# Lauren Inacio > UX Design & Research @ IBM | Generative AI | 200-hr Yoga Teacher | EU/US Work Authorization 🇪🇺🇵🇹🇺🇸 Location: United States, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/laureninacio I’m a User Experience Designer and Researcher, where I lead the user experience for watsonx Code Assistant for IBM Z. I work closely with engineering, product, and research partners to translate user research, workflow analysis, and usability findings into practical design decisions. I’ve led both discovery and evaluative research, synthesized insights into actionable recommendations, and used those insights to shape product direction and interaction patterns. I made the switch from development to design in 2019 after realizing my real passion is solving meaningful problems for people. Since then, I’ve led end-to-end UX, built design systems, and helped teams work smarter and more collaboratively.I believe users aren’t just one persona, they could be a developer, an executive assistant, or even you. That belief keeps me curious and grounded in everything I create. 🌍 Dual citizen (EU/US) – fully work authorized ## Work Experience ### User Experience Designer & Researcher @ IBM Jan 2020 – Present | San Francisco, CA Lead designer for all UX experiences within watsonx Code Assistant for IBM Z, including both original and chat-based code explanation features, shaping interaction models for complex AI-driven workflows. Partner closely with product management and engineering to translate product requirements, user needs, and technical constraints into scalable, human-centered design solutions. Incorporated user research, workflow analysis, and usability findings to inform interaction patterns, content structure, and overall product direction. Presented designs to IBM VP of Z Application Platform and CTO of Z Software, receiving high praise: "This is great, very powerful." Spearheaded the UX restructuring of z/OS Cloud Broker, centralized design assets in Figma, implemented a smoother design-to-code process, and elevated developer alignment. Built and maintained a robust component library and UX documentation system to support design consistency across teams. Led UX for the z/OS Containers beta website, facilitating user feedback sessions and iterating designs based on synthesized research insights. Applied discovery and usability findings to improve clarity, information structure, and user workflows across enterprise tooling. Facilitated cross-functional Figma workshops and supported design upskilling among engineering teams. Co-led IBM’s Infrastructure UX Guild, running retrospectives, synthesizing team insights, and shaping internal design events. ### Software Designer @ IBM Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | Armonk, NY Skills: UX Design, UI Design, Visual Design, Front-End Development(HTML / CSS), Agile Methodology, Enterprise Design Thinking Designed an intro logo backdrop screen for Rodrigo Kede de Freitas Lima’s (a GTS General Manager) live stream show, “Leading by Listening, introducing the LEAD series” Created & designed a remote learning website for Ginni Rometty, IBM Leadership (mainly, GTS General Managers and Vice Presidents) and the Emergency Response Task Force to drive IBM assistance with regard to the growing COVID-19 crisis impact on the education system Conducted user research & designed an MVP Education Portal prototype for an enterprise client, Zones. Which received positive recognition from Mike Perry, a National Channels Sales Executive at IBM, “...Having 40+ years at IBM what they have delivered is one of the best if not the best piece of work I've seen. As you can tell from the adjectives, I used I am extremely excited about this portal and the impact it can have on the Channel. It is more than a portal it truly is a sales tool." Designed application prototype, Agent Companion, for State Farm during a Design Thinking event-Statistics for the application, increase customer satisfaction by 90%, save costs by reducing annual follow-up calls, ultimately saving $1.78M and an increase in State Farm agent satisfaction by 80% Facilitated & co-created multiple BlueHacks, whiteboarding strategy sessions, including but not limited to clients such as Anixter, State Farm, & Sentara Co-managed GTS 2019 Summer Internship program-Co-managed and mentored a program of 22 interns in client-facing projects, visual designs, setting up their workstations, idea development & rapid prototypes for CIO Hackathon Designed and delivered template presentation decks for my squad to utilize when presenting to enterprise clients Designed website wireframes and mockups for Toolkit project IBM Next Site Representative for Armonk/North Castle, NY Location ### Application Developer @ Experis Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | Armonk, NY Experis ManpowerGroup Contracted to complete work for: IBM, Chief Information Office Served as team focal point tasked with managing any issues that arose during internal application testing of Enterprise Application Library for CIO. I was responsible for more than 45 global internal users throughout multiple departments of the CIO. Produced guide videos on how to use EAL for multiple CIO global IBMers. Organized internal information pertaining to ID owners that had access to internal servers, ID access levels, group/aliases, business objectives, development or production ID specifications and start/expiration dates of IDs. Performing/maintaining daily extraction and aggregation from various internal data sources to provide a comprehensive dataset for use by IBM's internal reporting functions for use by management, audit, application owners, etc. ### Web Development Immersive | Engineering Fellow @ General Assembly Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | New York, NY My experience attending General Assembly began with, online courses with test assessments(prior to immersive program beginning) & a 12-week long, full-time Web Development Immersive program. This rigorous program was the best decision I've ever made, hands down. General Assembly has supplied me with the skills needed to kick-start my career as a developer and propelled my desire as a lifelong learner. I have dedicated over 600 hours to learning about the ins and outs of full-stack web development and learning the importance of team collaboration. From coding as a hobby and understanding the fundamentals to building full-stack web applications, I have learned to solve problems with code while applying industry best practices in a collaborative environment. Areas of Study: • Programming Fundamentals • The Basics of Product Development • Front-End Web Development • Back-End Web Development ### Computer Lab Assistant @ School of Visual Arts Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | New York, NY •Aided with technical troubleshooting. •Assisted with equipment checkout. •In charge of maintaining hardware and software within college computer labs. •Used ticket issuing technology to report hardware or software problems. •Maintained computer lab logs (check-ins and check-outs). •Supported system administrators with their assigned tasks. ### Pharmacy Technician @ CVS Health Jan 2012 – Jan 2016 | White Plains, New York, United States • Learning medical and pharmaceutical terms • Checking prescriptions for accuracy prior to dispensing • Reading and interpreting prescriptions and pharmaceutical literature • Able to prioritize tasks effectively and maintain fast work-flow • Monitoring prescription inventory for expired drugs • Counting and pouring pharmaceuticals • Calculating insurance coverage for pharmacy transactions ## Education ### Certification in Web Development Immersive General Assembly ### Computer Art in Visual Effects, Computer Animation School of Visual Arts ### Associate of Applied Science SUNY Westchester Community College ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/laureninacio - Portfolio: https://laureninacio.design/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/laureninacio JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/laureninacio/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13