Rails and WordPress. Mentored junior designers in UX, Product Strategy and Front-end Development.

    Key results

    • Led the website redesign, which stood for three years.
    • Revised product writing and introduced content style, voice, and tone.
    • Steered the product roadmap in a more solid way with personas.
    • Improved feature prioritization through user empathy and metrics analysis.
    • Cultivated data-driven design and implemented website analytics.
    • Educated junior designers in Front-end Development 101 in just a couple of months.

    Major learnings

    • Learned about startup stages and growth hacking approaches.
    • Mastered landing page conversion and lead generation techniques.
    • Applied Agile Software Development principles and best practices.
    • Fine-tuned ability to work and communicate in a team.
    • Got acquainted with software version control and application deployment.
    • Got visibility into the workings of a transparent company. Participated in internal discussions on payroll, workers compensation, and company structure.

  10. –

    Web Design Teacher

    iPROF

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    Introduced Web Design to people from a wide range of backgrounds, with little IT knowledge, and no relation to Design. Program included: Internet vs Web, networks/protocols, project planning, methodologies, usability and accessibility, wireframes and mockups, and basic HTML/CSS. Responsible for course planning, educational materials, and student assessment.

Elsewhere