Cecilia Sárate

SaaS

UI/UX Design

Product Design

Cross-functional collaboration

Client Management

Project Management

Program Management

Automation

Web Accessibility

Design Strategy

Design Systems

Design Thinking

Product Strategy

Prototyping

UX research

User Research

Competitive Analysis

Usability Testing

User Interface Design

User Flows

Card Sorting

Wordpress

Websites

Mobile Design

Heuristic Evaluation

Available for hire fromNegotiable

Contracts

Strategic Problem Solver | B2B SaaS | Low Code Tools | AI

● Designing B2B & B2C digital products for 5 years. ● Full-stack designer with experience in 0-1 products and contributing to design systems. ● Designed automation and AI in Pendo.io enterprise products, securing a $1.1M ARR deal. ● Co-chaired Employee Resource Groups at Pendo.io and Wework.

Projects

Solved a $2M+ valued customer paint point

This project was a driving force in the rollout of AI across Pendo products. Through it, I contributed to establishing company-wide AI patterns, wowed existing and new customers alike, and solved a $2M+ valued customer pain point. -------- User Problem: Customers want to track adoption and help employees get their jobs done, but they struggle to know where to start. As a result, they ask Pendo for templates and suggestions as it relates to their specific system or vertical area of ownership. Business Problem: As a product that empowers product teams to understand user behavior and drive digital adoption through in-app guidance and research tools, Pendo’s lack of templates or community expert knowledge were direct contributors to losing out on big logo deals. Solution: A guide creation and editing experience powered by ChatGPT to leverage readily available expert content and reduce guide builder blank page paralysis.See More

0-1 product becomes industry leader

All of our hard work led to Forrester positioning Pendo Adopt as a Digital Adoption industry leader in Q4 2022, less than a year after GA release. Customers and internal Pendozer users alike were blown away with the intuitive experience. "Reference customers love the ease of working with Pendo..." -------- User Problem: Old-school training isn’t cutting it when helping employees adapt to the new digital workplace; 70% of training content is forgotten in 24 hours. Employers need to deliver the right support to the right employee in the right application at the right time. Business Problem: Pendo began as a company that empowers product teams to understand user behavior through in-app guidance and user research tools. There is a finite market for the product manager user persona, while a billion dollar digital adoption market lay untapped by the business. The goal was to make an impactful debut into digital adoption and prompt significant increase in revenue. Solution: Using feedback gained from research on Engage’s VDS, Adopt Studio was aimed at reducing cognitive load while building a guide. I followed the concept of the wysiwyg editor; what you see is what you get.See More

Pendo Sidebar

The concept of a sidebar will be the first its kind in the Digital Adoption sphere. This endeavor will require close cross-functional collaboration across the entire company, and this project is the catalyst to get those conversations started and help shift the customer mindset. -------- User Problem: Guide builders are wasting valuable time constantly context switching and going into browser tab purgatory, and often struggle with the lack of context of Pendo in relation to their app. This causes a disjointed Pendo experience and can even lead to attrition. Solution: An experience that allows significant access to Pendo, side by side, while working in an app like Salesforce. This reduces the frustrating back and forth between tabs of Pendo and tabs of apps. The solution brings Pendo to the user, much like Outreach's similar sidebar concept.See More

Growing a community of product builders

A project platform that allows teammates to work together on a project, get guidance on how to build a product, and get mentorship if needed. The product was based on a freemium model with community access being free, and accelerator programs and dedicated mentorship being the initial revenue generators. -------- User Problem: As SIDE PRJCT's community of product builders grew, users started experiencing a lack of transparency when organizing teams only via Slack. They felt information was being hidden, easily lost, and difficult to search for. Business Problem: The Slack community was attracting a large user base, but SIDE PRJCT was falling flat in converting free users into paying customers. There was little to no transparency in Slack on the premium services being provided, and an easier, clearer way of implementing the customer funnel needed to be found.See More

Increased viral sharing by 15%

Work Styles is positioned as a growth tool in creating product awareness through sharing on social media. 5 years later, and you can still find LinkedIn posts of users with 1000s of followers sharing their results in posts that have positive engagement. -------- User Problem: Information overload was getting in the way of users grasping the full value of the career-focused information Teal was providing. Users were only referencing the word map and nothing else, and the Work Styles felt very disconnected from the rest of the Teal echosystem. Business Problem: To meet business targets, Teal needed an additional lead magnet to provide enough value to intrigue potential customers and convert them into premium paying customers in the Teal ecosystem. Solution: After a few rounds of iteration and user testing, I utilized existing patterns to better organize the information into scan-able chunks, create visual hierarchy, provide clearer call to actions, and make better use of the page space available; thus removing the burden of information overload and enough delight to nudge sharing with their network.See More

Work History

Design & Strategy

Cecilia Sarate LLCFreelancerHustling on my own, networking, and discovering who I am in the product world. ● Drove organizational change management: Successfully executed a nonprofit rebranding campaign, increasing engagement by 15% and funding growth by 10%. ● Engaged team members for transformation efforts: Served as a strategic advisor to 4 startup founders / CEOs, driving product development and internal processes evaluation. ● Stayed informed on workforce and workplace trends: Conducted research and implemented latest workplace strategies to guide a spatial & social workplace insights startup towards $4.25M seed funding.

Senior Project Manager

InForm DesignFull-time EmployeeApr 2024 - Oct 2024 • 7 mosInForm Design is a full service architecture and interiors design studio. ● Developed and implemented workforce strategies: Led a team of 4 junior designers through knowledge shares, working styles evaluation, and drawing/design reviews. ● Collaborated with internal and external consultants: Managed schedules, contracts, staffing, and design for $27M in education projects. ● Led company-wide AI initiative: Planned, prepared, and conducted 5 research sessions to understand employee pain points and identify opportunities for AI integration.

Relocation

Career BreakOct 2023 - May 2024 • 8 mos

Senior Product Designer

Pendo.ioFull-time EmployeeJul 2022 - Aug 2023 • 1 yr 2 mosPendo is a leader in product led growth, providing a platform that enables companies to actively monitor and influence user behavior within their products. ● Partnered to explore and integrate AI-driven solutions: Successfully led a new AI and automation initiative, driving significant business growth with a $1.1M ARR, $3.2 TCV deal. ● Created inclusive culture: Successfully co-created the Neurodiversity Employee Resource Group by developing and implementing events, workshops, and education. ● Maintained user-focused design based on data: Participated in 5 customer calls, 20 user interviews, and analyzed 100s of customer feedback to implement new product concepts. ● Led Design System Workshops: Co-led a design system audit and improvements implementation in JIRA for dev & product.

Product Designer

Pendo.ioFull-time EmployeeNov 2021 - Jul 2022 • 9 mos● Designed tools to reimagine workflows: Led the design and development of Pendo product features valued at $1M that guide and implement customer change management. ● Adapted to accelerated roadmap: Managing 2 contractors to successfully deliver an accelerated roadmap for analytics and guide builder features. ● Designed and developed research: Led end-to-end design and launch of an industry-first feature which led to customer growth and design system development. ● Established accessibility design standards: Advocated, educated, and implemented tools to aid in accessibility design across Pendo.

Architecture & Space Planning Lead

WeWorkOct 2018 - Apr 2020 • 1 yr 7 mosWeWork creates environments where people & companies come together to do their best work. ● Implemented latest workplace strategies: Incorporated complex brand standards into cohesive coworking spaces that were culturally integrated into their location. ● Delivered strategies aligned with business unit goals: Successfully led 8 multi-phase projects valued in total at $80M+ from spatial planning to building completion. ● Identified and implemented effective frameworks: Developed comprehensive framework for architectural accessibility design standards based on user-centered research and data analysis.

Education

University of Southern California

Bachelor of Architecture - BArch

Training and Competitions by Correlation One

2021

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