Jim O'Brien's Resume

Experience

Manager, Product Design, Genesys, Daly City, CA

June 2022 - Mar. 2024

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Created and supported a close-knit, high-functioning team
Provided opportunities and support for creation of team goals, Figma template, Figma wireframe components, cross-team project sharing, and reverse mentorship
Spearheaded an initiative to create guidelines for indication of AI usage

Work:

Supported and mentored team members through regular team meetings, design critiques, bi-weekly 1:1s, upkeep of goals, and recognition
Actively participated in critiques, provided asynchronous feedback, and worked directly with designers to address design challenges and to assist in finding better solutions
Presented on topics such as an AI-focused project overview and basic SEO practices
Facilitated sprint planning, demos, and retros and managed epics in Jira
Connected designers and/or product managers when the need for cross-project collaboration was evident
Facilitated cross-pollination of project teams and well as growth opportunities for team members including research involvement and reverse mentoring
Supported 3 teams within the UX Studio org during tenure which involved multiple projects including those utilizing artificial intelligence

Manager, UX Design, KAR Global, Carmel, IN

Dec. 2021 - Apr. 2022

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Created capacity details with formulas in MS Excel including future projections
Worked to convey and promote new UX process with Product organization

Work:

Controlled all aspects of capacity management for the whole team around individual allocation and capacity forecasting
Participated in the creation of new internal processes for UX team
Evangelized new product design processes with Product org at large
Responsible for UX Jira board grooming and planning sessions
Supported and mentored team members, including conducting regular team meetings and bi-weekly 1:1s while also incorporating a results, progress, and issues (RPI) model

Manager, Digital Design and UX, Insight Global, LLC, Atlanta, GA

Jan. 2019 - Mar. 2021

Lead User Experience Designer, Aug. 2016 - Jan. 2019

Senior User Experience Designer, May 2016 - Aug. 2016

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Built a strong team of designers and developers based on authenticity and trust while mentoring more junior members in their career trajectory.
Effective user management and permissions handling piece of internal enterprise software suite from enterprise software whereby default permissions were assigned and no groups had to be managed, making it easier to handle onboarding and internal job changes, while following NIST standards.
Implemented successful SEO tactics for B2B/B2C corporate website thereby boltering both branded and organic search traffic.
Improved the overall usability for the job boards in place thereby increasing overall usage and sign-ups.
Effectively managed the design of the first corporate intranet with 3rd party development vendor ensuring the responsive and adaptive nature of a 2-layer homepage's integrity was maintained and was implemented successfully. The intranet stands to reduce cross-departmental and mass-communication emails and phone call volume by making routine information available to the masses.
Designed task/action-focused integration of AI chatbot into Service Desk's instance of ServiceNow thereby significantly reducing both emails and phone calls to Service Desk for routine actions, such as resetting passwords, etc.

Work:

Built a team of 2 into close-knit and highly productive team of 5, comprised of graphic and visual designers, a front-end developer, as well as 2 additional outside contract resources
Served as point person for design of new $600K+ corporate intranet through design specifications, mock-ups, style guides, and support for third-party efforts
Supported and mentored team members, including conducting regular team meetings and weekly 1:1s
Evangelized and advocated for the capabilities of the team and the potential for positive impacts to various projects
Managed multiple projects through the development lifecycle while ensuring design integrity was maintained and business needs were met

Skills

Servant-based leadership, working to support and mentor through authenticity and trust
Focused on building strong team culture, making better designers, and driving better solutions
Ability to forge internal relationships including partners in PM and Dev
Drive workshops and design jams for larger initiatives
Extensive experience in UX design comprised of website design, software application design, management, and consulting in both the private and public sectors
Adept a project timeline estimation and capacity planning
Experienced with Agile design methodology including sprint rituals and Jira ticket wrangling
Well-versed in responsive and adaptive design
Experienced in internationalization, accessibility, and search engine optimization (SEO)
User research efforts have included card sorting, task analysis, competitive analysis, benchmarking, heuristic evaluations, cognitive walk-throughs, contextual inquiries, surveys, and usability testing (observing and facilitating)

Education

Southern College of Technology,

B.S. Industrial Engineering Technology,

Marietta, GA

Additional Experience

Senior User Experience (UX) Architect - Contract, InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG), Atlanta, GA

Mar. 2015 - May 2016

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Provided design solutions that would allow for the minimal user impact during the initial phases of the Kimpton Inn integration, both to the consumer site as well as the IHG Rewards membership area.
Helped in the conversion to a responsive/adaptive design approach for hotel properties websites by enabling the company to do away with 'm' dot sites thus ultimately improving SEO while still allowing for a mobile-first experience.

Work:

Assisted in the migration of the current web experience into responsive design
Evaluated existing experience to find areas needing improvement
Produced wireframes, mock-ups, task flows, prototypes, and design specifications as needed using OmniGraffle and Axure
Provided recommendations and guidance for various projects from a user experience perspective
Partnered with UX Strategy in looking for opportunities to address known issues with the existing website and help to formulate solutions

Senior Interaction Designer, AutoTrader.com, Atlanta, GA

Jan. 2007 - April 2014

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Led the design of 3 R&D projects including an app for Samsung TVs, a MS Metro (Windows 8) app, as well as a tool that facilitated the beginnings of automotive ecommerce. Microsoft featured the app when Metro launched; and because it was not just another lead generation tool, a patent was filed for the design and functionality contained in the ecommerce tool. These projects allowed AutoTrader the opportunity to crack into spaces they had never worked in before.
Re-imagined the creation and management of vehicle special offers for dealers thus significantly speeding up the time it took to create them, while simultaneously improving the way consumers could search and consume relevant offers on vehicles.
Spearheaded page designs and content layouts, while working with team at large, that helped bolster organic SEO traffic by hundreds of thousands of users each month for targeted long-tail keyword phrases.
While early in the adoption of Agile within the IT organization, worked to bypass heavy documentation and work directly with front-end developers on an application-focused project to convey user flow and interaction details, etc. Saved 2-3 weeks off of overall project timeline.

Work:

Produced wireframes, mock-ups, task flows, prototypes, and design specifications as needed to assist with business socialization and approval, as well as implementation and testing, using Visio, InDesign, and Axure
Designed apps for both Windows 8 Metro and Samsung TV
Acted as Product Management liaison on SEO team helping to drive SEO improvement projects through and helped disseminate SEO performance
Delivered completed design concepts for multiple consumer and client facing projects and provided design support as needed
Collaborated and partnered with various team members in attempt to ensure intended designs remain intact throughout project lifecycle
Created initiative to define Interaction Design's deliverables and placement in the overall requirements to design process
Observed and participated in multiple usability tests over multiple projects
Assisted IT with moving towards methodologies such as Agile and SCRUM while making sure design is accounted for within the process
Filed for patent for design created in automotive ecommerce space
Mentored and provided project input to other Interaction Designers on projects as needed

Product Designer, Hanna Strategies, Atlanta, GA

Nov. 2005 - Dec. 2006

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENT:

Performed heuristic evaluation on web-based version of data management tool, and while working with development, was able to have multiple usability issues addressed.

Work:

Produced detailed design specifications for various projects which included screenshots and UML task flows
Collaborated with both U.S. and China-based development teams to convey designs
Conducted design reviews and heuristic evaluations to improve existing designs
Assisted with the review and design of multiple R&D and skunk-works projects including a 2D/3D search engine and virtual environment
Redesigned web-based version of data management application which improved usability while incorporating new features

Senior Information Architect, Vertical Thought, Alpharetta, GA

April 2005 - Oct. 2005

Redesigned medical records and patient information application producing UML task flows, wireframes, and design documentation
Created logo concepts, wireframes, and graphical mock-ups for a debt collections application and client's corporate website
Produced wireframes for test data generation tool design concept
Performed heuristic evaluations on various applications and provided notes and wireframes to convey improvements to the navigation, taxonomy, and functionality of the applications
Partnered with business owners to gather requirements, including use cases, and worked to translate them into design specifications
Collaborated with development staff and management to implement improvements to various designs

Senior Creative Coordinator, Georgia Technology Authority, Atlanta, GA

May 2004 - April 2005

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENT:

Helped to establish original design concepts for Team Georiga, the State of Georgia's employee extranet.

Work:

Maintained georgia.gov portal and state agency legacy sites using HTML, XHTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop and Vignette
Consulted with state agencies as a project lead to provide them with training and assistance on internal applications
Prepared research and competitive analysis studies for the Governor's office
Developed information architectures and overall designs via UML task flows and wireframes for an internal survey and forms tool
Conceptualized state employee intranet, Team Georgia, via wireframes and coded portlets utilizing validated XHTML and CSS while addressing accessibility issues

Web Designer - Contract, Cox Enterprises, Inc., Atlanta, GA

Jan. 2004 - Feb. 2004

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENT:

Served to help establish original design concepts for Kudzu.com, a services business directory.

Work:

Developed and presented new design for search engine/directory project, Kudzu.com, via wireframes and screenshots
Contributed usability enhancements and made general improvements to functionality and information architecture
Designed and coded prototypes using validated XHTML, CSS and Photoshop

User Interface Designer, Witness Systems, Inc., Roswell, GA

Feb. 2001 - Sept. 2003

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Within my first 6 months with the company, I established the information architecture and interface framework for the future of all the products in the enterprise suite of products.
Secured "Engineering Excellence Award," 1st Quarter 2001 for my design work on a new web screen capturing tool.
Web screen capturing tool won four industry awards: Fall 2001 - "Best of Show" - Internet World, Witness Systems, Web Browsing Screen Capture, Nov. 2001 - "Editor's Choice" - Customer Interface magazine, Witness Systems, Web Browsing Screen Capture, Jan 2002 - "Editor's Choice" - Customer Inter@ctions Solutions magazine, Witness Systems, Web Browsing Screen Capture, Jan. 2002 - "2001 Product of the Year" - Communications Solutions magazine, Witness Systems, Web Browsing Screen Capture
Wrote first style/design guidelines and internationalization guidelines allowing both HFT and development to better advere to design basics for enterprise software suite.

Work:

Led user interface (UI) design initiative for up to 9 multi-component, commercial software applications including voice and data recording, e-learning, and Business Intelligence
Developed the common look and functionality to be migrated across the product suite to ensure user interface consistency
Transferred application designs from Java Swing, Microsoft Management Console, and client dialog environments to thin-client, HTML-based environments
Developed information architecture, UML task flows, storyboards, wireframes, low- and high-fidelity prototypes, and detailed design specifications
Established user interface design standards, internationalization considerations, framework guide and checklists to enhance Development's autonomy
Defined and established design process with deliverables
Designed user interface for award-winning software
Translated business requirements into design specifications working with Product Management, Systems Analysts, Subject Matter Experts, and Developers
Designed screenshots and prototypes using HTML, DHTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, Fireworks, and Photoshop
Integrated usability enhancements discovered through research, heuristic evaluations, card sorts, and formal lab-based user testing
Facilitated usability lab during formal testing
Collaborated with Development on interface design strategy and implementation

Manager of Web Integration, DrTango.com, Inc., Roswell, GA

Nov. 2000 - Feb. 2001

Senior Web Developer, May 2000 - Nov. 2000

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Implemented first or among the first ever wavy header for website.
Came up with final logo design for partner start-up, after initiative had been farmed out originally.

Work:

Managed 2 designers and 6 developers
Directed all front-end design projects from concept to completion
Led the initiative for the total redesign of business partner's site, WebEntrada, including establishing successful market branding for business partner via new logo, user interface, and content
Coordinated projects among design, translation, and development teams
Interfaced directly with clients to ensure that requirements were translated correctly and expectations were met
Led design for the Spanish version of the A.D.A.M. Health Illustrated Encyclopedia

Website Designer/Owner, Web Affects, Suwanee, GA

Feb. 1998 - Jan. 2001

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Secured all clients through networking and SEO.
Successful launch (on-time and on-budget) of new or updated websites for all clients enabling them to take better advantage of being on the internet.

Work:

Pursued, developed and maintained client base including The Sport Shoe, Wolff Systems (Wolff Tanning), Cardservice, Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association, and others
Developed and maintained projects ranging from brochure-type sites to ecommerce applications
Managed all accounts and ensured clients' expectations were met via regular reviews
Coordinated relationships and project deliverables with strategic business partners
Designed curriculum, provided training resources, and conducted web design classes
Oversaw all aspects of daily operations

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