Senior Director of Product Design

New Relic

September 2021 – April 2023  ·  Remote

New Relic was a PLG transformation story. The platform had deep technical power but a user experience that assumed too much, moved too slowly, and left too many developers behind in the critical first hours. I came in to lead the design organization responsible for fixing that.

I reported to the executive team and partnered with GM and VP leadership to shape design strategy across onboarding, instrumentation, and engagement. The work was equal parts design craft, organizational rebuilding, and data fluency. We ran continuous experiments, tracked behavioral signals, and used what we learned to make decisions faster and better.

+19%
YoY adoption growth
95%+
Team retention during high attrition period
40%
Reduction in email production time
PLG / Onboarding
Onboarding and Instrumentation

Led a sustained program of data-driven design experiments targeting the first-run experience. We mapped where developers dropped off, formed hypotheses, ran experiments, and iterated based on behavioral data. This wasn't a one-time redesign, it was a continuous improvement system that compounded over time into 19% YoY adoption growth.

↑ 19% YoY adoption · Behavioral data infrastructure in place
Design Operations
Metrics Framework and KPI Alignment

Established the design operations and metrics frameworks that connected UX health directly to activation, retention, and monetization KPIs. For the first time, design outcomes had a shared language with the business. Collaborated with Product and Engineering to prioritize roadmap work using this framework.

UX metrics connected to revenue KPIs
AI / ML
AI-Augmented Design Workflows

Integrated AI and ML into design workflows to surface predictive insights and automate visualization patterns. This work positioned the design team to move faster on data-heavy features without sacrificing quality or consistency.

Faster design iteration on data-intensive features
Team
Org Restructure and Culture Rebuild

Inherited a team in a tough spot: high attrition industry-wide, morale suffering, no clear growth paths. I restructured the org, promoted new leaders within a year, and rebuilt culture by aligning individual strengths with strategic goals. Retention stayed above 95% during a period when most tech orgs were losing people fast.

95%+ retention · New leaders promoted within 12 months

Case Studies