<aside> π€« Honestly, this is just my resume with my own commentaries in callouts like this one where I add the juicy stuff I'd tell you but I wouldn't write in my official resume.
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Design Leader. Iβve worked with over 100 multinational corporations on their digital transformation challenges, mostly in the financial sector. I lead and manage teams to keep them engaged and deliver great work that will help companies innovate and grow.
<aside> ππ»ββοΈ I position myself as a Design Leader, but as you'll see, I've done different things. I still design, I've lead Ops and Curriculum teams, and I even sold space trips once. I love opportunities where I can be entrepreneurial and strategic: solving problems, figuring out what the solution is, leading teams to make something happen, get things done, sell the product, and contribute to the growth of the vision.
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August 2020 - Present
<aside> π‘ I love the idea of contributing to redirect wealth into worthy sectors and companies. Also, it's nice to work as part of a team after a few years mostly freelancing.
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I lead Design at this startup that is aiming to shake up the Wealth Management sector. We're creating an app for wealthy individuals in the Middle East to be able to manage their finances in 1 place with the convenience of an aggregated view. We're also heavily focusing on making the corporate responsibility scores transparent to hopefully encourage investments in the right places.
I'm leading the efforts on branding, iOS app, and any other necessary collaterals.
June 2020 - Present
<aside> π I love mentoring β more on that below β so I joined Designed.org to do it Pro Bono and be able to help mentees that can't afford a mentorship program.
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Designed.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on providing equal access to design educational resources and mentors for designers across the world.
<aside> π©βπ» When I started freelancing the one thing I worried most about was getting new clients. I've always lived in different cities (12 and counting) and I don't have a strong local network like it's usually recommended. I found Toptal and I've been working with them ever since: great opportunities without the hassle of finding new clients all the time.
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March 2017 - Present
I'm part of an exclusive network of the top 3% of freelance designers in the world.
At Toptal I collaborate remotely with enterprise companies and products all around the globe to help them with Design Leadership, concept development, design strategy, and product design for complex digital products in HealthTech, FinTech, and GovTech.
Some cool projects:
June 2016 - Present
<aside> π Mentoring has been an amazing experience in my career. After leaving Backbase β more about that later β I needed something where I could contribute to something positive, paid the bills, and kept developing my leadership skills. Mentoring allowed me to do that and more. I learned from students from very different backgrounds and cultures, I learned a lot through their questions and their point of view, and got to see how my work helped them get into a career they loved.
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After leaving a corporate job in 2016 as a Design Leader, I joined Designlab to continue doing what I loved the most: empowering people to do their best work.
Iβve worked with 106 students so far to make a career change from professions like "Sephora Sales Assistant" or "NGO Community Manager" into the UX and UI world (including teaching them how to use design tools) getting them hired as companies like Squarespace, Accenture, Indeed.com, Bloomberg, HSBC, or Cisco.
March 2018 - Present
<aside> π This is not really a job, but it has definitely impacted my career in a very positive way. I have learned a lot from Design Leaders working at Google or Visa, but also from others working at smaller startups with some huge challenges.
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I'm part of an exclusive network of global Design Leaders that actively learn from each other and advance the practice of Design Leadership. I have met amazing professionals in the online community as well as by attending private dinners in London, Amsterdam, and Denver.
May 2019 - Present
<aside> π Working remotely has enabled me to lead a life I'm proud of. I founded Moonward to help other companies and managers lead remotely since I kept hearing how different and difficult it was. I've been researching and working with a few clients, but it has mostly been a fun side gig.
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At Moonward I work with individuals and companies that want to know more about how to best manage teams remotely. Especially creative teams. There's a big misinterpretation out there that creativity can't happen remotely. I just don't believe that, and I help my clients create better remote environments for their teams.
May 2017 - August 2018
<aside> β Probably my favorite role and company to date! Designlab is a very diverse and inclusive group of great people working for a great vision. Here, I got to fully finish my healing process from a toxic environment while doing work that I was highly proud of and that was positively impacting the lives of thousands of students that were moving from a job they hated to one they loved.
I only left because I was ready to grow into the next challenge β for real. I wanted to contribute to educating more senior designers, and there was no space at Designlab at the moment to do that.
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Designlab is an online mentor-led design education platform from the US. After remotely mentoring students from all over the world for over a year, I had a lot of ideas to improve the experience and the product, so I joined the core team as Head of Curriculum and Mentorship. Here some of the cool things I did on my time there:
April 2013 - October 2016
<aside> π± I learned a ton, I worked with some amazing people, I helped close multi-million dollar deals. However... Anything that you could think someone could go through at a job, I probably went through here. From having someone present my design as theirs, to spreading rumors about me.
It was a very tough time for me, but also an opportunity for immense growth and long days. I went from an intern to a director. From asking what UX was on my first day, to building teams.
I also worked very closely with Sales and Business Development, which took my business and presentation skills to the next levels.
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Right out of college I joined this software company that accelerates the Digital Transformation of financial corporations. Banking wasn't on my preference list, but I ended up quite liking it!
I joined as an intern when we were just 40 employees at Backbase. 4 years later, I was acting as a Design Director leading 3 global teams when we were more than 400 employees.
It was a crazy experience that Iβm very grateful for, where I was able to grow really fast, but not without spending 100 hrs + in the office!
This lead to accomplishing some really cool things:
July 2012 - February 2013
<aside> π©βπ In Spain, you typically do your internship as close to home as possible: convenient so you can get it over with. I didn't want that, though. Since at this point I really believed I would never be a designer based on the comments from my professors, I thought at least I could try to bring Design somehow into my career.
I landed this internship where we "designed exclusive travel experiences" which felt like a perfect match. We even sold Space trips! π It was far from home so I had to work at some summer jobs to help finance the move.
Once the internship was over, they offered me a full-time position that I rejected. The pay wasn't high enough to be able to be financially independent. I also disagreed with some strategies the management was putting into place, which made me uncomfortable at the job. So I left and decided to pursue something different.
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I studied 2 bachelor degrees at the same time: Tourism Management and Graphic Design. What better way to start off my professional career than uniting both?
BRU & BRU is a travel agency that designs unique trips and creates new and unique experiences for its customers. Since 2007, it's the only Spanish Virgin Galactic Accredited Space Agent and its experience and expertise is backed by national and international prestige.
I designed customized and luxurious trips inbound (inside Spain), outbound (globally) and even to space! I worked with clients to make sure the trip was a dream about to become true. I also negotiated deals with international travel providers (like airlines and accommodation).
University of Alicante, Spain
<aside> π After quite a few years in the workforce and a couple of management positions, I was feeling like I was missing something. Maybe it was a bit of Imposter Syndrome, but I definitely needed to understand whether I was doing the right things or not. The MBA has made me feel like I'm now at the same level as other Executives while teaching me a few new tricks.
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Art School of Alicante, Spain
<aside> π An awful experience. 4 years of essentially being told by professors that I would never be a designer and I should study something else. Luckily, I was already studying Tourism Management (studied them at the same time). I passed all of the drawing classes by negotiating with my classmates. I would take on their legal, history and coding projects and they'd take on my drawing ones. Win-win! π€«
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Academy of Arts in Εodz, Poland
<aside> π Most people party like crazy when they go on Erasmus (exchange program to another European country). Well, I did, too. However, I also worked really hard, because I loved the subjects available there. They had a mentoring system rather than a usual instructional methodology which I absolutely loved.
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University of Alicante, Spain
<aside> 𧳠I didn't know what to study when it was time to choose what to do. I decided on Tourism because I like to travel and I could say I was pretty good at languages (I had learned English, Valencian (dialect similar to Catalan), Galician (a dialect in the north of Spain), and Euskera or Vasc (a language spoken in the Vasc Country β north of Spain β where I lived for 4 years).
Also, my mark on the test we need to pass after high school was too high for this bachelor, everyone was disappointed β starting with my family.
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(More on LinkedIn)
<aside> π You know, just nice things beautiful people I enjoyed working with have said about me. These are from mentees and colleagues throughout the years. I surely have encountered some people who didn't like me along the way, but there's not such a thing as [un]recommendations. Hmm... Interesting idea. Anyway, here some of the good ones π
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Sara is an excellent teacher and mentor. She was my mentor in the Designlab UX Academy program. She's incredibly knowledgeable in UX design principles and used her real world examples to help better me as a student. She's challenging, friendly, and constantly engaging. Her enthusiastic personality is addictive.
Sara manages a large group of students but I never felt pushed to the side. She always made our sessions personable and was always answering questions off-the-clock. I'm very grateful for being paired with her.
Sara was my mentor during the first phase of Designlab's UX Academy. During that time, she shared her expansive knowledge of UX and shared real life examples that she experienced to allow me to understand the how UX works in the business world. She was a great motivator and really helped push me outside of my comfort zone. Sara's guidance and passion for sharing her knowledge of UX allowed me to become more confident in understanding UX/UI and how to deliver a polished product that I could be proud of. For anyone taking this program, Sara is one of the most motivating mentor's that I have come across.
Sara is incredible. I had the pleasure of having her as my mentor during the UX Academy program at DesignLab. She had a lot of practical knowledge which was exactly what any course cannot convey. Sara also offered me as much help I needed throughout the program and constantly pushed me to be better. Thank you, Sara!
Sara was an outstanding UX design mentor. She always went above and beyond, enabling me to feel both supported and challenged by her at every step of the way. She provided me with effective feedback and expert knowledge that helped me to grow into a skillful and thoughtful designer.
Her passion for design and UX was infectious and inspired me to be more ambitious in my work and accomplish more than I ever thought I could. I have so much respect and admiration for Sara and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to be mentored by her.
I canβt say enough positive things about Sara! She is an incredible mentor and designer that anyone would be lucky to work with.
Sara is extremely approachable, intelligent, attentive and very accommodating. She always pushed me to put in my best efforts - and would always explain things thoroughly in a patient and professional manner.
Sara has an uncanny ability to quickly understand the individual she is working with and tailor to their learning ability, style, and interest. She has an eye for detail and quickly spots areas of improvement. She doesnβt hold back and provides candid, constructive feedback. She takes time to explain and discuss her suggestions; backing everything up with numerous examples.
She goes above and beyond by sending links, articles, tips, and scheduling additional lessons to ensure her menteesβ success.
Following her advice, I was able to reiterate my designs and improve my skills drastically in a short period of time.
Very fortunate to have had Sara as my mentor and strongly recommend her.
Sara is someone that I take as example when I'm talking to others about passionate people. Passionate about their field and work. Starting to work for Backbase with her being my mentor has meant a lot for my carreer. She's patiently and constructively taught me everything she knows. She is the one that brings educational books to work for others to read, quickly sketches the big picture to create an overview when assignments are getting too big.
Sara is not afraid to put extra time on a project just to round it up the way she wants it; perfect. During the time I've experienced her, I got to know her as energetic, motivating, dedicated a great teamplayer.
I met Sara at Backbase and I was astonished with her professional attitude.
Despite her youth, she is confident and experienced, but also listens to other peopleβs ideas and opinions. She is a natural born leader who effortlessly grasps complex ideas and concepts and guides the craft required to deliver undeniably good digital experiences.
Above all she is passionate about user experience and working with cross-disciplinary teams, solving problems and exploring new technologies. Sheβs at her best when sheβs coordinating the work of a team, in order to make sure the final results are top quality and exceed the clientsβ needs and expectations.
The energy and creativity she brings to everything in her life is unmatched, so I have no doubt she excels at everything she believes in.
Sara has a constant thirst to acquire knowledge in order to ensure her designs are relevant, innovative and coherent. She has a strong drive, and delivers even with extremely tight deadlines. Delivering extremely creative work while sticking to strict guidelines is also one of her multiple talents.
Cheerful, open, and upbeat she contributes to an objective driven but still fun office atmosphere.
Location Independent since 2016. European citizen currently traveling in an RV (as much as Covid allows)
<aside> π°οΈ Only open to remote opportunities. Also, able to work in all US (PST, MST, ES or European time zones.
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+34 62 777 6510
Email: [email protected]
Skype: @saravssantiago
Design portfolio available on Toptal and Dribbble
<aside> π Only adding these because they are meant to look cool, but honestly never cared about awards or other kinds of self-promotion stuff.
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Best of Show FinovateFall 2016 The audience of the leading FinTech conference in New York voted our 60 seconds banking onboarding as Best of Show
1st Backbase Hackathon Grand Winner 3D printer, electronics, coding and UX to deliver a completely innovative banking platform for kids and families.
Best of Show FinovateEurope 2014 The leading FinTech conference attendants voted as Best of Show our omnichannel loan application process
<aside> π I'm Spanish but I've been working abroad and remotely with US clients since I started my career.
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English, Bilingual
Spanish, Native
Leaders of Learning, Harvard University Online (Since Jan '18)Β **
<aside> π I wanted to better myself at the Head of Curriculum & Mentorship role in Designlab. This course was amazing for that.
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Leaders for Creativity by Tim Brown, IDEO U (Since Apr '17)