# Vidya Nayak > Design Leadership Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/vidyanayak Vidya Nayak is a renowned Product Design Leader with over 18 years of experience and a proven track record of strategically impactful AI-driven digital product launches across both early-stage startups and large organizations. She excels at leading product strategy and vision, building high-performing teams, fostering a user-first culture, and consistently delivering high-impact results. Vidya's other extensive leadership experience includes roles at Yahoo, SoFi, Disney Interactive, Fox News & Fox Business, Rodale, iWin, and several stealth startups. - Vidya also led product design teams at SoFi and played a key role in shaping company strategy and vision, from pre-IPO through post-IPO. - Notably, she led the launch of the first mobile apps for Fox News and Fox Business. FEATURED [Speaker Events / Podcast]: Mashable Women in Tech Special Feature, 2025 Design Leadership Insights, 2021 [YouTube] Design Systems Podcast, 2020 [Apple Podcast/Spotify] Speaker Events - FinTech Design Summit Americas & Global Conference, 2020 & 2021 Client Webinars & UX Talks at Moody’s Analytics, 2017-2018 Mentorship & Annual Portfolio Review, Academy of Art University ## Work Experience ### Head of Design, Yahoo Search @ Yahoo Jan 2023 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Transforming Yahoo’s AI search experience through visionary design leadership. - Spearheaded the launch of AI Summaries and AI Chat, driving measurable increase in user engagement and impact. - Led the end-to-end redesign of the mobile app with AI-powered search, enhancing engagement, utility, and distribution while laying the groundwork for future innovation. - Collaborated closely with cross-functional partners to integrate advanced AI technologies seamlessly into the search platform. - Built and nurtured a creative, collaborative design culture that amplified team productivity and fueled continuous innovation across the org ### Product Design Director, Member Experience (app), Growth & Platform Org @ SoFi Jan 2019 – Jan 2023 Leading teams and product design to help define the future of SoFi's multi-platform app experience and help members get their money right. Led design strategy to deliver engaging, personalized experiences that members love, and redefining what it means to balance engagement and utility within the app. ### Product Design Director, Design Systems & Content Strategy @ SoFi Jan 2019 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California ### Director of User Experience @ Moody's Analytics Jan 2014 – Jan 2019 | san francisco In my role as Director of User Experience at Moody's Analytics in San Francisco, I was responsible for leading the global design and content strategy for Moody's Suite of Analytics Products. I defined the design strategy and vision, including product requirements, led data visualization projects, and managed product design deliverables. ### Lead UX/UI, Multi-platform Apps @ The Walt Disney Company Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay Area - Led the UX and UI design for multi-platform games titles: 'Seven Dwarfs: The Queen's Return', and 'Disney Hidden Worlds'. - Led end-to-end designs for multi-platform apps (iOS, Android) - Lead designs from conceptualization, wireframes, prototypes, to final implementation for mobile and web game UIs - Collaborated with a team of game designers, artists, product managers and business groups to formulate game flows and best practices for successful implementation of business goals. - Participated in User Testing/AB Testing, formulated solutions for critical business problems that address retention and monetization techniques in an app-flow. ### Director UX/UI - Web, Social & Mobile (iOS/Android) Apps @ iWin, Inc. Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 | San Francisco Bay Area • Hands-on Design Head for several multi-platform titles for web, mobile and social (Award winning titles- Deal or No Deal, 100,000 Pyramid, Family Feud, 1vs100) • Designed wireframes, prototypes, user-flows, and pixel perfect mockups for iWin.com and downloadable games client • Led UX design for Company’s first “online games play experience” with multiple ad solutions integration for revenue generation • Designed “one-click” custom-shopping cart experience for various site members and monetization techniques for Facebook/mobile games • Redesigned robust navigation system for site optimization • Redesigned game upsell and UIs based on research, user testing results and analytics • Lead designer for all marketing, partner advertising and email newsletters for customer acquisition • Formulated UI standards, style guides, design libraries, stock imagery for all iWin properties • Hired, mentored and lead a cohesive UX/UI team for web, mobile and social platforms • Managed resource allocation and budget for teams during multiple game production cycles ### Lead UX / UI Designer @ Fox News Jan 2007 – Jan 2011 • Led the redesign of Fox News and Fox Business client-facing websites • Lead UX designer for Fox News and Fox Business iPhone App • Hired, mentored and built Fox News Digital’s very first UX/UI team for dot com and mobile platforms • Collaborated with business analysts and product owners in content migration on Vignette CMS • Art Directed redesign for 2008 elections micro sites, show pages for Bill O’Reilly, etc, affiliate websites, blogs and community features • Created wireframes and final mock ups for site redesign across all online Fox properties • Designed social media integration, commenting and recommendation system • Lead the redesign of video player and video pages compatible with HTML5 • Lead designer for Fox Business financial news site with interactive chart integration • Collaborated with multi-disciplinary teams of product managers, engineers, stakeholders (editors), business analysts on strategic development of editorial and news content • Established best practices, style guides and design libraries, guidelines and templates ### UI Web Designer @ Rodale Inc. Jan 2006 – Jan 2007 Projects included: Redesign of Rodale’s brand website, “Prevention.com”; building richer content for Rodale brand websites like MensHealth.com, WomensHealth.com, Prevention, Bicycling, and RunnersWorld.com. Day-to-day responsibilities also included participating in website testing and Quality Assurance; contributing at all levels from conceptualization, design, development, and quality assurance to final production. ### Instructor / Instructional Designer - Graduate School Online, Computer Arts New Media @ Academy of Art University Jan 2006 – Jan 2007 Designed and formulated “Syllabus for Graduate Course – Balancing Creativity and Profitability,” that includes topics like Usability, Web Redesign, Product Development (concept to production), Bug tracking, Information Architecture and Project Management techniques required for successful web project launches. The class is an in-depth study of creativity and profitability, and how a balance of these two terms co-relates to the successes in the business world around us. ### Web Designer/Developer @ L'Oreal Inc. Jan 2005 – Jan 2006 Responsible included creating Flash (advanced Action Scripting) based interface graphics, employee directory templates, animations, form based elements and interactive navigation system for L’Oreal’s intranet website; editing previous versions of the website navigation system, debugging Flash Action Scripting and XML files. ### Web Designer @ SFMOMA - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Jan 2005 – Jan 2005 Responsibilities included researching and reviewing content, editing and content management, site maintenance with weekly updates for web requests, by use of DHTML/CSS and web editing software such as Photoshop and Illustrator; responsible for website and user testings upon weekly content updates for the SFMOMA website. ### Graphic Designer / Visual Artist @ Museum of Craft and Folk Art Jan 2004 – Jan 2004 Responsible for creating designs for exhibition invites held in fall 2004. The exhibition was greatly successful in promoting Mithila Arts and Paintings. ## Education ### Bachelor (B.S) in Business (Commerce) Bachelor of Commerce (Business), Mumbai University, India ### Diploma in in Web Designing & Web Communications Diploma in Web Designing & Web Communications, Mumbai University, India ### MFA - Computer Arts in New Media, User Experience Design MFA, Computer Arts - New Media, Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidyanayak - Website: https://www.nayakvx.com --- Source: https://flows.cv/vidyanayak JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/vidyanayak/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-07