Strategic AI Program/Operations Manager with proven success building and scaling high‑performing UX and AI product design teams. Expert at creating unified roadmaps, organizational change strategies, service blueprints and scalable systems that improve collaboration, agility, and stakeholder engagement.
Experience
2024 — Now
Palo Alto, California, United States
Leading programs for Joule (SAP's AI Assistant) that enable UX designers to build AI assistants and agents that accelerate delivery of new AI capabilities, and guiding conversational design strategy and guidelines to improve natural-language agent interactions.
Developed a unified UX roadmap, organizational-change strategy, and service blueprint; implemented repeatable processes and playbooks; and led team integrations and coaching to measurably improve delivery, collaboration, and organizational effectiveness.
▪ Owned budgets, finances, and OKRs, aligning team goals with strategic objectives and boosting goal achievement by 60%.
▪ Built AI Product Design roadmaps and dashboards in Airtable, enhancing project transparency and increasing on-time delivery to 90%.
▪ Led quarterly portfolio and capacity planning, improving resource allocation and increasing project throughput by 20%.
▪ Created and maintained playbook, SOPs, and systematized automations to streamline workflows and reduce process inconsistencies by 30%.
▪ Developed the Service Blueprint, improving cross-functional collaboration and delivery quality to the highest standards.
▪ Mentored and coached teams, including key leadership, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and increasing team satisfaction scores by 15%.
▪ Scaled operations through a combination of workflow automation and tooling
▪ Organized and facilitated the team offsite in Germany, strengthening team cohesion and enhancing cross-functional collaboration.
2022 — 2024
San Francisco, California, United States
Responsible for improving the velocity of the UX Design organization through standards and rituals, ultimately ensuring that high quality features are shipped against the roadmap. Created, owned, and evolved key programs and operating rhythms that enabled Design Program Managers to scale and deliver exemplary product experiences in a creative, focused environment. Partnering closely with leadership from Product, Design, Engineering, and Marketing, drove company priorities through seamless day-to-day operations and strong stakeholder alignment, with an eye towards scale and efficiency.
▪ Developed the Design Operations Team's operating system and playbooks, standardizing best practices and improving team collaboration, decision-making, and efficiency.
▪ Designed and managed the UX Design organization's staffing system, mitigating project risks and increasing project completion rates by 15%.
▪ Spearheaded the strategy and implementation of a cross-functional product roadmap planning system in AirTable, fostering seamless collaboration between Product, UX Design, and Engineering. I established intake processes, prioritization frameworks, and training programs, enabling efficient resource allocation and proactive risk management.
▪ Defined key metrics and collected data to quantify process improvements, resource allocation, and roadmap execution, providing actionable insights for VPs.
▪ Identified tooling and automation gaps, implementing solutions that achieved 100% adoption and improved team productivity while maintaining design standards.
2021 — 2022
San Francisco, California, United States
Served as a trusted advisor to UX Research Director and UX Writing Director, partnering to establish and manage the priorities, roadmap, and cross-functional operational model for how the UX Research and UX Writing teams engage with stakeholders (UX Design, Product, Marketing, Localization, etc.). Managed team operating cadence, including communication structures, leadership cadence, headcount, and budget.
▪ Directed quarterly and annual planning processes, delivering roadmaps that improved project completion rates to 90%
▪ Streamlined internal communications, and automated weekly project status reporting and escalations
▪ Created functional team operating models, boosting team velocity by 15% through improved communication cadence and quality standards
▪ Provided visibility into projects, resource utilization, and team performance, enhancing operational efficiency
▪ Optimized operations for UX Research and Writing teams by establishing standards, creating a team identity, and increasing collaboration resulting in improved quality, scalability, repeatability, and progress reporting to leadership and XFN partners
▪ Streamlined roadmap process, improving efficiency and productivity by prioritizing and reporting on high-priority projects, resulting in a more predictable and faster production of high-quality work
2019 — 2021
2019 — 2021
San Francisco
Directed the daily operations for the Payments UX Design Team, and the Customer Service UX Design Team to coordinate the strategy and execution of the work of the UX Researchers, UX Writers, and UX Designers with the Product and Engineering Teams to execute against the Product Roadmap. Served as an integral member of the Design Leadership Team, establishing new systematized and scalable processes to increase efficiency, optimization, collaboration, and communication.
▪ Transformed chaotic operations into a highly efficient and collaborative team by implementing standardized processes, resulting in improved productivity, scalability, and quality, with other teams seeking our guidance for scaling
▪ Implemented a successful pilot tool and created ambassadors, resulting in 100% adoption of Asana as project management tool, weekly data updates for accuracy, and increased collaboration and productivity
▪ Revitalized team culture by implementing new weekly and monthly connection touchpoints, resulting in increased engagement, communication, collaboration, productivity, and velocity within the Payments Design Team
▪ Established operational models and managed team rhythms, reducing planning meetings by 50% and increasing coordination
▪ Aligned UX Design teams to one prioritization framework and resource management system, increasing velocity by 20%
▪ Managed resourcing and project allocation, achieving a 90% completion rate of projects each quarter
2019 — 2019
2019 — 2019
San Francisco, CA
Working on site at Airbnb HQ as an embedded Program Manager, managing a $3M retainer contract for a team of 6 UX Designers to successfully deliver quality digital design projects on time and on budget within various teams across Airbnb. Responsibilities include resource management, account management, project management, mentorship/coaching, budget management, contract negotiations, and business development.
▪ Successfully managed a $3M retainer contract for a team of 6 UX Designers at Airbnb, resulting in 100% allocation, contract renewal, and satisfied client through cross-functional collaboration, best practices implementation, and effective resource and budget management
▪ Developed best practices and templates for managing design projects while managing resource allocation, budgets, and billing for retainers and concurrent SOWs, resulting in consistent, quality results
Education
The George Washington University
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA)
Waseda University
Japanese Business Semester Abroad
The George Washington University
Bachelor of Business Administration - BBA
The George Washington University
Bachelor's Degree
Waseda University