Sep 2017 – Jun 2024 · 6 yrs 9 mos · Utrecht, Netherlands · Hybrid

• StackState is a Dutch start-up in the observability space offering a unique, topology-based SaaS (and on-prem) platform for monitoring and troubleshooting complex IT environments. StackState was acquired by SUSE in June 2024 and was successfully incorporated as their core observability solution later that year.
• As the Lead Product Designer, I have:
• Transformed the entire information architecture, enhancing scalability and flexibility, which enabled the platform to support complex enterprise IT environments.
• Designed intuitive interfaces and streamlined interactions to improve usability and reduce task completion time for users.
• Driven the functional implementation across multiple teams, leading to efficient deployment and consistent user experiences.
• Conducted comprehensive validation sessions and competitor analysis, aligning the product with market needs and user expectations.
• Established the foundation of our design system, ensuring consistency and accelerating future development efforts.
• Led the transition and integration into the new SUSE ecosystem from a design perspective (post-acquisition stage).
• Curious to find out what kept me motivated to design in this industry? I wrote a post on this a while back: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ovidiuboc_observability-monitoring-opentelemetry-activity-6909975558537797633-h6nR

Dec 2016 – Jun 2017 · 6 mos · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• Redesigned the main Portfolio Dashboard (and a few key analysis flows) as part of the Global Credit Risk System, reducing the error rate, the learning curve and the overall time spent on tasks by the credit risk operators of different seniority levels.
• I've also helped the product organization in the Bucharest Excellence Center set up the design process and cross-team collaboration, resulting in shorter feedback cycles and easier handover.
• Designing in such a strictly regulated environment was an important part of the challenges I've faced and also the reason for not being able to provide any work samples.

Jun 2015 – Sep 2016 · 1 yr 3 mos · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• Kalon is a US based SaaS development scale-up specialized in delivering the most innovative enterprise solutions for franchise management.
• As the Head of the UX Design organization I have:
• Built, managed and coached a team of 10 UX designers.
• Defined and implemented the UX procedures, workflows and methodologies.
• Supervised and coordinated key projects for Kalon’s Fortune 50 clients.
• Facilitated communication and collaboration between the UX team and other departments.
• Key Projects: http://bit.ly/2dldnLu

Sep 2014 – Jun 2015 · 9 mos · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• Led the design and execution of Kalon's flagship project: MyLocalMcDs, a highly scalable and customisable SaaS platform that facilitated job applications and local community engagement with the McDonald's brand across the United States.
• As a result, MyLocalMcDs.com has reached 100% adoption rate of all McDonald's operators nationwide. In less than a month, 14.500 websites were live, showcasing each and every restaurant in the United States, supporting millions of job applications.
• Platform Overview: http://bit.ly/2dv8Ogn

Apr 2012 – Jul 2014 · 2 yrs 3 mos · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• Front-facing website redesign for www.okazii.ro, the largest online marketplace in Romania (similar to eBay). I had a close collaboration with the Business Intelligence organization, which allowed me to use large data sets to test and improve all the major user flows across the platform - discovery, buying, selling, etc.
• Being able to quickly validate different solutions and measure their impact on various business KPIs resulted in a fast and insightful design iteration process.

May 2011 – Apr 2012 · 11 mos · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · Remote

• Complete redesign for www.vreaucredit.ro, Romania's leading loan comparison website: content and feature inventory, taxonomy, labeling, url schema, sketches, wireframes, visual and interaction design.
• Being an old project that I've created and worked on years before (see my previous positions), I had the chance to observe how the financial market and the user needs shifted in time. It was just a matter of analyzing the data gathered over the past years, connecting the dots and designing a proper ecosystem capable of bringing together all the financial institutions (mostly banks) and their potential clients.

Apr 2008 – Mar 2011 · 2 yrs 11 mos · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• Designed various low-to-high fidelity concept representations (sketches, wireframes, mockups, prototypes), identified personas and user scenarios, performed content and features inventory, labeling and taxonomy for clients like: ING Romania, Johnson & Johnson, Renault, AVON Cosmetics, UPC, Ferrero, Orange, Forever Living Products, Greenfield Residence, Clal Romania, Farmaciile Dona and Maguay.

Feb 2008 – Mar 2011 · 3 yrs 1 mo · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• HyperActive is a leading advertising agency in Romania, winner of numerous European awards for innovation in the digital space.
• As the Head of Web Development I have:
• Managed, trained, coached and supervised both front-end and back-end development teams.
• Provided technical assistance and information exchange with other departments.
• Directed project landing, setup and team assignment.
• Performed unit and final project testing and quality assurance.
• Supervised the development cycle for key projects ranging from small presentational websites to complex B2C, B2B and MLM ecommerce platforms.

Jan 2006 – Feb 2008 · 2 yrs 1 mo · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• Built up, trained, coached and supervised a small development team capable of fulfilling the company's main objective: create the first comprehensive B2C online lead-generation platform, covering most of the financial mass-market products in Romania (loans, debit and credit cards, lease, deposits).
• Integrated 2 out of 4 projects (www.vreaucredit.ro - loans and www.vreaucard.ro - debit and credit cards), built the online business strategy, designed and implemented the websites' IA, UI and UX to ensure a user friendly, SEO ready, standard compliant (W3C, WCAG) interface, developed the platform's engine, key features and database architecture to meet high reliability, scalability and security requirements.
• After two years and two major revisions, the company’s leading project, www.vreaucredit.ro became a leader and a trendsetter for the online financial services market, generated more than 50.000 unique leads for top 30 banks in Romania, won 2 awards for "Best financial services website" (Internetics, 2006) and "Best user experience" (Microsoft, 2007), ranked #1 in SERPs for most of the popular financial keywords and delivered an average of 600.000 page views / 120.000 unique visitors / month.

Jul 2005 – Dec 2005 · 5 mos · Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania · On-site

• Developed and maintained the company's publishing websites: www.revistavip.net , www.vacantesicalatorii.ro , www.cuvantul.ro.