Alexa is available for hire
Hire AlexaAlexa Kaminsky
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Toptal member since November 14, 2022
Bio
Alexa is a product designer with over 10 years of experience working in startups, scaleups, and large tech companies. She has experience building internal tools, B2B services, and B2C products and specializes in the product discovery and definition phase of the product development cycle. Alexa's superpower is turning complex problems into simple and engaging experiences while bringing stakeholders and collaborators together.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Head of Design
2023 - PRESENT
bol.com
- Led a design team of 12 product designers spanning 4 product areas and supporting 20 product teams.
- Facilitated and co-created with product leaders our product vision and strategy for our 300-person product and tech teams.
- Set expectations and educated our area on the value of product design during a transition to the product operating model.
- Led and collaborated with other design leaders to define the design's value proposition and develop a strategy to bridge gaps.
- Defined the product design craft competencies to provide the company with clear expectations for its product designers.
Technologies: Design Leadership, B2B, B2C, Design Thinking, People Development, Strategy, UX Strategy, Product Design, Product Strategy, Product Vision
Design Manager
2021 - 2023
Flexport
- Managed a team of two senior product designers and a senior UX researcher.
- Coached my team and provided hands-on design direction to produce high-quality, user-centered solutions.
- Partnered with business, product, and engineering leads to drive product strategy and operational improvements.
- Built a healthy, collaborative, and inclusive culture across the UX organization, spanning the United States, Europe, and China.
- Introduced design reviews and office hours to improve collaboration between engineering and UX.
Technologies: Product Strategy, Figma, UX Roadmaps, Product Roadmaps, Product Design, Product Vision, UX Design, User Surveys, Design Thinking, Web Design, Web App Design, User Flows, High-fidelity Prototypes, Enterprise, User Testing, User Validation, B2B, Web App UX, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Web App UI, Design Leadership, Prototyping, Personas, User Stories, SaaS, UX Research, Interaction Design (IxD), Team Management, MVP Design, Strategy, UX Audits, Enterprise SaaS, User Interviews, Mockups, Design Systems, User Personas, Responsive Web Apps, User Journey Maps, Logistics, Websites, Responsive Web Design (RWD)
Senior Product Designer
2021 - 2021
Flexport
- Created a UX vision that conceptualized solutions based on identified user opportunities to inform our product strategy.
- Designed end-to-end workflows and collaborated with the business to reduce our internal users' cost to serve.
- Leveraged our design system by delivering UX strategy documents, wireframes, high-fidelity prototypes, and user interfaces.
- Developed research plans, ran research studies, and delivered thorough reports with designed recommendations.
- Implemented a quarterly customer satisfaction survey and super user group to build a qualitative data repository.
Technologies: UX Design, Product Design, Product Strategy, Product Vision, Product Management, User Research, Information Architecture (IA), User Journeys, Service Design, Stakeholder Management, UX Mentoring, Mentorship & Coaching, Qualitative Research, Quantitative User Research, User Surveys, User Workflows, Design Thinking, UI Design, Web Design, Web App Design, User Flows, High-fidelity Prototypes, Enterprise, User Testing, User Validation, B2B, Web App UX, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Web App UI, Prototyping, Personas, User Stories, SaaS, UX Research, Interaction Design (IxD), MVP Design, Strategy, UX Audits, Enterprise SaaS, User Interviews, Mockups, Design Systems, User Personas, Responsive Web Apps, User Journey Maps, Logistics, Websites, Responsive Web Design (RWD)
Lead Designer
2019 - 2021
Booking.com
- Set the design strategy for multiple initiatives that guided designers to create high-quality end-to-end experiences.
- Partnered with product and tech leaders on strategic initiatives through challenging and ambiguous situations.
- Led a cross-functional UX team to create an MVP in ten weeks, helping our partners gain stable revenue during COVID-19.
- Coached six to eight designers on their craft, developed IDPs with their managers, and participated in performance calibrations.
- Facilitated design critiques, workshops, and retrospectives across multiple teams to enable more effective collaboration.
- Fostered a 25-person cross-functional UX community to collaborate, support, and learn from each other.
Technologies: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Figma, Google Slides, User Journeys, Service Design, SQL, User Research, Qualitative Research, Quantitative User Research, Project Management, UX Mentoring, Mentorship & Coaching, Lucidchart, UX Design, Product Management, Information Architecture (IA), Product Design, Stakeholder Management, UX Strategy, Product Strategy, User Surveys, eCommerce UX, Design Thinking, Web Design, Web App Design, User Flows, High-fidelity Prototypes, Enterprise, User Testing, User Validation, B2B, Web App UX, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Web App UI, Design Leadership, Prototyping, Personas, User Stories, SaaS, UX Research, Interaction Design (IxD), Team Management, MVP Design, Strategy, UX Audits, Enterprise SaaS, User Interviews, Mockups, Design Systems, User Personas, Responsive Web Apps, User Journey Maps, Websites, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Travel & Leisure
Senior Designer
2017 - 2019
Booking.com
- Designed holistic solutions across our customer and partner platforms to enhance the booking experience for families.
- Created, visualized, and managed the product strategy and execution roadmap for a project with many stakeholders.
- Planned and conducted moderated and unmoderated user research via remote and in-person sessions.
- Gathered quantitive data through google analytics, running A/B testing and querying our databases.
- Managed relationships with stakeholders and raised awareness of the problem among the product and tech communities.
Technologies: Figma, User Journeys, Information Architecture (IA), Service Design, User Research, Qualitative Research, Quantitative User Research, Product Design, Product Management, UX Design, Roadmaps, Product Roadmaps, UX Roadmaps, A/B Testing, SQL, Stakeholder Management, Product Strategy, eCommerce UX, Design Thinking, UI Design, Web Design, Web App Design, User Flows, High-fidelity Prototypes, Enterprise, User Testing, User Validation, B2B, Web App UX, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Web App UI, Prototyping, Personas, User Stories, SaaS, UX Research, Interaction Design (IxD), MVP Design, Strategy, UX Audits, Enterprise SaaS, User Interviews, Mockups, Design Systems, User Personas, Responsive Web Apps, User Journey Maps, Websites, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Travel & Leisure
UX Designer
2015 - 2017
Booking.com
- Designed features for our internal CRM tool, which enabled our local offices to prioritize their accounts.
- Developed and coded many solutions for multi-platform web use using a templating language, HTML, and CSS.
- Implemented an iterative data-driven approach of A/B testing to measure the impact of my solutions on our customers.
Technologies: Figma, User Journeys, Service Design, Qualitative Research, Quantitative User Research, Project Management, UX Design, Product Design, Information Architecture (IA), HTML, CSS, A/B Testing, User Research, eCommerce UX, Design Thinking, UI Design, Web Design, Web App Design, User Flows, High-fidelity Prototypes, Enterprise, User Testing, User Validation, B2B, Web App UX, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Web App UI, Prototyping, Personas, User Stories, SaaS, UX Research, Interaction Design (IxD), MVP Design, UX Audits, Enterprise SaaS, User Interviews, Mockups, Design Systems, User Personas, Responsive Web Apps, User Journey Maps, Websites, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Travel & Leisure
Education
2008 - 2012
Bachelor's Degree in Computational Media
Georgia Institute of Technology - Atlanta, GA, USA
Skills
Tools
Figma, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Lucidchart, Miro
Languages
HTML, CSS, SQL
Industry Expertise
Logistics, Travel & Leisure
Other
UX Design, User Research, Product Design, User Journeys, Service Design, Information Architecture (IA), Product Roadmaps, UX Strategy, UX Wireframes, Wireframing, Web Design, Web App Design, User Flows, High-fidelity Prototypes, Enterprise, User Testing, User Validation, B2B, Web App UX, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Web App UI, Design Leadership, Prototyping, Personas, User Stories, SaaS, UX Research, Interaction Design (IxD), MVP Design, Strategy, UX Audits, Enterprise SaaS, User Interviews, Mockups, Design Systems, User Personas, Responsive Web Apps, User Journey Maps, Websites, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Data Visualization, Storytelling, Qualitative Research, Quantitative User Research, Mentorship & Coaching, A/B Testing, Stakeholder Management, Product Strategy, User Surveys, Interactive Prototypes, eCommerce UX, Design Thinking, UI Design, SaaS Design, Product Consultant, Team Management, eCommerce, Product Management, Project Management, UX Mentoring, Roadmaps, UX Roadmaps, Product Vision, User Workflows, UX Workshops, User Onboarding, Mobile App Design, B2C, People Development
Experience
Collaboration That Works
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
1
Share your needs
Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2
Choose your talent
Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3
Start your risk-free talent trial
Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring