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Bio

Bio

I'm a product design manager for my organisation and a mentor for my team.  I love working with multi-disciplinary teams to solve complex business and interaction design challenges while not compromising on the end goal of solving the user's problem.  In simple words, a problem solver who loves guiding a team towards a common or bigger vision through reasonable milestones.

A total of 10+ years in design including 5+ years in design management for product-based B2C + B2B corporates like Amazon.com and full-product service startups like Kuliza Technologies with product scale ranging from Enterprise to IOT offered me a broad opportunity to work in a small-scale to large-scale agile environment on the most complex products with the most interesting teams.  At Amazon,  I have carried a reputation of extending responsibility in forming a full-fledged internal team of 20 members from a pilot project.  And in Kuliza, the reputation was in on-boarding and then retaining few of the well-known clients with the help of most talented group of designers and developers.

Here's how my day-to-day work looks like:
• Planning and optimising the team's day-to-day work
• Promoting mature design practice within the cross-functional teams and stakeholders
• Aligning designer's work as per short-term user goals and long-term business goals
• Sleeving up for practical research/ design work (20% of my time)

My team's design decisions are always driven by measurable ROI:
• Launching or revamping new product/ functionalities/ programs and track their success rate
• Increasing conversion rate/ engagement rate/ retention rate
• Reducing customer grievances
• Improving positive user perception, and so on

Experience

10+ years in design  I  5+ years in design management

Experience

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Dy. General Manager - UX Design

Jio Platforms (Central Design Team), Mumbai

Jul 2021 - Present

Role:

Managing the Component Creation, Component Implementation and DS Support vertical teams (10+ direct reports), Core member of the Jio Design System board, Founding member of the Jio Design System team,  and more

Projects:

Design System, System of Interaction, DS Project Implementation, and more

Asst. General Manager - UX Design

Reliance Retail (JioMart), Mumbai

Nov 2019 - Jun 2021

Sr. Manager - UX Design

Reliance Jio (Retail Commerce), Mumbai

Oct 2018 - Nov 2019

Role:

Managing the delivery of JioPrime short lived (soft launch) product,  Acting as a business, product and tech stakeholder SPOC,  Key member for the loyalty benefits design advocate to president, and more

Projects:

JioPrime, Prime Friday Deals, Loyalty and Vouchers, Loyalty Points, Membership, Spin and win, and more

Role:

Managing the JioMart Digital product design and research team,  Standardising a common JioMart pattern through flexible CMS system,  Acting as a business and tech stakeholder SPOC, and more

Projects:

JioMart Digital, JioMart Bot, Cashify SDK B2C, Cashify SDK POS, Reliance Digital, JMD Merchant, and more

Kuliza Technologies, Bengaluru

Mar 2017 - May 2018

Role:

Managing 2 direct reports,  Mentoring the core design team on UX research and advanced HCI,  Collaborating with tech and business stakeholders on various design decisions, and more

Projects:

Zephyr for JIRA, Aditya Birla Direct, Vistara, Watabid, IME Pay, and more

Sr. Product Designer

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Sr. User Experience Designer

Sulekha, Chennai

Nov 2016 - Feb 2017

Role:

Contributing as an IC for Sulekha Services platform,  Leading the usability tests and contextual enquiry,  Working thoroughly with VP of product to improve conversion rate, and more

Projects:

Sulekha Services listing page, User testing for Sulekha Services,

and more

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Sr. Executive - Interaction Design

Vodafone, Pune

Oct 2015 - Oct 2016

Role:

Contributing as an IC for MyVodafone app project,  Owning the complete app's information architecture and design system,  Working on several user journeys based on user research and business suggestions,

and more

Projects:

MyVodafone app (entire IA and few journeys), MyVodafone app styleguide

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Creative Experience Designer

Athena Infonomics, Chennai

Jan 2015 - Sept 2015

Role:

Single handedly revamping the complete website from scratch,  Conducting UT post completion of the website,  Working on few of the internal tools for the employees to improve their work efficiency,  and more

Projects:

Athena Infonomics website, Economic Data Calculator and Visualiser

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Visual Design Associate

Amazon, Chennai

Jul 2012 - Oct 2014

Role:

Contributing as a 2 member pilot team to scale the team to 20 members in 2 years,  Working on various stakeholder requirements for their brand pages,  Working on various internal tools to increase employee efficiency, and more

Projects:

Amazon Affiliate Brand Journeys, Image Assist, Dev Conference,

and more

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Education

Digital psychology  I  Design fundamentals

Education

BA (Hons) in Digital Media

University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK

2008 - 2011

(Regular)

1st Division (2nd Class)

Course Modules:

Basics of Digital Media,  Basics of Design,  Cognitive process while interacting with any digital media,  Research techniques and tools,  Design techniques and tools,  Dissertation (on anthropomorphism or personification in design)

Activities:

International student co-ordinator, Second topper in 1st and 2nd year

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Certifications

Design management  I  UX research  I  UX methodology  I  Usability  I  Design thinking

Certifications

Human Factors International (HFI)

May 2016

Course Modules:

User Experience Foundations,  User-centered Analysis and Conceptual Design,  The Science and Art of Effective Web and Application Design, Practical Usability Testing

Certified Usability Analyst (CUA)

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Course Modules:

Introduction to Human-Centered Design,  Inspiration Phase,  Ideation Phase,  Prototyping Phase,  Implementation Phase

Design Kit: Human-Centered Design

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Ideo.org (Acumen)

May 2015

Course Modules:

Achieving Focus and Winning,  Using Today's Product Management Methods,  Exploring a New Product Idea,  Amplifying an Existing Product

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Product Management: Fundamentals

University of Virginia (Coursera.org)

Pursuing

Course Modules:

Focus on User Outcomes,  Restless Reinvention,  Diverse

Empowered Teams

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Enterprise Design Thinking

IBM

Pursuing

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Course Modules:

Make it Real,  Build to Think,  Plan for Field Tests,  In the Field

Design Kit: Prototyping

Ideo.org (Acumen)

Jan 2016

Key Skills

Key Skills

•  Design and People Management,  Design Sprint,  Stakeholder Management,  Design Negotiation,  Team Scaling,  Team Culture, Design Mentoring,  Design ROI

•  Design Thinking Methodologies:  Human-Centered Design,  User Centered Design,  Double Diamond,  Enterprise Design,  Agile UX

•  Design Research Methodologies:  Contextual Enquiry,  Focus Group,  Card Sorting,  Personas and User Stories,

Affinity Map,  Mind Map

•  Design Techniques:  UX Design,  Service Design,  Interaction Design,  Wireframing,  Visual Design,  Prototyping,  Micro-interactions

•  Design Documentations:  Link Prototyping,  Dev-handover Styleguides,  Business Presentations,  PRD,  Design ROI

•  Industry/ Product Lines:  B2C Products,  B2B Products,  Desktop Products,  Mobile Products,  Enterprise Products,  IOT Products

Awards
Volunteering

Awards & Volunteering

Amazon, Amazon Imaging Team (Chennai)

Jul 2013

Awarded with the ‘Star of the Month’ at first award inauguration for being a key member of the 5 member pilot team (2 designers from Chennai, 1 lead designer from Seattle, 1 producer from Seattle and 1 manager
from Chennai) in bringing 17% of the design work­load from Seattle design team by getting trust of the stakeholders; and establishing a 20 members full­ edged design process/ team in Chennai. The award is usually aligned in meeting the criterion of 12 amazon leadership principles; the mandatory being ‘Customer Obsession/thinking Backwards’.

Star of the Month

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Bhumi NGO, Chennai

(Empowering Under Privilege Children with Education)

Mar 2013 - Sep 2014

Worked as a volunteer (art department) for this well­ known child­ren's education (underprivileged) society/ NGO in Chennai. Mostly, the contribution was 2 hours for 4 weeks (in a month).  My work generally included recreating/ innovating art teaching methods or syllabus for the children, maintaining a profound relationship between art volunteers of pan Chennai centres, teaching/ curating art interests among the children.

Notable Achievement:

Listing ‘Bhumi’ as a sponsored NGO for ‘amazon cares’ (http://www.amazon.in/cares), while acting as an initial communication representative between the (Director, Bhumi) and (VP, Country Manager, amazon.in) as in June, 2014.

Art Coordinator - Pan India

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Reliance Foundation, Navi Mumbai

(Empowering Under Privilege Children with Education)

Nov 2019 - Dec 2019

Worked as a teaching volunteer for basic english and computer skill. Was a part of the group who created crash-course syllabus for the rural teachers to teach in such a way that children will grasp the subjects quickly and will be enjoy the learning process alongside.

Teaching Assistant

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I believe as a human (and calling ourself the highest of all earth species), it is our responsibility to 'give back to the society' for what we are blessed with in some way or the other.  Well I prefer taking care of one of the most neglected part (animal care).  Acted as independent activist, angel, coordinator or advisor for various animal right NGOs and organisations.  Mostly prefer being a no-link angel for the local strays in and around office and house.  Had been invited in various meet-ups and rally for inspirational talks and discussions or directions to progress towards a solution.  Bhumi Jeevadaya (Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai), RCP Animal Care (Navi Mumbai), Mother's Touch Foundation (Bardhaman, West Bengal), Astithya (Kota, West Bengal) were few of the organisations I had/ have been supporting.

Notable Achievement:

- Participated in various rally and pen requests to govt. which resulted in implementation of new law on increasing the fine upto INR 75,000 from INR 50 (and jail upto 5 years) for stray animal abuse.

- Cured (post-hospitalisation) 50+ injured animals, adopted few, and feeds nearby strays (making their day and feeling better myself).

Belief:

I will show love to my creator by taking care of his/er creations in all the possible ways.

Animal Rights Activist

Pan India

(NGO, Independent and Local volunteer collaborations)

2013 - Present

More About Me

More about me

The personal passion I have for product and design led me try out most in the sector with past experiences (yet to try the remains). A travel explorer by heart, cook by necessity, vegetarian by choice, writer by passion, and ambivert by birth. I love handmade and antique things, the sound of water, the smell of fabrics and aged-books, and love talking to interesting people around the world.

My hobbies include:

For mental health:  Meditation every weekday, Reading one page of eight different books every weekday, live sketching every weekday for five minutes, writing one pager random thoughts on paper every week day, playing chess with random online players, observing working things around me

For physical health:  Cycling marathon once every six months, boxing practice every weekday, badminton on holiday, volleyball in reunion

For heart's health:  Analysing human psychology, taking parts in spiritual activity and community services, leading a trek adventure

For relationship health:  Outing with friends and family one weekend every month

For psychological health:  Playing harmonica when angry to release the bad breadth with a positive tune

For financial health:  Reading financial and tech journal for ten minutes everyday, improving and applying self-analysed financial method in personal portfolio

Oh Hey!  And here are certain things I loved other than work

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Leading expedition at the highest peak of western ghats (Kumara Parvatha Trek)

8 members, 22 km inclination, 2 days

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Training the school kids in Nepal on solving problem through design thinking approach

Spatial design for every new flat I enter into or my friend's flat (once they request me to design). Here's my Navi Mumbai Seawoods flats' spatial design

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