# Valerie Franek

> Interaction / UX Designer with 15+ years experience designing Small Business, Accounting, and Ecommerce Applications

Location: Cupertino, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/valeriefranek

Interaction designer with 15+ years of experience designing e-commerce web applications for small businesses and consumers with a focus on user experience and usability. A skilled and communicative designer solving complex problems to balance customer satisfaction and business goals with technical details and limitations.

Specialties: E-commerce, Small business, Selling, Sellers, Shipping, Sales tax, Interaction design, Web applications, Writing UI content and design documentation.

## Work Experience
### Senior Interaction Designer @ Sage
Jan 2021 – Present | San Jose, California, United States
Designing accounts payable (AP), sales tax/VAT, purchasing, and other accounting features for medium-sized businesses, including some offering automation/AI functionality.

### Senior Interaction Designer @ Intuit
Jan 2015 – Jan 2019 | Mountain View, CA
Responsible for designing global and mid-market accounting features for +4.5 million global QuickBooks Online users.

PROJECTS
Global Sales Tax
• Redesigned the entire global sales tax experience consisting of 20 screens for users in 7 key markets, including Australia, Canada, France, India, and the UK
• Improved the global sales tax experience significantly, reducing the global sales tax related customer support calls 30% in the first few months after launch

US Sales Tax
• Redesigned the complete US sales tax experience to improve the usability and integrate automated sales tax calculation and e-filing technology from an external partner
• Led the design team in collaboration across 3 time zones to complete the design, user research, and testing for an automated sales tax solution to reduce manual processes for customers collecting tax in +370 locations

Roles and Permissions
• Took the project on mid-way through, getting up to speed quickly, and delivered material improvements to usability while redesigning the Manage Users feature 
• Interviewed +20 small business owners while conducting a usability study to design a competitive new feature which enabled customers to customize access to their QuickBooks accounts

### Senior Interaction Designer @ Intuit
Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 | Mountain View, CA
Responsible for designing global accounting features in QuickBooks Online.

• Improved the usability of a 1099 form preparation and e-filing tool through a complete redesign, increasing the number of customers completing initial setup and e-file by 46% and reducing customer calls by 37% 
• Designed a new BAS E-Lodgement GST sales tax e-filing tool for the Australia small business market, collaborating with an external partner and internal teams globally across 4 time zones
• Designed payroll integration for India mid-market customers, incorporating external partner’s run payroll flow, employee management, and 9 sections of extensive settings

### Senior Interaction Designer @ Intuit
Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | Mountain View, CA

### Lead User Interface Designer @ PayPal
Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 | San Jose, CA
Responsible for designing small business payment tools and payment security features.

• Redesigned invoice creation flow for small businesses to improve the overall usability based on user research
• Designed several concepts to user-test new account security features

### Senior Interaction Designer @ Cisco WebEx
Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | Santa Clara, CA

### Senior Interaction Designer @ eBay
Jan 2007 – Jan 2009 | San Jose, CA
Responsible for designing seller tools, including online and desktop selling and shipping features.

• Oversaw multiple design projects and initiatives to improve the usability of seller shipping tools, including improved tracking for UPS and USPS shipments, shipping discounts settings, and freight shipment options
• Designed an integrated shipping label printing flow for eBay sellers, collaborating with an internal team at PayPal and external partner USPS

### User Interface Designer @ PayPal
Jan 2006 – Jan 2007 | San Jose, CA
Responsible for designing online payment tools for all customers including US and International markets.

• Integrated Google search functionality into the PayPal website by designing a feature which enabled users to search for information on applicable fees and help content associated with setting up business accounts
• Designed and created visual design specs for the request money flow, based on new site design patterns

### Interaction Designer @ Yahoo!
Jan 2001 – Jan 2005 | Sunnyvale, CA

### Web Developer @ Yahoo!
Jan 2000 – Jan 2001 | Santa Clara / Sunnyvale, CA


## Education
### BA in Rhetoric (Creative Writing), Minor in Writing Technologies
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

### Degree and non-degree coursework in Art (Computer Art, Drawing), Design
Moraine Valley Community College

### Non-degree coursework in Art (Color), Graphic Design
Foothill College


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/valeriefranek
- Portfolio: https://valeriefranek.carbonmade.com/

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