May 2024 – Jan 2026 · 1 yr 8 mos · Hyderabad, Telangana, India · Hybrid

• As the founding design leader of New Relic’s India GCC, I was brought in to scale our Product Design function and build a world-class center of excellence for UX across our observability platform. I lead a cross-functional design team of 14+ spanning Product designers, a Director of Design, Principal Designers, User Researchers, and Content Language Writers, driving end-to-end experience strategy, intelligent design systems, and customer-centric innovation across global product lines.
• 🚀 Key Accomplishments:
• Established the India XD Lab, a strategic design hub driving platform-wide experience consistency, cross-functional collaboration, and rapid design iteration.
• Led critical UX programs like One-Core DSM, Smart Alerts redesign, and NRAI (New Relic AI Assistant), transforming core workflows with AI-native and extensible UX patterns.
• Influenced GTM success by aligning design with customer adoption metrics, roadmap velocity, and scalable design-led delivery.
• Standardized performance processes across the global team to improve ownership, design quality, and delivery reliability from India.
• Championed global alignment, connecting India with US and EMEA design counterparts, contributing to strategic QBRs, leadership reviews, and CXO engagements.
• 💡 Impact & Value Created:
• Transformed the India GCC from an execution center into a trusted strategic arm of the global XD function.
• Positioned design as a business enabler by directly contributing to product-market fit, faster time-to-value, and platform extensibility.
• Laid the groundwork for design-led AI adoption, helping product and engineering envision and execute next-gen experiences.

Feb 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 3 mos · Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India · Remote

• Claypot Academy offers specialized mentorship programs for Designers, Product Managers, and Engineers, designed to support their early-stage career development, career advancement, or transition. This initiative is inspired by my own challenging journey to success, underscoring the importance of shared knowledge and mentorship. If you are interested in personalized mentorship, please book an appointment through my LinkedIn profile or visit my page at https://topmate.io/venkatesh_bala.

Feb 2023 – Feb 2024 · 1 yr · Hyderabad, Telangana, India · On-site

• Keka is an all-in-one HR suite, a self-service portal built for businesses of all sizes.
• Team Management and Growth:
• Successfully managed a business-critical team, a key driver of Keka's rapid growth.
• Led a diverse team of designers working on the Keka HRMS suite, including new product lines such as Global Payroll 0-1, PSA, ATS, Perform, Employee Experience-LMS, R&R, and Pulse.
• Scaled design teams from 14 to 30+ in just 7 months, providing foundational training in design.
• Design Leadership:
• Solved complex design challenges, delivering full-featured, robust, simple, AI-automated, and delightful product experiences.
• Cultivated a culture of craft, quality, ownership, and execution, inspiring designers of all experience levels to achieve the best work of their careers.
• Collaboration and Innovation:
• Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams, including Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and executive leadership.
• Contributed to best-in-class, innovative work supporting business growth and revenue targets.
• Applied a relentless customer focus to high-impact, high-visibility projects.
• Strategic Initiatives:
• Implemented the Keka lite DSM across the entire HRMS suite, ensuring consistent design delivery.
• Collaborated with Engineering, Product, and Marketing for strategy design execution and brand-building events and accomplished $11M ARR.
• Professional Development:
• Completed the first-year appraisal cycle for the design team, fostering successful career paths.
• Cultural Impact:
• Designed and implemented culture codes like "speak up" and "play as one team," promoting independence and autonomy.
• Introduced the Customer Advisory Board (CAB) for active listening and collaborating with Customer Success, Sales, and Product.

Dec 2019 – Feb 2023 · 3 yrs 2 mos

• Led a UX design organization (product and visual design, content strategy, user research, design systems) that serves the 130000 Freshworks customer base and all Freshworks Products.
• Direct the design vision, strategy, roadmap, and execution across Freshworks Products, web, mobile and connected devices.
• I designed and launched Unified Billing, reduced 40% manual effort in correcting multiple invoices and discounts for the Billing Desk Admins.
• Improved the efficiency by 4x through Unified customer record (CDP) launch as a platform feature in CRM bundle products.
• Instrumental in creating a Low Code platform and reduced developer account creation clicks from 10 to 2. Signups increased by 10X.
• Solved the problem of broken communication channels in Freshworks products by designing and integrating with the Slack and MS teams and increasing real-time communication and collaboration.
• Led the Neo brand and design system exercise, redesigned and launched the Freshworks Marketplace (Apps) and Developer portal website.
• Led the Accessibility compliance awareness program within Freshworks, recruited an Accessibility service provider for two significant websites, and published VPAT certifications.

Mar 2017 – Feb 2023 · 5 yrs 11 mos

• Instrumental in increasing the Freshdesk product revenue to $100 million ARR with a 35,000 customer base.
• I redesigned the new Freshdesk Mint 2.0 experience by solving customer-reported issues. As a result, it ensured 80% adoption within a few weeks of launch.
• Scaled the Freshdesk design team from 3 to 13 designers and the Neo Platform design team from 1 to 10, including Product, Visual, User Researcher, and Motion designers.
• Upskilled 23 designers to design across Freshworks products and the web, positioned UX to drive the product development process.
• Reduced the redundant design efforts by 80% and eliminated the inconsistent experience by 100% in Freshdesk and Freshworks products through the Global Design Standard System.

Nov 2015 – Feb 2017 · 1 yr 3 mos · Chennai Area, India

• As Head of Digital Design at Imagin8ors, my work focuses on driving design strategy through design thinking method, User experience design and creative direction across the company that will connect all Users including parents/children, coaches/classes, schools/ teachers and marketplaces.
• Lead and build digital experience in an iterative, consumer-focused approach with an in-house team and external agencies, developing globally outstanding unique design flows.
• Thought Leadership for all product releases in terms of managing the design vertical for digital products.
• Capturing consumer feedback meaningfully through concept trials, focus groups to keep UX design for all products thriving and unique.
• Innovate in bringing in design thinking to product concepts, ideas, content and activities in UX design, pushing ahead the creativity quotient of the company
• Represents the pulse of the consumer market internally to suggest and back new feature enhancements and feature improvements.

Jan 2015 – Nov 2015 · 10 mos

• Understand project domain and requirements, prepare user experience design estimation, Resource planning, and define deliverables for cross channels
• Collaborate with project team and other partners to brainstorm ideas, define project goals, create scenarios, concept models, conceptual flows, high-level wire-frames, interaction flows, detailed wire-frames, visual design/branding, screen specifications
• Analyze features and functional requirements and determine feasibility in consultation with technical team
• Primary point of accountability at engagement level for user experience design deliverables and creation of UI Artifacts
• Lead and manage user experience design team to organize, schedule, and control the creative effort of projects while effectively managing scope and budget
• Responsible for meeting user experience standards and for business approval/sign-off of all user experience deliveries and artifacts
• Create scalable UI framework and navigation elements that improve usability
• Communicate UX track status, risks, issues to project manager and other stake holders of the engagement
• Demonstrate strong communication and presentation skills
• Passion for new technologies and emerging trends and adapts as per the project scope
• Generated pipeline projects by aligning with other verticals and customer base.

Dec 2007 – Nov 2015 · 7 yrs 11 mos

• Online Consumer Experiences, Product Design, Card Sorting, Information Architecture, Wireframe, Rapid Prototyping, Interface Design, Visual design concepts, Usability, and UI Patterns
• Ensure that UED track is aligned with other stream
• Conduct Usability Testing / UI evaluation
• Track project tasks, milestones, and deliverables against an overall program plan
• Conducting meetings with business and it for review process and sign off.
• Documentation for UI style guide and process flow
• Facilitate optimal coordination between onshore and offshore team
• Provide quality assurance for all deliverables
• Identify Trends and technology on mobility platform and adapt it in the product design

Dec 2007 – Nov 2015 · 7 yrs 11 mos

• Collaborate with product managers and other partners to brainstorm ideas, define project goals, create scenarios, concept models, conceptual flows, high-level wireframe, interaction flows, detailed wireframe, screen specifications, and cross channel initiatives
• Engages with all stakeholders to provide project level user experience thought leadership, direction, and influence business requirements and improve the overall customer experience for cross channels
• Help to mentor internal and external team members
• RFP and POC Activity (Pre-Sales activity)

Oct 2006 – Nov 2007 · 1 yr 1 mo · Chennai Area, India

• Managed Design projects, schedules, budgets, client relations, staff, and providers on high-profile projects. Maintaining quality and on time deliveries makes zazen designs to get more happy customers.

Feb 2005 – Oct 2006 · 1 yr 8 mos

• Responsible for the design projects and web Application designs starting from customer requirements analysis to till the project completions. Concept, Creative directions, Wireframe, Interface designs, Prototype and reviews. Offered design packages to the Norwegian Corporate, Cosmetics, Financial, Oil and Software domains.

Aug 2003 – Dec 2004 · 1 yr 4 mos

• The role includes Designing Corporate Websites, Flash Presentations, Brand & Identity, AD designs, Product User interface design and illustration, etc... Also, coordinate with the customer and deliver the projects to customers on-time. This position primary helped to learn collaboration, executing projects with high velocity and Self-motivation for pushing expectations.

Jan 2001 – Jan 2003 · 2 yrs

• This is a very interesting position. My job is to deliver web application screens with the help of 10 team designers to designs, develop and maintain financial projects for Lehman Brothers which had more than 600 HTML pages with lots of data records. This will be updated and changed on a daily basis, which required careful overseeing and more efficient time management skills to turn around delivery. Highly Pressure environment helped me to learn team coordination and effective delivery process.

Apr 1999 – Sep 2001 · 2 yrs 5 mos

• Major contribution was in the areas of designing websites, multimedia presentations, flash animation, 2D animations and TV commercial animations. Our clients were Lakme, Mckincy, Giorgio Armani, HSBC, HDFC, Reliance, Wipro, Marks & Spencer, JP Morgan, MRF, Tata Telco, Ashok Leyland and Mahindra Bolero.