Unlocking value together • 2025 Build UX maturity / SET new horizons / create systems & strategies

I'm Uday Gajendar, a versatile, experienced, hands-on design leader who believes humans & products can have better interactions & relationships. Less frustration, more value. Below is an overview of my extensive UX/Product Design expertise, leadership style, and approaches to shipping good design – along with a few superpowers like "visual sensemaking", and snapshots of my work.

Be sure to view this collection of portfolio/work samples, and check out my case study gallery with embedded Figma Slideshows for further evidence of my craft. 💎

I am an expert design leader who bridges business needs with human value. With 20+ years at companies like Adobe, Netflix, PayPal, and Microsoft, I simplify complexity into clarity and ease of use. My leadership spans four roles — Evangelist, Catalyst, Advisor, and Ambassador — driving design excellence, innovation, and impact.

I help teams tackle complex product challenges — from 0→1 launches to mature platform redesigns — across SaaS, fintech, automation, and creative tools, always with a focus on better human experiences.

I specialize in navigating the messy middle of product design — wrangling complexity, clarifying ambiguity, and pragmatically delivering value.

I bring a set of values, methods, and superpowers to tackle the challenges of navigating the "messy middle" of complex product development. Let's take a deeper dive!

My leadership philosophy is humanistic and pragmatic — balancing risks, values, curiosity, and safe dialogue to help teams thrive.

The best design doesn’t come from trends — it comes from having clear principles, collaborating well, and learning quickly with customers.

My superpowers are making sense of complexity, sparking concepts, keeping design ops humming, and running workshops that bring teams together.

This collage highlights my Visual Sensemaking superpower. I create maps and models that anchor conversations, surface dependencies, and clarify complexity — whether mapping solar sales flows, automation functions, or ad platform APIs. It’s how I help teams see the invisible patterns and align on what matters most.

This collage ties directly to my Concept Generation superpower. By sketching early and often, I turn abstract ideas into tangible options — whether through quick hand sketches or structured Figma wires. It’s how I help teams see possibilities, compare directions, and build confidence before committing resources.

This collage highlights Northstar Visioning as a superpower. It’s how I stretch thinking, shift conversations from constraints to possibilities, and give teams a compelling target to rally around.

This collage highlights Design Systems as a superpower. It’s how I bring order to complexity, empower teams with reusable tools, and create the foundation for sustainable product growth.

I run workshops that cut through the noise, thus helping teams align, decide, and move forward ...fast!

I build design ops practices that make collaboration smoother, and helping design, product, and engineering work as one effective team.

I’ve worked hands-on with AI in enterprise. I also lead community conversations, thus helping teams & leaders explore AI with clarity, care, and practical frameworks.

I help teams cut through complexity by bringing thoughtful clarity, intentional velocity, and durable value to both products & organizations.

Let’s find the highest-impact way to work together...and unlock value by moving forward.

Be sure to view this collection of portfolio/work samples, and check out my case study gallery with embedded Figma Slideshows for further evidence of my craft. 💎

CREATED BY

Uday Gajendar