# Maria Pentkovski > Design Leader @ Autodesk (ex Turo, Upwork, Evernote) 🌱 Career Coach, Advocate, Mentor, LinkedInfluencer Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/mariapentkovski I am a people first design leader with 20+ years of history developing human-focused experiences that drive revenue. I get excited when things just work. Whatever the product, using it should be simple, fast and joyful. There is always an opportunity to iterate and improve or build something 0-1 to see it grow and evolve in to a product people love. To get there, I develop the North Star vision, framing it in a way that inspires, make it attainable, and lead teams to make it a reality. That can only be achieved by investing in the people crafting the vision. I build relationships with each of them, coach them, enable them to grow; and in return they thrive while doing their best work. They matter, and together we build products that matter. ## Work Experience ### Senior Manager, Experience Design @ Autodesk Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Embracing AI as I lead design for customer centric top-of-funnel experiences while empowering marketers through innovating internal systems and workflows. ### Founder, Head Coach @ Careercoach.design Jan 2023 – Present | United States Working with design leaders and early-mid career IC designers, I utilize my experience teaching, mentoring and coaching, along with my passion for design leadership and a very human approach, to effectively develop career strategies that work–amplifying client’s growth and compensation. ### Sr Director, Product Design @ Turo Jan 2021 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area • In 2024 led Guest Demand product domain (Search & Discovery, Booking & Checkout), delivering on KRs in the areas of new user acquisition and retention through innovation and continuous evolution of search, browse and booking experiences. Partnered with Business Development on critical to growth partnerships with Fortune 500 businesses. • During 2021-2023 led Risk & Protection and Support Experience product domains, building an extremely high-performing product design and UXR team from the ground up. The team consistently delivered on KRs in the areas of risk management, insurance, claims, identity verification and customer support. • Impactful thought leader, trusted and empowered by the CEO, defined and delivered a vision and strategy for a self-serve in-trip experience that influenced creation of a new product domain, becoming the first in the company to roadmap AI initiatives. • Continuously maintained 80-95 Culture Amp engagement score–the highest in Product Development org. Referred to as the “best people leader in the entire Product organization” by executive leadership. Founded and maintains exceptional team culture. ### Design Career Coach, Mentor @ Pathrise Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | Remote • Work with program fellows where I mentor them to successful design job placement in the tech industry. • Teach career workshops. • Driving curriculum development. • Leading and mentoring internal team. ### Sr. Product Design Manager, Growth & Profile @ Evernote Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | Redwood City • Led Activation and Monetization growth teams to sustain the company in a cash-flow positive status with continued YoY growth as the company was missioned to repackage the product for acquisition. • Developed agile team rituals with weekly cadence of systemic work-in progress checks and design critiques, working synchronously in 2 week sprints with product and engineering. • Was responsible for quarterly roadmap development, enabling a process that brought exposure and transparency into project scope and tracking to the entire organization. • Managed a product design and UXR team through the brunt of COVID, maintaining healthy morale and vibrant culture. ### Faculty/Instructor @ Academy of Art University Jan 2015 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco Bay Area • Developed curriculum & teach UX Portfolio to graduate & undergraduate BFA/MFA students. • MFA thesis review committee member. • Recipient of continuous high scoring evaluations by students and faculty. ### UX Director (Product & Marketing) @ Upwork Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area • Leader of Top of the Funnel UX design team. • Product UX owner of upwork.com visitor site. • Responsible for UX directly impacting growth at the top of the funnel. • Developed strategy & directed design of end-to-end SEM/SEO acquisition campaigns. • Expert knowledge of SEO best practices. • Utilized agile methodology to drive projects forward. • Oversaw development of UI components library. • Built successful partnerships with engineering and established processes that improved workflow. • Recruited five designers to the team. • Successfully built & managed a globally distributed team of designers, researchers and writers. • Reported to Executive Creative Director & SVP of UX. ### Sr Interactive Art Director, UX Team Lead (Marketing) @ Upwork Jan 2016 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area • Leader of UX, interactive strategy and UI design within marketing. • Right hand to the Executive Creative Director. • Responsible for UX, brand implementation and visual design of interactive marketing properties. • Champion of Design Thinking methodology. • Close collaborator with business leadership, product design and engineering teams. • Focus on data-driven design, user experience, brand and conversion. • Manager and mentor of a distributed interactive design team. ### Interactive Art Director @ Upwork Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Bay Area • 'Powerhouse' critical thinker, designer, leader • UX and interactive design leader with the focus on customer acquisition and business growth • Responsible for development architectural and visual solutions to address UX/UI pain points and online properties expansion • Diligent relationship building with remote engineering teams • Front-end / visual design QA • Web project management • Qualitive and quantative user testing analysis ### Faculty/Instructor @ Ex'pression College Jan 2010 – Jan 2015 | Emeryville, CA As a member of faculty in Motion Graphics Design Department at Ex'pression College, I teach two courses - Creative Direction and Final Project (portfolio) Creative Direction - students work on concept development in a format of campaign building. Main duties are to coordinate with an industry client and play a role of a Creative Director in guiding the students to develop coherent, deeply conceptual set of design collateral. Final Project (portfolio) – In a one on one setting, work with students on selecting their best work, and organizing it in a user friendly interface which will attract future clients and employers. Mentor students and provide career guidance and industry job searching techniques. • Curriculum development • Mentor • Career training • Lectures include: o creative team building o project management o concept development o corporate/personal branding o logo design o identity design o advertising o portfolio development ### Interactive Art Director @ oDesk Jan 2013 – Jan 2015 | San Francisco Bay Area • 'Powerhouse' critical thinker, designer, leader • UX and interactive design leadership with the focus on customer acquisition and business growth • Develops architectural and visual solutions to address UX/UI pain points and online properties expansion • Master of all trades - design projects across all mediums (interactive, digital, print, motion) • Diligent relationship building with remote engineering teams • Front-end QA - pixel-perfection advocate • Expert in agile methodology • Web project management • Qualitative and quantitative user testing administrator ACCOMPLISHMENTS • Redesigned customer acquisition focused landing pages, driving conversion rates +12% and reduced bounce rates by -16% in a 30 day period • Redesigned home page of oDesk.com which lead to 11% increase in starts • Pioneered and designed numerous mobile (responsive) pages across oDesk.com. Since the launch of the new responsive home page to the entire userbase there has been a 52% increase in average daily conversion when compared to the previous month where the non-mobile optimized home page version was on odesk.com domain. ### Senior Interactive Art Director, Creative Lead @ Zoomedia Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 • Set creative direction and provide leadership and hands-on expertise throughout the project life cycle. • Responsible for strong conceptual and strategic directions, developing design that goes beyond given project objectives and contributes to the overall brand equity. • Work collaboratively with creative staff, project managers, engineers and senior management, driving projects forward with a passion for creative, solution-centered design. • Interact directly with clients, developing strong working relationships, and presenting & selling creative concepts • Manage multiple clients and projects seamlessly. • Diverse portfolio of work demonstrating strong visual aesthetic in interactive design for clients in the life science / healthcare / pharma industry. ### Creative Director @ Intrax Cultural Exchange Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | San Francisco Bay Area • Responsible for driving, building and maintaining the Intrax brand across all mediums and all creative aspects of visual communication from concept through production. • Led the rebranding efforts for Intrax in collaboration with external creative agency, marketing and executive teams. • Responsible for status reporting, client communication and coordinating with creative, marketing, and engineering teams for timely completion and quality maintenance of projects. • Implemented project management web-based software that resulted in workflow optimization, thus expediting project turnaround and customer satisfaction. • Developed and managed annual budget. Produced monthly report for senior management. • Developed creative concepts in collaboration with copywriters and art directed a team of in-house print/web/motion designers and off-sight freelancers to produce creative executions addressing client needs and marketing initiatives. ### Web Development: Designer(2004-2005), Manager(2005-2007), Sr.Manager(2007-2009), Director(2009-2010) @ Intrax Cultural Exchange Jan 2004 – Jan 2010 • Responsible for design, development, optimization and maintenance of all Intrax marketing Drupal-based websites as well as providing ongoing support to marketing web initiatives. • Worked in collaboration with IT on cross-functional database-driven application projects, playing a leading role in project management, UX/UI design, specifications documentation, and asset development. • Designed web page comps using Adobe Photoshop and produced fully functional prototypes according to design specifications in HTML/CSS without the use of WYSIWYG. • Developed information architecture documentation; user-flow charts, wireframes and prototypes. • Translated technical requirements into functional specifications and actionable work plans. • Managed small to medium size teams locally and offshore focusing on team building and leadership. • Worked in collaboration with an SEO consulting agency to develop and implement SEO strategy and optimize websites based on provided recommendations. • Quickly displayed skills of leadership upon hire and was promoted to Manager role within 6 months, further progressing to Sr. Manager and Director. ### Visual Designer | Front-end Web Developer @ Freelance Jan 2001 – Jan 2010 | San Francisco Bay Area Worked with clients in a wide range of industries (cosmetics, pharmaceutical, hospitality, homeland security, technology etc.) to create marketing collateral across all mediums. Played a role of marketing consultant and webmaster. • Marketing print collateral and advertising design • Website design & maintenance • Front-end web development • Webmaster • SEO strategy development • Vendor management ### Multimedia Instructor @ College of San Mateo Jan 2006 – Jan 2006 | San Mateo Web Graphics I & II Instructor of beginner level Photoshop & Illustrator for web design. Teach design foundations, UI basics, beginner HTML, best known web practices, etc. Class is a combination of lectures, demos, and in-class work sessions. ### Web Designer @ StudioMoon Branding & Visual Identity Design Jan 2004 – Jan 2004 | San Francisco Worked as a web designer in an agency environment with clients from industries ranging from medical to photography ### Web Design Intern @ Busse Design Jan 2003 – Jan 2003 ## Education ### BFA in Web Design & New Media Academy of Art University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/maria-pentkovski - Portfolio: https://careercoach.design - Portfolio: https://bio.site/maria.pentkovski - Portfolio: https://pentkovski.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/mariapentkovski JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/mariapentkovski/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13