About
Senior product designer, hands-on. I design B2B and B2C software where the decisions have to hold up in production.
I spent more than four years in DesignOps before returning to the craft, sharper than when I left. Four years of product, people, and process taught me what it takes for a design to survive the trip to a user.
I understand the system the design has to succeed inside, not just the screen.
How the work happens
Most problems start out ambiguous. No perfect brief, no obvious first move. I form a hypothesis worth being wrong about, then run the research to see whether it holds.
The hard part isn't coming up with directions. It's letting go of the ones the evidence doesn't support, and being able to explain why, especially when someone in the room preferred the one I set aside.
From there I prototype in code, use AI where it earns its place, validate with real users, and stay with it through production.
He didn't just design screens, he built interactive prototypes, ran structured usability sessions with real users, synthesized findings, and presented them with clear recommendations.
When a problem is contested, a real clickable thing in front of a real user settles it faster than any argument, including the ones I'm most attached to.
That runs through every part of the work: the disclosure that lands before an irreversible action instead of after it, the confirmation a user can find again later instead of one that flashes and disappears, the empty state that guides instead of scolds. These are small decisions, but they're often where trust is built or lost.
What I'm like on a team
I bring the hard question early instead of a polished answer late. I hold an opinion firmly, but let it go when the evidence changes.
He brought a strong design perspective to the team while also being genuinely open to feedback, whether positive or critical. That made collaboration with him especially effective because discussions were always focused on making the product better rather than defending a particular idea.
Negotiation and consensus-building are part of the job, not overhead around it. Getting a team to a shared goal without wearing everyone out is part of what makes the work ship.
How I got here
I started designing digital products in Moldova, before UX was a clearly defined role in most of the teams I worked with. Moved to California in 2018, then to the Pacific Northwest.
Most recently at Virtru, I owned the design of a web-based encryption app and the design system shared across 3 products. Before that, a 16-person agency team across healthcare, aviation, and government. Before that, Crunchyroll, building the first cross-platform design system while the subscriber base grew by millions. Different scales, one constant: the interesting part of the problem is almost never the part you were handed.
Where this fits
This fits best in senior IC roles in B2B or B2C: enterprise security, health tech, developer tools, and cloud software. I'm at my best owning a problem from early research through shipped product.
Remote in the US or hybrid in the Greater Seattle Area.
Let’s Talk
ux.sendrea@gmail.comBeyond work
Most of my thinking happens away from a screen. A long walk, no destination, and by the time I'm back the problem has usually sorted itself into something I can put on paper.
The rest of the time: anime, jazz, comics, cars, and a house I keep automating past the point of usefulness. I was drawing long before I touched software, and that part never left.
