# Arielle Schussler > Director of UX | Building Strong Teams & User-Centered Solutions for Complex Products | Driving Engagement, Revenue, & Brand Growth with Cross-Functional Collaboration Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/arielleschussler Design leader with 9+ years of experience shaping product vision, scaling high-performing design teams, and delivering user-centered solutions that drive engagement, revenue, and brand equity. Skilled in building design systems, unifying cross-platform experiences, and leveraging market insights to ensure competitive advantage. Recognized for mentoring design organizations, forging strong partnerships with product and engineering, and aligning executives on a shared vision that balances user needs with business priorities. ## Work Experience ### Director, User Experience @ Cadent Jan 2025 – Present - Unifying a legacy platform and design system into a seamless experience across a larger suite of three applications serving thousands of users, ensuring consistency while anticipating distinct user needs. - Directing a lean, high-performing design team of three, overseeing four core applications and balancing competing priorities while maintaining delivery quality and alignment with product goals. - Collaborating with product management, executive leadership, engineering, and sales/customer success to align roadmap priorities with customer needs, ensuring design solutions supported both business growth and user adoption. - Partnering with design leadership to define and implement a modern design system adopted across all applications, improving visual consistency and usability. - Overseeing user research and workflow redesigns that modernized core application experiences, reducing task completion time and positioning the suite as a competitive leader within the industry. - Evangelizing updated design processes across the broader tech org, achieving organization-wide adoption and reducing design-to-development cycle times. - Advocating for and supporting the design team during organizational change, improving morale and retention while elevating visibility of design within the company. ### Associate Director of Product Design @ AdTheorent Jan 2024 – Jan 2024 - Directed a growing team of designers to unify the UI/UX of a three-application suite, creating a consistent, scalable experience for thousands of active users. - Formulated a forward-looking UX strategy in collaboration with executives, engineering, product, marketing, branding, and sales, aligning user-experience goals with business growth targets. - Defined and enforced design standards, prioritization frameworks, and delivery practices, increasing design-to-development predictability and laying the groundwork for the enterprise-wide design system later implemented at the Director level. - Acted as a key partner to senior leadership, championing user-centered design in strategic planning and positioning the design function as a driver of revenue and customer retention. ### Senior Product Designer @ AdTheorent Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 - Generated and led a full-scale UI/UX redesign in partnership with the Co-Founder, CTO, and product directors, aligning design vision with business strategy and engineering constraints. - Defined information architecture and delivered a comprehensive design system optimized for developer implementation, increasing build efficiency and cutting rework in QA. - Established design ops practices—component governance, design-to-dev QA, and feedback loops—improving design fidelity in development and accelerating release cycles. - Acted as a bridge between Product, Engineering, and Leadership, evangelizing modern UX standards and preparing the organization for a scalable design practice later formalized at the Director level. ### Product Designer @ AdTheorent Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 - Launched and scaled AdTheorent’s first in-house UX/Product Design function, recruiting and mentoring a small team that increased design capacity by 200% in the first year. - Defined company-wide brand guidelines and a reusable design library, laying the foundation for a scalable design system to be adopted platform-wide, cutting interface inconsistency by 40%. - Led a platform-wide redesign of AdTheorent’s legacy UI/UX, streamlining workflows and improving task completion speed, while partnering with Product and Engineering to ensure smooth delivery. - Redesigned ~30% of the software in the first six months while launching new functionality, accelerating product modernization and contributing to a 15% increase in feature adoption. ### Human Experience Ambassador @ Maximus Real Estate Partners Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area - Designed, launched, and maintained five community-facing websites, improving access to information and services for 25K+ residents and staff. - Researched and analyzed employee and resident journeys through interviews, brainstorming sessions, and data review, translating insights into strategies that enhanced day-to-day experiences. - Produced branded graphics, copy, and presentation materials that elevated internal and external communications, strengthening stakeholder engagement and brand consistency. - Partnered with operations and leadership teams to align digital touchpoints with organizational goals, laying the groundwork for an experience-centered approach. ### Project Associate @ Maximus Real Estate Partners Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area - Designed and coded ADA-compliant websites for public-outreach projects, ensuring accessibility and clear communication for diverse audiences. - Produced and distributed quarterly newsletters in both digital and print formats, strengthening stakeholder awareness and engagement. - Developed targeted presentation decks, flyers, and marketing materials for internal and external stakeholders, supporting organizational initiatives and community outreach. - Introduced early accessibility and content-strategy practices that later informed a user-first approach across ui experiences. ### Social Media Manager @ MerusCase - Legal Practice Management Software Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | Oakland, California • Defined user personas, analyzed customer support interviews, and implemented social media overhaul to maximize engagement. • Developed ads, copy, and landing pages for target users through research, testing, and analysis of user engagement. • Championed the strategy, planning, execution, and ongoing optimization of MerusCase’s social media channels, which led to a 97% increase in engagement, month over month. ### Editor in Chief @ MARY: A Journal of New Writing Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | St. Mary's College of California • Designed and coded each issue’s website. • Spearheaded the journal’s entry into print publication and accompanying print release festivities. • Directed an editorial staff of 15 members, managed submission reviews, and developed contributor relations. ### Nonfiction Genre Editor @ MARY: A Journal of New Writing Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | St. Mary's College of California • Selected and edited manuscripts for publication. • Led the non-fiction editorial staff. • Conducted, transcribed, and published interviews with accomplished writers. ### Instructor @ Saint Mary's College of California Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | Moraga, CA • Led and moderated the class discussion. • Crafted my own lesson plan and lectures. • Led a bi-weekly writing workshop and provided students with weekly critiques of their work. ### Research Assistant/ Paralegal @ The Aarons Law Firm, APC Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | Sherman Oaks, California • Drafted legal paperwork such as retainers, interrogatories, motions, and pleadings. • Conducted research for trial and cases. • Scheduled process servers and court filings. ### Blogger/ Journalist @ Caliber Magazine Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | United States • Wrote original content for weekly blog posts and print magazines, one of which became a highly cited piece. • Worked closely with editors, web designers, and photographers to ensure best media product. • Participated in brainstorming sessions. ## Education ### Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Philosophy University of California, Berkeley ### Master's Degree in Dual Focus Creative Writing Fiction and Non-Fiction Saint Mary's College of California ### None in Fine and Studio Arts Academy of Art University ### High School Diploma Las Lomas High ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/schusslera - Website: https://www.schussleradesign.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/arielleschussler JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/arielleschussler/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-05