# Ioan Popa > Principal Designer at Splunk | Design Leader | Award Winning Astrophotographer | AI Enthusiast & Innovator Location: United States, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/ioanpopa I'm a systems thinker who happens to work in design. Born and raised in Romania πŸ‡·πŸ‡΄, moved to the UK πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§, now in California πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ. 20+ years of making things, products, pipelines, games, photographs of deep space, taught me that the real skill isn't taste or craft, it's seeing the opportunity and building the machine that exploits it. The moment something works, I want to make it better. Outside of being a proud dad to a fantastic two-year-old girl, most of my free time goes to prototyping something that doesn't exist yet. Every dumb idea teaches me a new way to use AI or adapt the process. I grew up around educators, so passing knowledge forward isn't optional, it's structural. I also run a creative studio under a different name. Both lives require the same thing: execution over theory, every single time. ## Work Experience ### Principal Designer @ Splunk Jan 2021 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area I have transitioned to working on the Future of Splunk Search, where my responsibility is to lead the new design effort for Splunk Search (formerly known as ICX or the future of SPL), as presented at conf2021. I am currently leading a team of talented designers who are dedicated to creating an exceptional Splunk Search experience, leveraging design-driven approaches and research-based methodologies. ### Principal Designer / Lead Mobile Designer @ Splunk Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | San Jose, California, United States As a Mobile Design Leader, I took on the role of leading mobile development for multiple mobile apps and driving the R&D projects at Splunk. My primary objective was to create the first Splunk Mobile Design System. This involved overseeing the collaborative efforts between an external agency and myself. I applied my expertise to redesign the Splunk Mobile Alerts App and devise future strategies for new features. Additionally, I played a pivotal role in designing the MVP for Splunk SFX and led the initiative for the Observability Mobile beta. In conjunction with my responsibilities, I co-created a comprehensive strategy aimed at establishing a consistent and visually appealing product logo for all Splunk products, ensuring a seamless blend of elegance and functionality. ### Principal Designer @ Splunk Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area As the Principal Designer on a groundbreaking R&D Mobile Project for Splunk, I embarked on a transformative journey to revolutionize incident response. My primary objective was to merge two distinct product areas into a cohesive mobile solution that could serve as the go-to platform for incident response and monitoring. This involved harnessing the immense capabilities of Splunk ITSI and integrating the dynamic alert systems from Victor Ops, resulting in a powerful and comprehensive mobile product. ### Principal Designer @ Replicon Jan 2015 – Jan 2019 | Redwood City more details coming soon :) ### Principal Designer @ Engage3 Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 The UX/UI Design Lead for several products like ShoppingScout mobile apps ( iOS and Android apps) and ShoppingScout Web App ( responsive web based app ), giving Creative Direction to the marketing department as well as preparing After Effects Promo videos. ### Freelance Lead UX / UI designer @ Zapp (Mobile Payments) Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 Responsible for the User Experience and User Interface for all Zapp Apps and the Zapp Product, In charge of the UX Guidelines and Brand Standards for Zapp, I’ve also worked with overseas development teams to implement designs I created. ### Lead Product UX / UI Designer / Co-founder @ Wallz Mobile App Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay Area Designing the best Wallpapers app on the iOS store, designing the UX / UI and also project managing the development off site. ### Freelance Lead UI / UX Designer at 1onica.com @ 1onica Jan 2005 – Jan 2014 | London, United Kingdom 1onica is the brand under which I work and create innovative and up to date responsive sites, user interfaces for all platforms from iOS to Android and Desktop as well UX Design and Planning for sites and applications. ### Freelance Lead UX / UI designer via Preferred Choice @ EVRYTHNG Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 Responsible for designing the UI/UX for the Web apps designed for Fortune 500 Brands like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Verizon, Unilever and also responsible in designing the main product User Experience and User Interface. ### Freelance Mobile Lead UI / UX Designer via Preferred Choice @ Markco Media Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | London Responsible for designing the UI/UX for the Android apps and the iOs apps, more details when the apps will be live ### Freelance Mobile Lead UX / UI Designer via Preferred Choice @ Camelot Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | watford, united kingdom Responsible for designing the UI/UX for the Android app and the iOs app, changing the user experience and user interface to a modern and clean experience ### Freelance Lead UI / UX Designer @ Digital White Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | London, United Kingdom I was responsible with designing a web responsive app for Centrica, this web app was build for desktop computer, iPad and iPhone, I also integrated UX Design into a Wordpress Theme ### Creative Director @ Empire Media Jan 2010 – Jan 2013 | Burnley Working in a fast paced, dynamic environment and being responsible for determining all necessary design requirements for a sites creation including Prototyping, Wireframes and Visual Design. ### UX/UI Designer at Reach Global LTD @ Reach Globat LTD Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 UI Designer at the Reach Global group working on sites like Searchers.co.uk or Netmovers.com ### Freelance UI / UX Designer @ Creativesuit Jan 2009 – Jan 2010 | Manchester, United Kingdom Working on graphic web projects. My work includes conceptualization and graphic design of web sites. ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1onica - Website: http://www.1onica.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/ioanpopa JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/ioanpopa/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-07