Hello!
I’m a manager, maker, craftsman, and multidisciplinary design leader, creating beautifully-designed experiences that delight users.
Being T Octopus-shaped
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Being T-shaped is over
Modern UX professionals can’t afford to be deep in only one area - the demands to execute exceptional work across a wide range of skillsets requires more.
I strive to be octopus shaped
I’ve developed a full-stack approach to my leadership and craft, which includes proficiency across a wide range of core digital design and management skills.
How I think
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Process ≠ Innovation
Process ≠ Innovation
For too long the product design discipline has been reduced to a set of processes. This is unfortunate, because having some process is better than having none (especially if that process helps develop game-changing experiences). And I fear we’ve conflated process with innovation.
I’m comfortable with any process my team decides to follow, whether the double-diamond of Design Thinking, the steady convergence of Business Optimization, or the iterative nature of Continuous Improvement. It’s not the process: it’s the people, ideas, and work ethic that makes the difference.
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Convergence & Divergence
USER EXPERIENCE
The foundation of user centered-design, this thought-process encourages practitioners to constantly mode-switch between questioning assumptions and narrowing towards conclusions.
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Business Optimization
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
A prototypical product management mindset, this thought-process continually pivots the current state to better land end-state objectives.
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Continuous Improvement
ENGINEERING
Popular with engineers, this thought-process continually tests assumptions and iteratively refines the current-state to improve outcomes towards success criteria.
Management Philosophy
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I’m committed to building high-performing teams, and I do this by employing a unique management approach. On my team you can expect:
Immediate & direct feedback
Obligation to dissent
Inspiring followership
Meritocracy
Cross-functional collaboration
Apprenticeship
Consensus building
One-team mentality
Never say no
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Always say how much
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Never say no ⌁ Always say how much ⌁
Oftentimes UX resourcing and cross-functional needs don’t align. When this happens my teams offer several partnership models so that we…
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Deep Partnerships
When time & resourcing permit, and the scope is appropriate, UX partners with cross-functional teams and our staffing levels are at (or near) max.
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Spikes
When UX can make an impact in a shorter engagement (or multiple impacts throughout a program), we spike our engagement.
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Office Hours
My teams provide availability to cross-functional partners in predictable time-slots so that velocity on keey programs can continue with some UX input.
What Others Say…
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As a manager and mentor: Victor pushed me to improve my core design craft and created a team environment that allowed myself and other designers to grow tremendously and take on progressively larger scope of ownership. All along the way, he provided useful insight to guide my design work and approach to collaboration with other teams within Cruise, unblocking key stuck points whenever they arose.
- Spencer James, Direct Report at Cruise
Victor is easily one of the top designers I've had the privilege of working with and learning from across my 10+ years in UX. He has an exceptionally strong attention to detail and love for his craft — uniquely coupled with the passion and talent to develop a compelling story and clear strategy for aligning teams to deliver on a vision.
- Rob Larson, Direct Report at Google
I had the honor of closely working with Victor while at McKinsey. Victor is one of the most talented product and design leaders I have ever met. His ability to be a 'player - coach', engage in business strategy, and his dedication to excellent work - at all costs stands out.
- Josh Weiner, Advanced Analytics at McKinsey
Work Experience
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![Sr. UX Design Manager]()
Sr. UX Design Manager
2023 - 2025
Led UX design, strategy and team management for mission-critical autonomous vehicle systems, overseeing four key product areas: On Road Tools, Fleet Support, Developer Velocity & Quality, and Data Enrichment. Managed team of 7 UX Designers and Researchers.
Key Achievements:
Spearheaded redesign of Terminal, the primary remote-instruction platform for autonomous vehicle assistance, improving Average Handle Time by 11% and reducing Time in Remote Assistance by 7% within first month post-launch
Enhanced market efficiency of commercial operations through comprehensive UX improvements across map health monitoring, safety simulation systems, and fleet management tools
Provided hands-on design leadership for high-impact initiatives while fostering team growth and development
Established new standards for remote operator satisfaction through user-centered design improvements
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![UX Design Manager]()
UX Design Manager
2018 - 2023
Led multiple UX teams across the Devices & Services, Ads, and Core organizations, managing up to 8 User Experience Designers. Drove strategic initiatives generating substantial business impact and user satisfaction improvements.
Key Achievements:
Led Google Retail Store UX strategy, reimagining seamless omnichannel shopping experiences and delivering new point-of-sale applications
Managed Shopping Ads UX team, contributing to over $500M in annual recurring revenue
Transformed Contact Center Tools through AI integration, increasing customer satisfaction by 12% and agent satisfaction by 23% while maintaining flat headcount
Facilitated cross-functional collaboration through Design Thinking workshops and Design Sprints
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![Head of Design]()
Head of Design
2017 - 2018
Established and led the Product Design & Research functions for healthcare cost transparency products, managing team of 5 UX Designers and Researchers.
Key Achievements:
Expanded customer base to include all Blue Cross Blue Shield networks within first year
Created comprehensive Vitals Design Language System (DLS) for mobile native and web responsive surfaces
Led product evolution and new service definition, significantly improving healthcare cost transparency tools
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![Executive Experience Design Director]()
Executive Experience Design Director
2015 - 2017
Led Experience Design teams across pharmaceutical, healthcare, finance, and telecommunications sectors, managing 3 UX Designers.
Key Achievements:
Co-developed Quantified Experience Design methodology, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to product design and delivery
Led multidisciplinary design teams delivering high-impact solutions for Fortune 500 clients; such as a large pharmaceutical client where we delivered a 22% increase in patient NPS while capturing 26% more market share
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![Product Designer (IC5)]()
Product Designer (IC5)
2013 - 2014
Led design initiatives for high-visibility features reaching hundreds of millions of users daily.
Key Achievements:
Designed and launched Structured Sharing initiative to expand Facebook's knowledge graph capabilities
Co-founded NY UX team, establishing strong design culture in New York office
Led design for Sports and Crowdsourcing features, driving significant user engagement
How I Work
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As a colleague and teammate, I’m very interested in sharing in-progress work for feedback early and often. Sometimes those reviews & critiques happen a-synchronously, so I’ve gotten into the habit of recording design walkthroughs and posting them to my cross-functional team in Slack. Here’s a recent example: