Chris is available for hire
Hire ChrisChris Pallé
Verified Expert in Design
UX Designer
Old Bridge Township, NJ, United States
Toptal member since July 24, 2020
Bio
Chris is a hard-charging, success-driven, change strategist with robust entrepreneurial instincts and a 20-year career of applying people, creative, marketing, and technical acumen to scale and deliver impactful commercial & digital design solutions that propel growth for emerging to Fortune 500 enterprises. Chris excels at unpacking challenges, uncovering design opportunities, provisioning inspired design direction that dissolves uncertainty, and presenting brilliant presentations.
Experience
- Wireframing - 20 years
- User Interface (UI) - 20 years
- UX Leadership - 15 years
- User Research - 15 years
- UX Strategy - 10 years
- UX Prototyping - 10 years
- Mobile UX - 8 years
- Figma - 3 years
Portfolio
metaMe | Own Your Data
User Experience (UX)SketchAdobe Experience Design (XD)UX PrototypingBlockchainProduct Strategy+ 37 more
Amplifind | Find Your Audience
UX DesignInformation Architecture (IA)Workshop FacilitationSearchDiscovery WorkshopsAdministration+ 28 more
Junior Achievement Student Center Redesign: JA MyWay™
SketchUser ResearchAdobe Experience Design (XD)UX DesignInformation Architecture (IA)Game Design+ 43 more
iCIMS | User-centered Salesforce Enablement
Design StrategyDesign LeadershipWorkshop FacilitationQualitative ResearchEmpathy MappingEthnographic Interviews+ 18 more
Work Experience
Manager, Product Design
2023 - 2025
World Vision
- Managed the complete product design lifecycle, from ideation and research through launch, testing, and iteration, elevating donor experiences through user-centered, data-informed iteration aligned to organizational revenue and engagement goals.
- Integrated Generative AI tools (ChatGPT, DALL·E, Midjourney, Adobe Firefly) into design workflows to increase concept volume, streamline storyboarding, and expand creative exploration capabilities across the team.
- Led and operationalized a high-performing hybrid UX team, driving a culture of design excellence through structured mentorship, cross-functional collaboration, and proactive performance management.
- Established an AI-assisted research-to-design pipeline leveraging UserTesting.com, GA4, Hotjar, and MS Clarity—creating a remote “UX war room” that increased transparency, pattern recognition, and alignment with leadership.
- Championed ethical AI adoption and organizational AI literacy by piloting emerging tools, contributing to Communities of Practice, and modeling responsible workflows—helping position the org for broader AI integration and cross-team enablement.
Technologies: Adobe CC, Figma, ChatGPT
Part-time Lecturer | Educator
2021 - 2023
Rutgers University
- Developed curriculum focused on the design process to teach students user-centered design best practices, including problem articulation, user interviews and observations, and persona development.
- Led 35+ students per semester through rigorous discovery and design process using goal-directed UI/UX design principles and Adobe XD for prototyping.
- Introduced product management skills into the design process for requirements gathering and articulated user stories ready for an agile management system such as Jira.
Technologies: Adobe Experience Design (XD), UX Design, UI Design, User Research, Ethnography, Product Design, Low-fidelity Prototypes, UX Prototyping, UX Mentoring, Design Systems, Web, B2C, Design Leadership, Consumer Behavior, Edtech Design, Education Technology (Edtech), SaaS Design
Director of Operations and Design | President
2011 - 2020
Wisdom & Craft | Self-Employed
- Attracted and captured new business. Devised and executed winning business development strategies while orchestrating a portfolio of projects valued at up to $500,000 each.
- Assisted in raising $1 million in venture funding for metaMe and winning a tech company's pilot program to develop an early-stage blockchain-based protocol.
- Optimized the plan of a next-generation research engine JV initiative for IEEE with limited resources and aggressive timelines tasked with simplifying search and delivery of 2 million archived technical documents.
- Saved The Economist $150,000+ in development costs by identifying and integrating successful feature sets into larger product vision while conceptualizing, prototyping, and testing a brand-aligned mobile app for a new digital product.
- Influenced the evolution of product quality for iCIMS via an enhanced sales process.
- Contributed to the seismic shift in the development approach to user-centered design for a global SaaS firm that owns the second most widely deployed applicant tracking system.
- Shepherded a team through product design, prototyping, and startup activities.
Technologies: Product Vision, UX Flows, Prototyping, Agile, Personas, UX Strategy, Office 365, Google Workspace, Axure, OmniGraffle, Figma, Sketch, Adobe CC, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Strategic Design, UX Research, Product Discovery, Workflow Diagrams, Information Architecture (IA), Startups, UX Leadership, Leadership, Administration, Discovery Workshops, Project Estimation, Mobile UX, Workshops, UI Design, User Experience (UX), Product Design, User Flows, Low-fidelity Prototypes, B2B, UX Prototyping, Heuristic Evaluation, Qualitative Research, Survey Design, UX Mentoring, Ethnography, Web App Design, Mobile, Web, User Engagement, B2C, Design Leadership, Consumer Behavior, Mobile App Design, User Journeys, Web App UX, Web App UI, Edtech Design, Education Technology (Edtech), MVP Design, iOS, SaaS Design
Executive Director – Co-working Tenant Incubator and Digital Strategy
2015 - 2017
Bell Works
- Applied design thinking while spearheading, steering, and launching a renewal venture within two million square feet of iconic vacant industrial space. To ensure project success, I conferred with and enlisted help from many experts.
- Fostered an entrepreneurial ecosystem of startups, universities, investors, established enterprises, and community groups focused on health and wellness, fintech, blockchain, smart contracts, infosec, and AI/machine learning.
- Magnified community-and-business awareness throughout the state by leading tours, networking with university students, and garnering media and press coverage from the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, The Real Deal, and local NJ outlets.
- Organized a networking group of 1,500 by hosting distinguished thought leaders at numerous Meetup events.
- Recruited cutting-edge companies in Monmouth County by working closely with first tenant pilot program businesses, and coached and advised startups and others in growing their businesses.
- Championed the design of a new website by articulating and conveying content strategy and messaging for all social channels, email, and blog.
- Oversaw and rallied a team of high-performance freelancers along with managing vendors.
Technologies: Personas, WordPress, Office 365, Google Workspace, Sketch, Adobe CC, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Strategic Design, Startups, Leadership, Administration, Discovery Workshops, Project Estimation, Workshops, UX Mentoring, Design Leadership, User Journeys
Senior User Experience (UX) Consultant
2008 - 2011
Independent Consulting Engagements
- Contributed to strategic design activities—structuring content and modeling documents and charting user flows and sitemaps.
- Constructed wireframes and prototypes and specified product and service elements.
- Worked with clients including Tribal DDB (EarthLink), EMC Digital (Merrill Lynch/Bank of America), McGraw-Hill Construction (Dodge Report), VML (Hershey's Company), Bertelsmann Direct NA (BMG, Columbia House), and OgilvyAction (Delivery.com).
- Worked for G2 Worldwide on several projects: Smucker’s, CoverGirl, Pillsbury, Hertz Car Sales, Campbell’s, Eli Lilly, Latisse, Pfizer, Crisco, and Adams' Natural Peanut Butter.
- Fueled a decade of client acquisition and business growth by collaborating in crafting a persona-centered navigation scheme that yielded an engaging, intuitive interface empowered with improved conversion tracking analytics (client: Hertz Car Sales).
Technologies: Product Vision, UX Flows, Prototyping, Agile, Personas, UX Strategy, Office 365, Adobe Creative Suite, Axure, Visio, OmniGraffle, Strategic Design, UX Research, Product Discovery, Workflow Diagrams, Information Architecture (IA), Startups, Visual Design, UX Leadership, Leadership, Administration, Discovery Workshops, Project Estimation, Mobile UX, Workshops, UI Design, User Experience (UX), Product Design, User Flows, Low-fidelity Prototypes, B2B, UX Prototyping, Heuristic Evaluation, Qualitative Research, Survey Design, Ethnography, Web App Design, Mobile, Web, B2C, Design Leadership, Consumer Behavior, Mobile App Design, User Journeys, Web App UX, Web App UI, Mobile Design, Fintech, MVP Design, SaaS Design
Education
2000 - 2002
Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences Degree in Graphic Design, Technical Communication, and eBusiness Strategy
Rochester Institute of Technology - Rochester, NY, United States
Skills
Tools
Adobe CC, Adobe Experience Design (XD), InVision, OmniGraffle, Google Workspace, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Visio
Platforms
Figma, Mobile, Web, iOS, Axure, WordPress
Industry Expertise
Education Technology (Edtech)
Other
UX Strategy, Mobile UX, UX Design, UI Design, User Flows, Product Design, Project Estimation, Heuristic Evaluation, UX Audits, UX Prototyping, Design Leadership, Empathy Mapping, Ethnographic Interviews, Prototyping, Mobile Apps, UX Flows, Information Architecture (IA), Design Research, Design Thinking, Web App Design, User Experience (UX), Wireframing, User Research, UX Leadership, Web Design, Product Discovery, Low-fidelity Prototypes, Design Documentation, Design Systems, Mobile App Design, Web App UX, Web App UI, Edtech Design, Mobile Design, MVP Design, SaaS Design, User Interface (UI), Personas, Office 365, Agile, Blockchain, Product Strategy, Design Strategy, Workshop Facilitation, Qualitative Research, Survey Design, Journey Mapping, Discovery Workshops, Game Design, Search, Search Engines, Workshops, Product Vision, Design Workshops, Strategic Design, UX Research, Leadership, Cryptocurrency, Workflow Diagrams, Startups, Ethnography, B2B, UX Mentoring, User Journey Maps, User Engagement, B2C, Consumer Behavior, User Journeys, Fintech, Extreme Sports, Dating Apps, Administration, Comics, Cryptocurrency Wallets, Graphic Design, Visual Design, ChatGPT
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