Experience
Senior UX Manager, SLB — 2022-Present
SLB is going through a digital transformation process, and I was hired to establish a Design practice and build a highly proficient team in its Norwegian Tech Center.
Some of my achievements in the first 12 months include:
- Established the first UX team and practice at the Center level serving six B2B programs (~30 products/services), with a charter of *democratizing access to Design* and *delivering impact at scale*, using a new, more efficient organizational model. Two months later, it was adopted for all the other Tech Centers in the organization.
- Developed a highly proficient team, including four new hires, in mere weeks compared to the previous 9 to 12 months designers would need to onboard due to the highly complex science domains.
- Established close partnerships across the entire organization to advance UX. One such collaboration resulted in the creation of a training course for Product Managers that became mandatory company-wide.
Some samples below (case study coming soon):
Experience
Senior Product Design Lead, Viasat, Inc — 2019-Present
Although my tenure at Viasat can be divided by the time I spent leading Design at my program and working on special innovation projects (Viasat Ireland is a Center of Excellence and one of the primary locations for such projects), those were done against a backdrop of pet projects I pursued that allowed me to influence decisions and advance Design in the organisation.
Some of my achievements include the following:
- Created and owned the Product Vision for our program.
- Led multiple workshops and other activities that made our cross-functional team a model to emulate across the organisation.
- Created and ran the Design Internship Programme, a 6-month intensive program to source untapped talent in career changers.
- Pioneered initiatives that led to the creation of a DesignOps practice, including team training, tool stack standardisation, etc.
- Collaborated and led local and international initiatives to advance our UX maturity level.
Some samples below (case study coming soon):
Director, Ricardo Lamego Design — 2017-2019
Worked primarily with early-stage startups, helping them build better products and get to market faster by adopting a user-centered product development approach and lean product validation frameworks.
My most proud achievements fell under these two categories:
- Communication and Storytelling: created compelling pitch decks and presentations that consistently secured funding for my clients.
- Product Strategy and Development: ensured we "built the right thing, right" through concept testing and user validation by championing user needs and making user-centered, data-informed recommendations for improving the users’ experience.
Some case studies and work samples below:
Head of Product & Design, TenderScout — 2016-2017
Due to the small size of the team (3 to 5), my role was hybrid and spanned multiple departments and responsibilities (Design, Product, and Marketing) from which I highlight:
- Responsible for developing the product vision, strategy, UX, and roadmap, as well as the tactical delivery of the solution.
- Responsible for creating and implementing a new brand vision and strategy, plus a digital marketing strategy focused on brand building, recognition and growth.
- Responsible for creating and delivering a new brand vision and strategy
Among the many achievements, I'd emphasize:
- Optimized most Product & UX metrics, including customer retention and satisfaction, following a UX Research driven redesign of the product’s end-to-end experience and the marketing website.
- Improved all business areas with design processes and methodologies, providing thought leadership, facilitating development, communication, team building and improving overall performance by bringing focus to areas lacking more experience.
- Won Best Digital StartUp of the Year and The Grand Prix award, the highest accolade of The eir Spiders Awards, for outstanding levels of achievement in technology, innovation, functionality & interactivity coupled with a world-class user experience, at the 21st edition.
Principal UX Architect, Logentries / Rapid7 — 2015-2016
Hired to establish the first UX team and practice, I defined and led the UX strategy at Logentries until Rapid7 acquired it and our SaaS product was integrated into their entire product line, and our team joined theirs with a slightly more horizontal scope.
Under this scope, I was responsible for:- Brought processes and methodologies that made Logentries a more user-centered organization, evangelized UXD standards, providing thought leadership and guidance within the team and company.
- Drove the inclusion of UX requirements into the product development process, the creation of cross-team tools, and the collection of key metrics to support strategic and tactical decisions.
- Managed the product design process, concurrent multiple projects and activities, driving decisions, tracking issues while providing guidance and direction to the team, and preserving product goals.
Information Architect / Design Lead, Fidelity Investments — 2014-2015
Information Architect / Design Lead in the Continental Europe Site Redesign project aiming to establish a consistent Fidelity Digital User Experience across all their European websites while preserving the unique qualities of each local business and market.
Senior UX Manager, Apierian Learning — 2013-2014
Joined Apierian shortly after its formation, where I led a small team of contractors in a slightly hybrid UX/Product role. Under this scope, some of my achievements included:
- Guided the organization to become user-centered, introduced design processes and methodologies, improving the overall performance and focus.
- Defined the product vision, translated business requirements and stakeholder requests into specifications, managed its design, development, and deployment process, while driving decisions and tracking issues.
- Planned, designed, and developed an online eLearning platform in 3 months (clevercourses.ie).
- Conducted audience, user, and stakeholder interviews, competitive audits, concept testing, usability testing, and market research.
Web Developer, Jugnoo Inc. — 2114-2215
From July 2011 to August 2012, I have worked as a full-time Consultant for Jugnoo, Inc, a Social CRM startup company based in Toronto, Canada. My main duties were planning, development and maintenance of all company’s web properties.
Founder, mblz.me — 2011-2013
In May 2011 I opened a small web studio, mblz.me (mobilize me), mainly devoted to mobile development, migration and integration in an effort to answer the growing volume of work I had in this area and to officialise a partnership with Pagelines, a SF based company, developer of the most advanced Wordpress Framework, of whom I was a recommended Professional partner. A month and a half later mblz.me led me to be contacted and offered a contract by Jugnoo, Inc, thus being placed in stand-by.
Web Developement Manager, Soroptimist Internacional - Invicta — 2006-2008
From January 2006 to December 2008, I was responsible for all web-related aspects of 4 projects co-financed by the European Union and the European Social Fund within Measure 4.4 (Promotion of Equal Opportunities for Men and Women) of POEFDS (Operational Programme for Employment, Training and Social Development) for the Soroptimist Internacional Clube do Porto - Invicta NGO, including the planning, creation, management and support of those websites throughout their entire lifecycle, as well as the training and assistance to 4 editorial teams.
Independent Consultant — 2002-2013
From October 2002 to February 2013, I have been working as an Independent Consultant, delivering services in Graphic and Web Design, Web Development, Consultancy, QA and Software Translation among others, for several clients based mainly in Europe and North America. Main areas of work include Web Marketing, Content Management & Strategy, Information Architecture, Advertising, SEO, SEM, Social Networking, e-Commerce, Responsive Web Design, Mobile conversion and optimisation, and Mobile UI & UX.
Web Designer/Dev., Graphic Designer & Project Manager, Cubo Mágico LDA — 1999-2002
From 1999 to 2002, I worked at Cubo Mágico, LDA., as a Web Designer/Developer, Graphic Designer, and Project Manager in a multidisciplinary team who launched, managed and maintained a 19 website network in services, information and entertainment. http://web.archive.org/web/20031122062146/http://rede.aeiou.pt/
Founder + Web & Product Development Manager, Prodigio + Ideia Visual — 1995-1999
Internet Start-Up's pioneer in Portugal, as a co-founder of Prodigio – Produções Digitais Online (a company later on purchased by the Sonae Group) and of Ideia Visual – Comunicação e Design Interactivos, Lda., a company later on integrated into Esoterica – Novas Tecnologias de Informação, S.A., the first private ISP to operate in Portugal, where I held the position of Web & Product Development Manager from 1997 to 1999
Education
ESAD - Escola Superior de Artes e Design (Higher School of Fine Arts and Design) — 3rd Year Attendance, 1993 - 1996
Other experience - Volunteer
Head of Technology, MiudosSegurosNa.Net — 2003-Today
The MiudosSegurosNa.Net project (it stands for KidsSafeOnThe.Net) is Portugal's pioneering and leading Internet safety project. It helps Portuguese speaking families, schools and communities in promoting online safety of kids, tweens and teens since 2003.
My responsabilities are varied but lie primarily within anything tech, from planning to execution. However, due to the very small size of the organisation, occasionally I'll put my other skills to work or simply just represent the org in events.
UX / Product Design Mentor, Dogpatch Labs — June’16-Today
At First Fridays for Startups, a Google for Startups initiative aiming to help startups with much needed advice.
Design Mentor — 2014-Today
Mentoring junior Designers in a variety of issues from skills to career.
Design Sprint Facilitator, The Ladder — 2018-2019
Providing Design Sprint facilitation to non-profit organisations as a way to de-risk big decisions and solve critical issues with their products or services.
Volunteer in International Hospitality Networks, Couchsurfing.org — 2004-2011
Hospitality exchange networks aim at making the world a better place by promoting tolerance, cultural interchange and personal development values, enabling a new way of traveling, bringing travellers closer to the places they visit, as well as their culture, habits, language and above all their people.
In the specific scope of CouchSurfing.com, the world’s largest web-based non-profit International Hospitality Exchange Organisation, I have performed the role of City Ambassador since the end of 2006 and became one of the 1,600 volunteers who manage 2,5 million members and did, among others, translating, group managing, event organisation and new members welcome.
Skills
Languages
- Logical and creative, able to make critical decisions that meet the company’s philosophy and quality standards.
- Excellent ability to identify, analyse and solve complex problems, with efficient, cost-effective, money saving solutions.
- Pro-active, entrepreneurial, and quick learner of new areas of knowledge;
- Strong team player, comfortable with leadership responsibilities. Remarkable capacity to develop independent or team work. Solid experience in project and team management. Capable of efficient allocation of resources, maximising team productivity;
- Proficient in managing and planning multiple simultaneous projects and working well under pressure.
- Excellent communication skills and adaptation to new work environments, work types and multicultural environments.
Additional Information
- Deep interest in language learning, currently learning Greek and Arabic.
- Amateur photographer since my teenage years.
- Amateur herpetologist.
- Novice (beer) brewer.