Vikas Rajput
Dallas,TX
Summary
Seasoned UX design leader with 25+ years of experience crafting compelling user experiences that exceed expectations. Believes design goes beyond aesthetics, focusing on problem-solving and creating meaningful connections between users and products. Approach to design thinking combines empathy, creativity, and data-driven mindset for functional and delightful solutions. Thrives in navigating challenges and brings proactive approach to new tasks. Recognized for adaptability, creativity, and results-oriented mindset. Committed to making meaningful contributions and advancing organizational goals.
Overview
26
26
years of professional experience
Work History
UX Design Director
PepsiCo
05.2022 - Current
- I have had the privilege of leading a high-impact portfolio of applications that play a pivotal role in generating a staggering $13 Billion in annual revenue within North America, representing a remarkable one-third of PepsiCo's total revenue in the United States
- Below are the key highlights of my employment with PepsiCo
- Strategic Leadership & Vision Define and Drive UX Strategy: Spearheaded the creation of a cohesive UX vision and strategy that aligns with broader business goals, focusing on enhancing user satisfaction and product usability
- Champion User-Centric Design: Advocate for decisions driven by user insights, ensuring alignment with business objectives
- Influence Organizational Change: Promote UX best practices across the company, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration among various teams
- Team Leadership & Development Lead & Mentor UX Teams: Guide a multidisciplinary team, nurturing talent and fostering professional growth
- Talent Acquisition & Retention: Attract and retain top-tier UX professionals, cultivating a high-performance environment
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with other leaders to integrate UX considerations throughout the product lifecycle
- Research & Data-Driven Decision Making Oversee User Research: Prioritize and guide research efforts to inform design decisions with actionable insights
- Monitor and Analyze UX Metrics: Track key metrics to measure the impact of design solutions, continuously improving the user experience
- Customer Advocacy: Act as a champion for user needs within the organization
- Design Excellence & Innovation Drive Design Innovation: Lead efforts to explore and adopt cutting-edge design trends, ensuring the brand remains competitive
- Ensure Consistency & Coherence: Maintain a unified design language across all platforms
- Iterative Improvement: Implement continuous improvement processes based on user feedback and testing
- Stakeholder Engagement & Communication Executive Reporting: Provide regular updates to senior leadership, using data-driven insights to support the UX strategy
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Ensure alignment between UX initiatives and broader business goals through close collaboration with stakeholders
- External Representation: Represent the organization’s UX vision at industry events, enhancing its reputation in the market
- Project Management & Delivery Manage UX Projects: Oversee the successful completion of UX projects, ensuring they meet time, scope, and budget requirements
- Resource Allocation: Optimize the use of resources to maximize the impact of UX efforts
- Vendor and Partner Management: Manage external relationships to enhance UX capabilities and deliver high-quality outcomes.
Associate Director - UX
Tata Consultancy Services
09.2015 - 05.2022
- Drove Pre-Sales strategy, Account Planning, Revenue forecasting, Resource utilization and growth at Tata Consultancy’s UX practice in North America; led the Dallas Design studio, achieving $3MN+ UX revenue each year
- Helping organizations by creating a design-led culture & providing motivational leadership and training, enabling the creative team to achieve consistent on-time, under-budget project completion while surpassing key performance metrics by 100% or more
- Responsible for building out and lead a multi-disciplinary in-house studio of designers, experience strategists, interface designers and researchers committed to transforming business with creativity, strategy, and data to arrive on design Directions
- Responsible for retaining the creative staff by giving them ample opportunities to grow and motivate by providing right learning opportunities
- Helping companies to focus on creating Re-usable design libraries, Brand guidelines, Design principles & setting up standards to be followed for faster development infusing artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Conversational UI & IOTs
- Responsible for leading design thinking exercises to make sure all the responsible partners are on the same page
- Responsible for conducting User Research, New product ideations, human factors testing, including - Heuristic review, competitive review, moderated and un-moderated usability testing, card-sorting, user analytics studies, AB Testing & participant recruitment
- Partner with product leadership to execute product vision and strategy & collaborate closely with product owners to find opportunities for new products and features and to validate assumptions through Quantitative & Qualitative user testing and research to help find out ROI even before building the actual product.
Sr. Manager - UX Design
Cognizant Technologies
05.2011 - 09.2015
Associate Manager
Wipro Technologies
08.2008 - 05.2011
Senior Lead, UX Design
Global Logic India Pvt Ltd
06.2006 - 08.2008
UX Design Lead
Pre-Emptive Systems Pvt Ltd
11.2002 - 06.2006
UX Designer
Iris Software Pvt Ltd
06.1998 - 11.2002
Education
Certificate of Technical Studies - Artificial Intelligence For Leaders
UT Austin
Austin08-2022
Certificate of Technical Studies - Disruptive Strategy & Organizational Psychology
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA10-2021
Certificate of Technical Studies - Product Innovation & Design Thinking
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA11-2018
Certificate of Technical Studies - Certified Usability Analyst
Ohio University
Athens, OH05-2007
Bachelor of Arts - Economics
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University
08-1997
Skills
- Product Design
- Visual storytelling
- Strategic Thinking
- Design Research
- Creative Direction
- Team supervision and oversight
- Product Innovation
- Stakeholder Management
- Corporate Digital Innovation
- User Experience Strategy
- Prototyping & Wireframing
Timeline
UX Design Director
PepsiCo
05.2022 - Current
Associate Director - UX
Tata Consultancy Services
09.2015 - 05.2022
Sr. Manager - UX Design
Cognizant Technologies
05.2011 - 09.2015
Associate Manager
Wipro Technologies
08.2008 - 05.2011
Senior Lead, UX Design
Global Logic India Pvt Ltd
06.2006 - 08.2008
UX Design Lead
Pre-Emptive Systems Pvt Ltd
11.2002 - 06.2006
UX Designer
Iris Software Pvt Ltd
06.1998 - 11.2002
Certificate of Technical Studies - Artificial Intelligence For Leaders
UT Austin
Certificate of Technical Studies - Disruptive Strategy & Organizational Psychology
Harvard University
Certificate of Technical Studies - Product Innovation & Design Thinking
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Certificate of Technical Studies - Certified Usability Analyst
Ohio University
Bachelor of Arts - Economics
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University
Work Availability
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