# Joy Busse > Sr. Director of UX at Cribl Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/joybusse As an experienced design leader, I've embarked on a transformative journey marked by growth and collaboration. My diverse roles, from creative thinker to visionary leader, have yielded a track record of team-building triumphs and data-driven design transformations. Nurturing top-tier talent has been a pinnacle, highlighting the power of collaboration and empowerment. My expertise spans intricate design systems, weaving touch-first principles, HCI methodologies, and solutions for complex accessibility challenges. This learning journey underscores humility's role in an evolving design landscape. Each choice I make considers the holistic customer journey, acknowledging emotional factors beyond data. Focusing on component-based design underscores flexibility's value in our dynamic field. Founding Busse Design in 1999 symbolized shared commitment to impactful user experiences. Elevating product design's role in engineering contexts is a journey grounded in empathy and holistic progress. My portfolio spans diverse products, each offering unique learning experiences. Recent years focused on areas like infrastructure management and observability, grounding me in a fast-paced world. Reflecting on BUSSE Design+Engineering, collective effort's pivotal role stands out. My tenure at Autodesk and VMware has been transformative, embracing humility as a cornerstone of effective leadership. Leading the VMware MAPBU design team continues this journey. Leadership thrives where individuals and ideas flourish. Each day reinforces that true leadership champions others and embraces collective wisdom. ## Work Experience ### Sr. Director of UX @ Cribl Jan 2024 – Present | California, United States Cribl empowers organizations to unlock the full potential of their data. Our cutting-edge products help companies manage, analyze, collect, process, and route IT and Security data at any scale, making data management seamless and efficient. ### Director of Product Design @ VMware Tanzu Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | Palo Alto, California, United States Tanzu products accelerate cloud-native app development, streamline Kubernetes operations, simplify app development, provide actionable insights on cost and performance, and empower customers with a secure, seamless, efficient, and scalable software lifecycle. In my role as Director of UX, I had the privilege of working with top-notch designers and fostering a culture of innovation. We focused on enhancing design maturity and driving strategic vision projects to align nine different Tanzu R&D product teams. Within a year, we achieved key milestones, including elevating design to help drive key strategic direction through in-depth customer research, the development of a journey map, and ultimately creating a vision for the Tanzu product integration that everyone could align behind. This transformation was prominently showcased at VMware Explore 2023, marking a significant achievement in our journey. ### Senior Product Design Manager @ VMware Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | Palo Alto, California, United States At VMware's MAPBU, I expanded the Observability team from 3 to 11 designers, focusing on integrating a recently acquired observability product into VMware's ecosystem. This product, originally built on a different technology and design system, required a unique approach for alignment. Collaborating with my manager and staff designers, we established processes to ensure design consistency. Recognizing the challenge posed by the differing tech stacks, we developed the Tanzu Observability component library. This strategic move enabled us to align the product with Clarity, VMware's design system, within a year. For an in-depth insight into this process, I invite you to read my article: Building Product-Specific Design Components to Drive Consistency: A Case Study (https://octo.vmware.com/building-product-specific-design-components-to-drive-consistency-a-case-study/). ### User Experience Design Manager, vSphere - VMware Cloud @ VMware Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Palo Alto I began my management journey at VMware leading a globally distributed team of 11 designers. This team had experienced frequent management changes and significant attrition, with a history of non-user-validated, product management-driven user experiences. My initial six months were dedicated to addressing these challenges. Additionally, I immersed myself in learning the intricacies of VMware's technically complex product portfolio, equipping me to offer the necessary guidance for my team to develop effective, consistent, and customer-validated designs. By the time I departed, the team's collaboration had significantly improved, and the designers were fully committed to staying, marking a substantial turnaround in team dynamics and morale. ### Senior Principal User Experience Designer @ Autodesk Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area Joining Autodesk as an individual contributor, I was charged with the challenging task of streamlining the account experience for a vast customer base, previously muddled by custom solutions tailored for numerous clients. My journey at Autodesk took a pivotal turn when I transitioned to the role of acting Director of UX amidst leadership changes. In this capacity, I successfully unified a team that had long operated in isolated silos. My tenure at Autodesk culminated in a profound achievement: fostering a cohesive, supportive, and collaborative design community. This transformation was especially noteworthy as it involved encouraging team members, who were unaccustomed to sharing their work, to recognize and appreciate the broader impact of their contributions across the entire product portfolio. ### Owner, CEO, Director of User Experience @ Busse Design Jan 1999 – Jan 2018 During my tenure at Busse Design USA, which I founded in 1999, I led a diverse team of 15 talented designers, developers, and project managers, focusing on intricate B2B application UX development projects. My role extended beyond just leadership; I actively contributed as the Chief Information Architect, supporting most client work. This period not only marked a personal milestone but also embodied our collective ambition to create impactful user experiences. My experiences at Busse Design profoundly shaped my understanding of humble leadership and the importance of valuing team contributions as essential to success. I have consistently aimed to elevate the role of product design within engineering-focused environments, guided by empathy and a commitment to comprehensive progress. ### Acting CEO @ BUSSE Design+Engineering GmbH Jan 2002 – Jan 2004 Taking the helm as acting CEO at Busse Design + Engineering during an economic downturn and internal hardship, I led the company through a critical transformation. Faced with the sudden loss of leadership, my tenure was marked by challenging but necessary decisions, including multiple layoffs to stabilize the firm. With the commitment of long-term employees and design leaders, we revamped processes and policies to modernize operations. I initiated and executed a strategic business plan that transitioned the company from its traditional model to a modern, cutting-edge European design and full product development organization, steering the firm towards a revitalized and innovative future. Today, the company is once again one of Europe's largest and most prestigious design and development organizations. ### Creative Director Excite International @ Excite Inc. Jan 1997 – Jan 1999 I led Excite's international design team, located in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia. I oversaw all creative and visual aspects for Excite's international sites and managed the team to help build a globally recognized, unified brand. ### Lead Designer @ Excite Inc. Jan 1996 – Jan 1997 I was the first designer hired at Excite and not only helped built the brand and transformed it into the second most recognize online brand of its time. I also helped build a team of creatives in the US office while being at the forefront of designing most channels of Excites' consumer portal. I created, facilitated and analyzed usability studies, and created brand guidelines, wireframes, and design concepts. I pitched many creative concepts to the executive team and helped created the presentations and materials that facilitate a successful IPO and eventually a successful merger with @Home. ### Designer @ Animatrix Jan 1995 – Jan 1996 | Palo Alto Created digital experiences for clients such as Clinique, AT&T, Starbucks and Disney. ## Education ### BA in Graphics & Packaging ArtCenter College of Design ### Bachelor of Arts - BA in Graphics & Packaging Design Art Center College of Design (Europe) ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/joybusse - Portfolio: http://www.bussedesign.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/joybusse JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/joybusse/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13