Hi there! I'm Rajan

As an "m-shaped" design leader, I bring a unique 360° blend of design expertise, a strategic product owner mindset, engineering acumen, designops experience, and a data-driven approach to transform ambiguous, ambitious visions into tangible, successful world-class user human experiences.

I'm passionate about merging human aspirations, technological possibilities, art, and data insights to craft experiences using affective design, storytelling, and strategy. I've led people and projects for over 14 years across a spectrum of companies in different growth stages — big-tech (Amazon), midsize (Amplify), agency (Firstborn), and startup (Kinnek). I’ve been directly responsible for creating product experiences used by 1M+ users and generating over $1B+ in revenue in the fintech, AI & ML, enterprise, medical, e-commerce, and education domains.

As an "m-shaped" design leader, I bring a unique 360° blend of design expertise, a strategic product owner mindset, engineering acumen, designops experience, and a data-driven approach to transform ambiguous, ambitious visions into tangible, successful, world-class user human experiences.

I'm passionate about merging human aspirations, technological possibilities, art, and data insights to craft experiences using affective design, storytelling, and strategy. I've led people and projects for over 14 years across a spectrum of companies in different growth stages — big-tech (Amazon), midsize (Amplify), agency (Firstborn), and startup (Kinnek). I’ve been directly responsible for creating product experiences used by 1M+ users and generating over $1B+ in revenue in the fintech, AI & ML, enterprise, medical, e-commerce, and education domains.

Leadership Values

As a designer who’s straddled between manager and individual contributor roles, I’ve honed my leadership style around 4 pillars: People, Partners, Processes, and Projects.

People

Nurturing growth: I foster an environment where every team member has the opportunity to grow in their career. By providing mentorship, support, and tailored development plans, I enable my teams to unlock their full potential.
Fostering inclusivity: I strive to create a culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to bring their authentic and full selves to the table.
Prioritizing well-being: I advocate for work-life balance and lead by example in promoting self-care practices.

Nurturing growth: I foster an environment where every team member has the opportunity to grow in their career. By providing mentorship, support, and tailored development plans, I enable my teams to unlock their full potential.
Fostering inclusivity: I strive to create a culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to bring their authentic and full selves to the table.
Prioritizing well-being: I advocate for work-life balance and lead by example in promoting self-care practices.

Partners

Cultivating collaboration: I prioritize building strong, collaborative relationships with project partners and leveraging each other's strengths to achieve shared goals.
Understanding perspectives: I encourage open communication to establish a clear understanding of diverse viewpoints, expertise, goals, and constraints to separate facts from assumptions, push us to think outside the box, and create a shared vision.
Delivering results: I believe in delivering on commitments and honoring agreements by ensuring mutual understanding and accountability.

Processes

Establishing good mechanisms: I facilitate the creation of robust mechanisms to streamline processes and optimize workflows without sacrificing quality.
Embracing agility: I champion methodologies that enable us to adapt and respond quickly to changing requirements, iterate rapidly, and deliver value to our customers sooner.
Promoting transparency: I build a culture of trust and accountability via timely, open communication and transparency.

Projects

Setting clear objectives: I empower my teams to align on project vision, roadmaps, goals, and deadlines very early in the project lifecycle.
Empowering ownership: I empower team members to take ownership of their projects, providing them with the autonomy and support they need to drive success.
Embracing data-driven, iterative development: I am a huge believer in hypothesis-driven iterative project development and relying on data to continuously refine our work to deliver the best possible outcomes.

Skills

Management

Servant Leadership, Leadership Principles, Planning, Goal Setting, OKRs, Performance Management, Coaching, Mentoring, Project Management, Process Improvements, Cross-Team Collaboration

Design

Design Strategy, Design Thinking, Design Operations, System Design, Design Systems, Workshops, Generative User Research, User Testing, Behavioral Economics, Lean/Agile UX, Storytelling, Information Architecture, UX/UI Design, AI UX, ML UX