About me
I came to design from a summer job answering support tickets for a payroll company. Most of the angry emails were about screens, not money, and I wanted to fix the screens.
Since then I've worked on products where a confusing button costs someone an afternoon. I like research that ends in a decision, design systems that engineers actually use, and shipping small things every week.
Outside work I teach a free evening class on interface design at the Portland public library.
I design software people use all day at work, and try to make it calmer.
Eight years designing B2B products, most recently scheduling and payroll for small businesses at Tandem. I'm looking for a senior or lead role starting in January 2027.
Experience
-
2022 to now
Lead product designer
Tandem, Portland
Lead a team of three on scheduling and payroll for 40,000 small businesses. Cut payroll setup from four days to one sitting.
-
2019 to 2022
Senior product designer
Fieldnote, remote
Designed the mobile app field crews use to log jobs offline. Built the first design system, now used by four product teams.
-
2017 to 2019
Product designer
Ridgeline Health, Seattle
Patient intake and scheduling for 60 clinics. Ran weekly usability sessions with front-desk staff.
-
2016 to 2017
Freelance designer
Self-employed
Websites and booking flows for local businesses, mostly restaurants and clinics.
Skills
Design
- Interaction design
- Design systems
- Prototyping
- Usability testing
- Information architecture
- Accessibility
Tools
- Figma
- Framer
- Maze
- Dovetail
- Jira
- Basic HTML and CSS
Working with
- Engineers
- Product managers
- Support teams
- Sales
- Executives
Selected work
Three projects I can talk about in detail. Ask me for the full case studies.
-
Shift swaps without the group text
Let hourly staff trade shifts in the app, with manager approval in one tap. Swap requests by text dropped 70%.
-
One design system for four products
Built the components, tokens and documentation with two engineers. New screens now take days, not weeks.
-
Payroll setup in one sitting
Redesigned onboarding around the documents owners already have. Setup support tickets fell by half.
Education
-
2012 to 2016
BFA, Interaction design
Cascade College of Art and Design
-
2019
UX certification
Nielsen Norman Group
The one-page version
Everything above, on a single page for your hiring team.
PDF. Updated October 2026
Let's talk
The fastest way to reach me is email. I reply within a day.
- Emailmaya@mayaokafor.example
- Based in
Portland, Oregon. Open to remote and hybrid roles.