Open to opportunities

George Yakovlev

@georgeyakovlev

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Award-winning Design & Product Director building systems-driven UX and leading teams to measurable product growth.

Zimbabwe

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What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a leadership role where I can own research-driven design and product outcomes, build scalable design systems and agile pipelines, and develop teams through autonomy-focused org building and talent-driven leadership.

I’m an award-winning Design & Product Director focused on systems, product, UX/UI design, and people management. I connect qualitative & quantitative user research with design thinking to drive digital & omni-channel product design across web, iOS, and Android.

In my recent roles, I’ve shipped outcomes from redesigns to end-to-end product execution—like releasing a new visual language for an apps family that outperformed the original by at least 10 percentage points in user preference, and redesigning the on-ramp flow to cut error-driven churn and time-to-successful deal. I’ve also rebuilt teams and scaled design operations: at UULA I introduced agile design pipelines (x2 velocity), built cross-platform design systems, and scaled UX research (~x2 velocity) alongside exploratory and jtbd methods; earlier, I led major product launches and integrated experience design systems, including doubling student MAU and reaching 500K+ MAU while owning concept, business model, pilot, execution, launch, and scaling.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Head of Product Design

Mercuryo.io

Jan 2025 - Jan 2026 (1 year)

Led product design efforts for a global crypto B2B platform, releasing a new apps visual language that improved user preference and perceived modernity. Redesigned the on-ramp flow to reduce error-driven churn and time-to-successful deal.

Product Design UX UI Design Visual Language User Research Design Systems Product Experimentation

Head of Design

UULA

Jan 2022 - Jan 2025 (3 years)

Rebuilt the design team and introduced agile design pipelines to increase design velocity. Developed a cross-platform design system and scaled UX research using exploratory and JTBD methods, while building a visual assets production pipeline.

Leadership Agile Methods Design Systems Cross platform Design User Research

Design Director & Product Manager

Yandex Schoolbook

Jan 2018 - Jan 2022 (4 years)

Led learning product initiatives for schoolchildren, owning concept, business model, piloting, execution, launch, and scaling, including a content product and a gamified coding curriculum. Integrated an experience design system across marketing, product, and content.

Product Management UX UI Design Content Design Editorial Design Design Systems

Product Manager

Russian Post

Jan 2015 - Jan 2017 (2 years)

Owned enterprise and B2C postal/logistics web products and led launches including a monetization postcard-sending product and a print subscriptions service with pricing and documentation/tracking.

Product Management B2C Monetization Pricing Product Launch

Design Director & Head

UX YotaPhone

Jan 2013 - Jan 2016 (3 years)

Led end-to-end UX for a dual-screen smartphone, releasing apps for front/back screen experiences and producing visual assets and marketing kits with a large creative pool.

UX UI Design Mobile UX Design Systems