# Lawrie Sisley > Principal Product Designer, Coursera Location: Palo Alto, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/lawrie Design leader driving strategy, growth, and discovery while advocating for people. I lead large cross-functional initiatives and organization-wide transformations that drive innovation and measurable impact. I’ve shaped key journeys that connect people to opportunities, launched Coursera’s first Merchandising Design System, and helped define standards that embed design into the company’s mission and values. Focused on raising the bar for UX and leveraging AI to accelerate strategy and scale impact. ## Work Experience ### Principal Product Designer @ Coursera Jan 2023 – Present | Mountain View, California, United States As a Principal Product Designer at Coursera, I lead Merchandising design, shaping user experiences across critical pages like the logged-out homepage, description and hub pages. I define complex problem spaces, drive strategic vision, and ensure cross-functional alignment. By simplifying systems and leveraging research and data, I influence product strategy and foster innovation. ### Staff Designer, Discovery @ Coursera Jan 2019 – Present | Mountain View, California, United States As a Staff Product Designer at Coursera, I drove strategic vision and clarity across multiple initiatives on the Discovery pod. (Unified the Description pages (DPs) and Google Professional Certificates Tests) Optimizing the pages for improved conversions and increasing learner engagement. ### Senior Product Designer, Growth @ Coursera Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | Mountain View, California, United States As a Senior Product Designer at Coursera, I focused on Acquisition and Growth, driving key initiatives like the SEO Articles project, which became one of Coursera’s fastest-growing top-of-funnel products, significantly increasing traffic and user engagement. I also designed the PMF for Career Academy, resulting in a measurable lift in paid enrollments and paving the way for the Enterprise Career Academy. Additionally, I redesigned the login and sign-up experience, leading to an extensive boost in registrations and overall user engagement. ### Creative Director & Lead UX/UI Designer @ Vera Security Jan 2014 – Jan 2019 | Palo Alto, California, United States Led all aspects of brand development, strategy, and creative projects, overseeing work from concept through final production. Collaborated with sales, research, and marketing teams to create targeted content for customers, executives, and internal departments. Played a key role in developing social media and brand architecture strategies. Directed and managed Vera's public website, ensuring consistent branding and user experience across digital platforms. Additionally, I led the design of Vera’s security conference, "Versus 16", which involved creating billboards, signage, advertisements, and branded materials like the website and swag. Managed visual design projects, including campaign assets, sales documents, key graphics, style guides, ebooks, and microsites. ### Lead UI & UX Designer @ Vera Security Jan 2014 – Jan 2017 | Palo Alto, California, United States Led the design and creation of specifications, wireframes, and prototypes, delivering elegant solutions for Vera’s Enterprise applications. Defined user experience priorities and implemented processes across the company. Collaborated with customer success and engineering teams to continuously improve the product's customer experience. Utilized metrics, surveys, user interviews, and testing sessions to identify and implement improvements. Directed visual design efforts for key projects, including sales assets, style guides, and marketing materials. ### Lead UI & UX Designer / Product Manager @ ImageShack Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 | Los Gatos, California, United States Led the development of a new brand identity across all products, driving the design and iteration of UI/UX wireframes, navigation maps, information architecture diagrams, and UI guidelines for both web and mobile platforms. Spearheaded the creation of new features for web and mobile, designing UI for iOS, Android, Windows, and online environments. Managed the production and execution of all design assets, ensuring a seamless, user-friendly experience across platforms. Oversaw the review and refinement of UI to maintain consistent quality and usability throughout the product lifecycle. ### Senior Art Director @ Acropolis (Now Evok Advertising) Jan 2007 – Jan 2012 | Orlando, Florida, United States Led the development of branding and identity for a diverse range of high-profile clients, both new and existing. Played a key role in all aspects of campaign execution, from concept and strategy to digital and print design, as well as social media integration. Oversaw and directed user experience, interaction design, and visual execution for web and mobile projects. Clients included Hilton Grand Vacations, Sea World, Disney, St. Regis, Palmer House Chicago, Tavistock Group, Wyndham, Spice World Garlic, Almond Resorts, Peabody Orlando, Valencia College, Celebration Health, Florida Hospital, Atlanta Braves, and Orlando City Soccer Club. ### Graphic Designer @ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Jan 2005 – Jan 2007 | Orlando, Florida, United States Directed and designed the visual aesthetic for a series of nationally-distributed Social Studies textbooks, ensuring cohesive and engaging visual properties. Developed comprehensive style guides and visual specifications to maintain consistency across all publications. Commissioned and created artwork, coordinating and directing photo shoots as needed. Maintained strong relationships with third-party vendors to ensure high-quality production and timely delivery. ### Graphic Designer @ Ringling College of Art and Design Jan 2004 – Jan 2005 | Sarasota, Florida, United States As a selected Candidate For Ringling Design Center I worked with designers, illustrators and photographers as a team to achieve a marketing goal for clients. Produced creative marketing solutions for the Sarasota Circus, Women Resource Center and much more. ## Education ### BFA in Graphic and Interactive Communication, Graphic Design and Photography Ringling College of Art and Design ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lawriesisley - Website: http://dribbble.com/LawrieSisley - Website: https://lawriesisley.com/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/lawrie JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/lawrie/resume.json Last updated: 2026-02-23