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William Yarbrough

@wcyarbrough

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Design & product leader with a knack for communication, mentorship, & design-focused leadership.

United States

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What I'm looking for

Looking to lead or manage a design practice with design thinking to build consensus and deliver cross-functional business results through strong communication and data-driven outcomes.

After starting my career in agency work in the early 2000s, I’ve worked for a variety of product companies and agencies: from a tiny Chinese-centric startup to Global 500 companies. I’ve been heavily focused in client services as well as product teams, working with a wide variety of users in a wide variety of markets. More recently, I’ve been working in the healthcare space – growing and building a team of designers for a bioinformatics startup.

I also make my own furniture, watch old Kung-Fu movies in my spare time, and I’m a decent cook; so I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Head of Design

Almaden Genomics

Mar 2021 - Oct 2023 (2 years 7 months)

▪ Built studio team from under-represented backgrounds
▪ Launched zero-to-beta product in under 12mo
▪ Introduced new low/no code interface to product
▪ Developed feature & product roadmaps
▪ Crafted user-centered product roadmaps
▪ Created product council to better integrate sales and product marketing
▪ Staffed design-ops team with product, design, and engineering

Communication Skills Project Management Design Strategy Design Leadership User Experience (UX) Design Principles Design Systems Design System Management Product Design Strategy

Design Team Lead

SecurityScorecard

Mar 2020 - Mar 2021 (1 year)

▪ Hired design team for new product offering around cybersecurity compliance & posture
▪ Developed new design system in Figma & Storybook
▪ Reduced vendor back-&-forth by ~50% with novel automation interfaces
▪ Mentored design team in user research best practices
▪ Integrated compliance scores into main product, improving customer trust in security scores

Design Leadership Cybersecurity Design Thinking Design Strategy Design Management Design Process Cyber Risk Management Cybersecurity Analysis

Design Team Lead

Rapid7

Oct 2018 - Mar 2020 (1 year 5 months)

▪ Provided mentorship to growing design org
▪ Focus on offensive security insights for defender tools
▪ Developed design system in Figma
▪ Designed attacker knowledge base to increase trust with open-source community
▪ Led company-wide risk score redesign, improving trust
▪ Designed new anti-phishing tool, increasing ARR among existing customers by ~5%

Design Leadership Design Lead User Experience (UX) Design Principles Roadmap Development Product Roadmap Security Compliance Security Policies Cybersecurity Metasploit

Experience Practice Team Lead

Mighty.

Mar 2017 - Aug 2018 (1 year 5 months)

▪ Built & managed UX practice for fledgling agency with worldwide client base
▪ Redesigned European IT tool for client reducing on-boarding from 3 days to 3 hours
▪ Cut support ticket volume by ~75% through content re-architecture & redesign for client
▪ Through research & workshop techniques, launched ~5 new products for startup clients

Design Leadership Design Lead User Experience (UX) Design Principles Roadmap Development Product Roadmap Creative Strategy Brand And Creative Disciplines

Head of Design

WP Engine

Oct 2015 - Mar 2017 (1 year 5 months)

▪ Hired, mentored, & built first product design team within a services-oriented business
▪ Advised c-suite on product design roadmaps along with peers in product & engineering
▪ Opened new customer vertical & increased MRR by 16% with new product offering
▪ Designed new demo assets to increase sales opportunities for new product & service

Design Leadership Design Lead User Experience (UX) Design Principles Roadmap Development Product Roadmap Creative Strategy WordPress WordPress Plugin Design Thinking Design Systems Design Strategy

Creative Director

projekt202

Oct 2013 - Oct 2015 (2 years)

▪ Led several teams in user research, content workshops, & designs for enterprise clients
▪ Improved design thinking among teams at Mercedes Benz, Samsung, Dell, Capital One, etc.
▪ Guided design teams to develop custom solutions & redesigns with measurable impact
▪ Provided mentorship & guidance to junior designers, researchers, & content strategists

Design Leadership Design Lead User Experience (UX) Design Principles Roadmap Development Product Roadmap Creative Strategy Design Thinking Design Systems Design Strategy Web Design User Research User Centered Design User Testing

Various Sr., Mid, & Jr. Design Roles

Various Companies & Agencies

May 2006 - Oct 2013 (7 years 5 months)

▪ Led consulting workshops in addition to generative user research for enterprise SaaS teams
▪ Provided designs, content strategy, & implementation guidance to software teams
▪ Designed innovative software & services for Nike, Vodafone, Dell, USAToday, Target, etc.