Sara Vilas Santiago, Designer in Alicante, Spain
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Sara Vilas Santiago

Bio

Sara has worked with over 100 multinational corporations, mostly in the financial sector. She specializes in enterprise product design and design leadership. Sara is always up for a challenge and ready to help you with strategic decisions and be fully hands-on with your design needs.

Portfolio

Work Experience

Operations Lead

2023 - PRESENT
Canva
  • Led a critical reorganization in our team with our head of community while we moved to a different group, merging multiple teams under a new, solid specialty.
  • Established and documented North Star KPIs and yearly goals across seven programs and 40 markets, improving operational transparency and efficiency.
  • Streamlined our processes and established a simple, standardized reporting system—both within our team and across other teams. As a result, each team member now spends less than 20 minutes per month on reporting, down from the previous three hours.
  • Used advanced data analysis to provide timely and actionable insights to leadership that allow us to identify opportunities and blockers and continuously achieve our goals. This includes building a SQL dashboard on Looker and Looker Studio.
  • Facilitated open communication and collaboration cross-functionally.
  • Managed team cadences and documentation, significantly freeing up team members' time and allowing 45 team members across 14 different time zones to self-serve at any time.
  • Utilized my product design and UX skills to improve processes and enable growth.
Technologies: Canva, Internationalization, Google Sheets, Looker, Data, DataViz, Strategy, Community, Board Decks, Pitch Decks, Goal Management, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Design Lead

2017 - PRESENT
Self-employed
  • Led the design of complex interfaces, particularly for enterprise software.
  • Specialized in B2B, internal tools, complex interfaces, and workflows, including product design, responsive, mobile app (iOS, Android), and web apps.
  • Worked in fintech, healthtech, and education fields.
Technologies: Responsive, InVision, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Sketch

Creators Community Operations Lead

2021 - 2023
Canva
  • Spearheaded the international expansion of the Creators program, including strategic alignment, setting goals across 12 markets, and ultimately contributing to Canva's global impact.
  • Developed and maintained extensive documentation, enabling autonomous problem-solving for community managers across 17 countries.
  • Designed and implemented a robust translation process, enhancing team effectiveness.
  • Taught advanced data analysis, providing valuable insights for strategic decision-making and leadership guidance.
Technologies: Canva, Google Sheets, Looker, Data, DataViz, Strategy, Board Decks, Internationalization

Design & Content Lead

2021 - 2021
Canva
  • Conducted tailored training programs for template designer skill enhancement and market growth.
  • Led design quality assurance for Spanish templates, ensuring alignment with Canva's excellence.
  • Managed sourcing and onboarding of Spanish Creators (template designers) to bolster market presence.
Technologies: Canva, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Looker, Adult Education, Mentorship & Coaching, Content Management, Templates, Quality Control (QC)

Lead Designer

2020 - 2021
Aster
  • Drove the product design of a pioneering wealth management iOS app, curating an integrated financial experience for an affluent Middle Eastern audience.
  • Established brand identity and steered design strategy at a foundational startup phase, collaborating with freelancers to advance product milestones and foster ethical investment practices.
  • Designed the iOS and iPad operating system, launching an app to manage investments from multiple sources in one app.
  • Collaborated with external research agencies to drive user research and user testing activities.
Technologies: Figma, Product Design, Strategic Design

Design Leadership Forum Member

2018 - 2021
InVision
  • Selected for an exclusive global network of design leaders, fostering professional development through peer learning and industry advancement.
  • Engaged in knowledge exchange and strategic discussions at private forums with top-tier design professionals in various international cities.
  • Participated in research and resources to advance product design leadership.
Technologies: Spreadsheets, Google Docs, InVision

Mentor (UX and UI)

2016 - 2021
Designlab
  • Mentored over 150 students from around the globe transitioning into UI/UX careers, with successful placements at prominent companies such as Squarespace and Bloomberg.
  • Helped students understand the different phases of UX and its different deliverables and where and why to use each one.
  • Aided students in solidifying their concepts with capstone projects in which I act as a creative director, setting a briefing with them and monitoring the progress of the project, as well as pushing for the highest quality possible.
  • Coached students through their day-to-day challenges, but also regarding their career changes and career search topics.
  • Collaborated with the Designlab internal team to improve the mentors' and students' experience.
Technologies: User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), Mentorship & Coaching, Career Coaching, Product Design

Head of Curriculum and Mentorship

2017 - 2018
Designlab
  • Set up a scalable and metrics-driven system to manage the performance, growth, and life cycle of 400+ remote mentors across the world.
  • Implemented an automated, scalable system for mentor performance and growth, enhancing mentorship quality and educational outcomes.
  • Elevated a flagship course NPS score from 30 to 91 within 7 months through cross-functional collaboration and alignment with key educational goals.
  • Analyzed historical data to reform educational content and UX of the platform, resulting in higher student value and satisfaction.
  • Developed and systematized mentorship operations and community initiatives, ensuring capacity growth and the establishment of a robust support network for professional development.
Technologies: Balsamiq, InVision, Slack, Google Docs, Google Drive, Asana, Content Management, Spreadsheets, Figma

Design Director

2013 - 2016
Backbase
  • Worked with over 100 multinational corporations, mainly in the financial sector, on their digital transformation projects. I helped them with strategic decisions down to pixel-perfect final deliverables.
  • Worked on complex interfaces including retail banking, business banking (SMEs and corporate), private banking, intranets and employee portals, automotive financial platforms, and insurance portals.
  • Built two teams and processes to make those teams work together and gain ownership while maintaining consistency. This included setting up a complex design system across different products and platforms.
  • Created innovative concepts, demos, and award-winning products in fintech events such as Finovate.
  • Led workshops and sessions with multi-disciplinary teams to get the right, desirable, feasible, and viable solution.
  • Acted as a brand manager, striving for a long-lasting, unique impression on customers and employees to improve sales and market share.
Technologies: Zeplin, InVision, Sketch, Figma, iOS, Android, Web, Web App UX

Travel Agent | Graphic Designer

2012 - 2012
Bru & Bru Exclusive Travel Designer
  • Designed and executed tailor-made, upscale travel itineraries, showcasing personalized client service and strategic supplier management.
  • Employed negotiation and vendor management skills to secure premium travel options at optimized costs.
  • Provided operational support, adapting to diverse tasks and improving process efficiency alongside the agency owner.
  • Developed and deployed marketing collateral, applying graphic design expertise to enhance campaign effectiveness and brand consistency.
Technologies: Responsive, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft PowerPoint

Other Experience

Image of A Comprehensive Guide to Notification Design publication
Publication

A Comprehensive Guide to Notification Design

https://www.toptal.com/designers/ux/notification-design
Image of Making Remote Work, Part 1: Why Do Blended Teams Really Fail? publication
Publication

Making Remote Work, Part 1: Why Do Blended Teams Really Fail?

https://www.toptal.com/insights/rise-of-remote/making-remote-work-part-1
Image of Who's at the Helm? – Dissecting the Qualities of Design Leadership publication
Publication

Who's at the Helm? – Dissecting the Qualities of Design Leadership

https://www.toptal.com/designers/creative-direction/design-leadership

Education

2019 - 2020

Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) in Business Administration

University of Alicante - Alicante, Spain

2009 - 2013

Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design

Alicante's Art School - Alicante, Spain

2008 - 2013

Bachelor's Degree in Tourism

University of Alicante - Alicante, Spain

Certifications

JANUARY 2018 - PRESENT

Leaders of Learning

Harvard University | via edX

APRIL 2017 - PRESENT

Leading for Creativity

IDEO U

OCTOBER 2016 - PRESENT

Growth-driven Design Certification

HubSpot

Skills

Tools

Zeplin, Avocode, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, InVision, Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, Spreadsheets, Evernote, Adobe Illustrator, Asana, Google Docs, Slack, Balsamiq, Microsoft PowerPoint, Canva, Google Sheets, Looker

Industry Expertise

Education, Travel & Leisure, Banking & Finance, Healthcare, Government, Insurance, Marketing

Platforms

iOS, Android, Figma, Webflow, Web, Desktop, Mobile, WordPress

Other

Training & Training Content Development, Proof of Concept (POC), Demos, Design Sprints, Design Thinking, Commercial Banking, Training, Responsive, Complex Reasoning, Complex Problem Solving, Team Building, Team Mentoring, Creative Strategy, Concept Development, Interaction Design (IxD), Tourism, UI Audits, UX Audits, Team Leadership, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), Personas, Business Strategy, Investment Banking, Workshops, Ideation Workshops, Discovery Workshops, Whiteboarding, Usability, Sitemaps, User Flows, Prototyping, Branding, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Logo Design, Personal Finance, Innovation, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Leadership, Team Management, UX Leadership, Design Leadership, Product Design, Fintech, Complex Web Systems, Product Strategy, Enterprise, Enterprise SaaS, SaaS, B2B, B2B2C, Corporate Design, Startups, Startup Consulting, Lean Startups, Early-stage Startups, Educational Portals, Adult Education, Continuing Education, Agile, Enterprise Design, Enterprise Systems, Enterprise Software, Design Systems, Web App UX, Web App UI, Web App Design, Dashboards, Dashboard Design, Data Visualization, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), Usability Testing, Strategy, User Research, Research & Analysis, Information Architecture (IA), Atomic Design, Angular Bootstrap, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Leadership Development, B2C, Content Management, Google Drive, Graphs, Big Data, Personal Finance Management, Employees, Performance, Wireframing, UX Design, Private Banking, Domain Research, Workflow, DataViz, Business, Internationalization, Economics, Growth, Creativity, Graphic Design, UI Design, Art, Management, Languages, Business Law, Mentorship & Coaching, Career Coaching, Strategic Design, Templates, Quality Control (QC), Data, Board Decks, Community, Pitch Decks, Goal Management, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Learning, HubSpot

Experience

  • Complex Problem Solving - 10 years
  • Creative Strategy - 8 years
  • Innovation - 8 years
  • User Experience (UX) - 7 years
  • User Interface (UI) - 7 years
  • Product Design - 7 years
  • Design Leadership - 6 years
  • Team Management - 6 years
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