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Catarina Coutinho

@catarinacoutinho

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Lead UI/UX designer specializing in mobile navigation, EV routing, and AI-driven product experiences.

Portugal

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What I'm looking for

I seek senior design roles where I can lead cross-functional teams, drive product strategy, apply AI to UX, and build scalable design systems.

I am a lead UI/UX designer with experience across automotive, legal tech, startups, and agency environments, focused on mobile navigation and EV route planning. I have led feature teams, owned AI research initiatives, and delivered end-to-end UX solutions from research through to product-aligned designs.

My work includes leading UX for Volkswagen Group mobile products, redesigning a lawyer web app, and supporting startups as a freelancer. I emphasize user research, rapid prototyping, and cross-team alignment to create consistent design systems and measurable product improvements.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Lead UX Designer

CARIAD, Volkswagen Group

Apr 2023 - Sep 2025 (2 years 5 months)

Led UX design for mobile products across VW Group with primary ownership of Mobile Navigation and EV Route Planner, driving feature concepts, user research, and cross-brand alignment.

UX Research Navigation Wireframing Figma Prototyping Design Systems

UI & UX Designer

Rosenmeister Legal Tech GmbH

Jun 2020 - May 2022 (1 year 11 months)

Redesigned the lawyer web app and led the company’s design department to improve usability and visual consistency across legal tech products.

Web App Design User Research Wireframing Design Leadership Prototyping HCI

UI & UX Designer

Freelancer

Nov 2017 - May 2020 (2 years 6 months)

Delivered end-to-end product design for startups and enterprises (Baxter, Deutsche Bahn, others), creating concepts, prototypes, and UI across mobile, tablet, and web platforms.

Wireframing Responsive Design Rapid Prototyping Brand Identity Figma User Testing

UI & UX Designer

softgarden e-recruiting GmbH

Feb 2014 - Dec 2016 (2 years 10 months)

Redesigned product interfaces, created user flows and style guides, and progressed to head the design department while delivering assets and visual concepts for marketing.

User Flows Wireframing Design Systems Prototyping Visual Design

Junior UI Designer

Near Interaction

Jul 2012 - Nov 2013 (1 year 4 months)

Produced UI designs for web, mobile, tablet, and multi-touch installations and supported data visualization, illustration, and content management tasks.

Data Visualization Wireframing Illustration Multi Touch UI Video Editing Web Content Management Lean UX

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

UX Design Institute

UX Design Professional Diploma, UX Design

2022 - 2023

Activities and societies: Planning and preparing user research; UX alignment with VW Group brands; product and feature design planning; internal feature team collaboration.

Completed a UX Design Professional Diploma focused on UX concept design, user research planning, and alignment with product teams.

Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź

Erasmus - Visual Arts, Visual Arts

2011 - 2012

Activities and societies: Lead designer on feature team; participated in cross-institution collaboration.

Erasmus exchange in Visual Arts contributing to multidisciplinary design perspectives and collaboration.

ESAD - Escola Superior de Artes e Design

BA Degree in Graphic Multimedia Design, Graphic Multimedia Design

2009 - 2012

Activities and societies: Led AI initiative for knowledge sharing; facilitated AI workshops to identify AI use cases; owned AI research knowledge chatbot for the UX team.

Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Multimedia Design with emphasis on graphic and multimedia design within UX processes.