# Sonya Ives > Sr. Director of Product Design @ Turo / ex Uber, Alto Pharmacy, BetterUp Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/sonyaives People-centric design leader driving positive impact and nurturing extraordinary teams at late-stage startups and public companies. Specializes in zero-to-one innovation, multi-sided marketplaces, and AI-powered platforms. Integrates a unique blend of user-centric design, qualitative and quantitative data, and business strategy practices into her approach. Believes hard work doesn’t have to feel hard, and that when teams thrive, businesses succeed. — The novella version — In my journey, I've had the joy of leading design, content, and UX research teams that tackle complex challenges, driving innovation and substantial business growth. I'm deeply committed to harnessing the power of design to create meaningful and tangible real-world impact, and believe that hard work is not equal to work feeling hard. I'm known for assembling and cultivating exceptional teams built on curiosity, levity, and trust. In these dynamic environments, we foster deep cross-functional collaboration, prioritize speed to learning, and consistently deliver high-craft, human-centered solutions guided by first principles and grounded in measurable data. I specialize in navigating the intricacies of multi-sided marketplaces, zero-to-one innovations, data-driven strategies, and AI-powered platforms. My background spans a wide range, from design agencies to hyper-growth and post-IPO tech companies, encompassing a wide array of areas including emerging tech, organizational leadership, behavioral psychology, motion, video, and advertising. These diverse experiences deeply influenced my distinctive approach to product design leadership. I integrate principles from each domain to up-level my teams' deliverables and enhance how their work aligns to broader company strategies. My mission is to live where data, design, and business strategy collide, empowering organizations to embark on agile transformations, creatively expand their services to capture new markets, and craft exceptional experiences that earn unwavering customer loyalty. ## Work Experience ### Sr. Director of Product Design, Guest Experience @ Turo Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States Shepherding the outstanding teams of designers and people leaders owning Turo's Guest Experience. This passionate collective is evolving, refining and extending Discovery, Search, Booking, and Trip experiences for millions of guests across 3 continents. We bring AI capabilities to bear to solve real problems, integrate elegantly with partner platforms, and craft Support Experiences that actually feel supportive. We value building with both intensity and levity, and believe that hard work doesn't have to feel hard. ### Product Design Director, Emerging Products and Coach Experiences @ BetterUp Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States Leading our Emerging Products and Coach Platform design teams in service to helping people everywhere live with greater clarity, purpose, and passion. ### Head of Product Design – Acting @ Alto Pharmacy Jan 2022 – Jan 2022 Shepherding the product design, user research, and content team in advancing our mission to improve people's quality of life while our Design VP is on a planned leave of absence. ### Head of Design, Pharmacy and Delivery Experiences @ Alto Pharmacy Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco, California, United States ### Head of Eats Marketplace Design & Consumer Design Manager @ Uber Jan 2018 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Bay Area Led product design on Eats Marketplace's eight teams across Consumer, Courier, Merchant and Logistics—including Membership, Modalities, Predictions, Pricing and Demand Concentration. Directed and managed design on core Consumer pods responsible for new consumer experiences, customer lifecycle and post order (delivery experience). Shipped several successful cross-platform experiences from consumer big bets to merchant experience refreshes to new internal market management tools. ### Sr. Product Design Lead, Consumer Delivery Experience @ Uber Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area As lead product designer for the Eater Delivery Experience team, I owned every consumer touchpoint from the moment and Eater pushes the order button in cart until the delivery arrives at their doorstep. • Led the global redesign of Eats' end-to-end delivery experience, for web and mobile app. • Partnered with Product and Engineering leads to build a flexible, modular platform that enabled 5+ years (and counting) of extensive modality expansion and supports continual brand evolution. • Co-defined Eater delivery needs and design principles with UX Research, which guide product decisions for all delivery experiences. • Developed Delivery Experience long-term experience strategy and vision. ### Design Manager - Rider @ Uber Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area Managed a small, nimble team of product designers incubating experimental products and optimizing strategically imperative experiences. ### Senior Product Designer @ Uber Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 Design Lead for Rider on Social, Virality, and First Experience (FX). Shipped in late 2016: People are the new Places Getting from a to b is not just about where you are going, but with whom you are meeting up. Meeting friends for drinks? Use your friend's current location as your destination. Joining friends for a BBQ in the park? Skip the messy mapping and back and forth about exact location and Uber directly to where your friends are right now. On Rider Growth we use a symbiosis of analytics, design thinking, user research, and A/B testing to form, design and test hypothesis to continually improve rider experience both in-app and in auxiliary experiences. Instrumental in team road mapping and strategy from a hybrid UX/business perspective. Design work includes both leading and being an IC in UX research, prototyping, marketing strategy for product releases and UI design. ### Senior User Experience Designer @ Communica Jan 2010 – Jan 2013 Work revolves heavily around web product and commerce, UI design, data visualization, brand identity and video. Extensive experience with Fortune 500 companies, start-ups and international clients. ### Interaction & Motion Designer @ Communica Jan 2007 – Jan 2010 ### Design Intern @ Unigraphics Jan 2004 – Jan 2007 ## Education ### Honors Degree Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Graphic Design; Minors in Computer Science, Asian Studies Bowling Green State University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sonya-ives --- Source: https://flows.cv/sonyaives JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/sonyaives/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13