# Surya Vaidyanathan

> Product Designer | I identify root causes, shift strategy, and drive systems-level change | 8+ years Fortune 500 + startups

Location: Fremont, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/suryavaidyanathan

Hello and hi! I am a product designer with 8 years of experience across early-stage startups and enterprise building systems and user-centric solutions in ambiguous problem spaces. I bring a combination of analytical left-brained structure and creative problem solving with a keen eye for visual design and craft. 

My work has spanned B2B SaaS, enterprise, edtech, and D2C consumer products. I build partnerships with cross-functional teams to ensure efficiency, identify user problems using data, conceptualize future roadmap features, and drive end-to-end design.

I love complex nuanced work that require a high level of systems thinking and collaboration, and believe in bringing people together to build structures that last. 

Currently exploring AI interaction patterns and AI-assisted design workflows.

📧 surya.vaidy@gmail.com

🌐 www.suryavaidyanathan.com

## Work Experience
### Lead Product Designer @ PwC
Jan 2024 – Jan 2025
At PwC, I worked across multiple projects in the contract management and engagement ecosystem. The pattern across all of it was walking into complexity and creating clarity.

In addition, I saw an opportunity to change how design and development worked together. Teams were siloed, developers received designs late, discovered issues during build, and rework extended timelines. I created a collaborative workflow that brought developers into design reviews from day one, established documentation standards using Figma and Azure DevOps. The workflow was piloted, tested, and measured: reduced delivery time 10% and improved consistency 25%. After proving impact, it was adopted company-wide through the design center of excellence.

For the unified engagement platform, I led design work merging two contract management systems into a single experience for consultants across 12 territories. I worked closely with my UX manager on global research, attending workshops, analyzing recordings, synthesizing insights that shaped how we balanced regional flexibility with standardization. I designed engagement lists, complex forms, validation systems, and multi-step recurrence workflows.

I also designed an AI-native onboarding experience consolidating multiple system entry points, a rule creation and management system for the backend validation network spanning the customer engagement lifecycle, and the internal API marketplace itself, applying e-commerce discovery patterns to developer tooling.

### Senior UI/UX Designer @ UnitedHealth Group
Jan 2023 – Jan 2024
At UnitedHealth Group, I redesigned a physician performance evaluation platform serving its 350,000+ physicians. The platform had accumulated 16 years of complexity, including statistical formulas, percentile breakdowns, and case-mix adjustments meant to help physicians understand their scores.

I analyzed support call logs and found that physicians weren't asking about methodology. They were asking basic questions: "Did I pass? What's my score? How do I improve?" The interface was answering questions users weren't asking.

I restructured the information architecture into three levels: status overview, score details, and methodology on demand. Put outcomes first, made supporting information available without forcing users through it.

As the first designer this team had worked with, I also established weekly design-engineering reviews and documentation standards, building the collaboration infrastructure alongside the product work that the team could continue to use after my time.

### Lead UI/UX Designer @ The Cumin Club
Jan 2021 – Jan 2023 | Chicago, IL
At The Cumin Club, a seed-stage meal kit startup, the business needed to optimize acquisition and scale beyond word-of-mouth growth. I led the complete responsive website redesign, including user research, competitive analysis, information architecture, and design system. 

When usability testing on the proposed homepage revealed that users didn't understand what the product was, I worked with the creative team to redesign the homepage, maintaining brand identity while prioritizing conversion and clarity.

Post-launch, technical issues caused conversion to drop significantly. I worked with developers through rapid iteration: identified performance bottlenecks, simplified workflows, stabilized the experience. Within weeks, conversion stabilized and climbed above baseline. I also designed features that reduced operational costs and created new revenue streams: cart redesign making sides optional, and the Pantry marketplace for snacks and beverages.

### Associate UI/UX Designer @ Classle Knowledge Pvt. Ltd.
Jan 2013 – Jan 2017 | Greater Chennai Area
Designed Virtual Campus learning platform for edtech startup serving students in tier 2/3 Indian cities during MOOC era.

Key contributions:
- Created intuitive interfaces for users with limited technical proficiency accessing platform via smartphones on low bandwidth
- Designed course features: discussion forums, quizzes, peer/instructor-reviewed tests, campus events
- Applied responsive design principles optimized for smartphone access and slow connections

### Student Intern @ FBA Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Worked on the architectural design of villas, clubhouse, and a strip mall for a Township project. Created working drawings for apartment designs. Observed and managed teams on site.


## Education
### UI/UX Design Bootcamp
Memorisely

### Product Strategy: Discovering in Developing, Managing and Marketing Products as a Business
Kellogg Executive Education

### Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture
Measi Academy of Architecture


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/suryavnathan
- Portfolio: https://www.suryavaidyanathan.com

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Source: https://flows.cv/suryavaidyanathan
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/suryavaidyanathan/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-13