Christina Alchus - Director of UX & Product Design

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Director-level UX & Product Design leader with 15+ years building and modernizing complex digital products across SaaS, B2B, and regulated enterprise environments. Known for aligning Product, Engineering, and Design around outcomes—not outputs—through strong operating mechanisms, portfolio clarity, and evidence-based decisioning.

Proven record scaling teams, establishing DesignOps, and improving adoption, time-to-value, and release quality across multi-product ecosystems. Founder and former Director of a distributed design practice (2017–2024), partnering with executives to deliver platform modernization, design systems, and measurable business impact.

Product strategy Org & team leadership DesignOps & governance IA & complex workflows Accessibility & quality at scale Metrics-driven UX

LEADERSHIP & BUSINESS IMPACT

Org Leadership

Hiring, coaching, leveling, performance management, cross-functional rituals

Product Strategy

Roadmap shaping, problem framing, portfolio rationalization, prioritization models

DesignOps

Design systems, acceptance criteria, KPI ladders, release gates, governance

Enterprise UX

Scalable IA, search, object models, complex workflows

Evidence & Analytics

Research ops, scorecards, UX → Dev feedback loops

Quality & Accessibility

WCAG/508 compliance, performance budgets, production standards

OPERATING MODEL (HOW I LEAD)

KPI Ladders

Adoption ↑ • Time-to-value ↓ • Ramp time ↓ • Rework ↓ • Support volume ↓

Decision Gates

Design & a11y reviews tied to acceptance criteria and release readiness

Feedback Loops

Research + analytics → signal triage → prioritization → backlog → scorecard

Cadence

Weekly cross-functional reviews • Monthly outcome readouts • Quarterly portfolio reviews

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Omni Federal 2025–Present

Senior UX & Product Design Manager

Enterprise platform modernization

Lead UX strategy and delivery for a large-scale, data-intensive platform supporting advanced user workflows
Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to align roadmap priorities with measurable outcomes
Established a UX-to-delivery feedback loop converting research and usage signals into prioritized work
Facilitate executive workshops; deliver high-fidelity IA, flows, and system-level design decisions

Pixel Creative Services 2017–2024

Founder & Director of UX

Founded and led a distributed UX consultancy delivering enterprise product strategy, design systems, and platform modernization
Owned business operations: scoping, staffing, budgets, risk management, and client relationships
Built and led a team of senior designers; implemented async workflows, critique standards, and governance
Delivered multi-track engagements across B2B SaaS, education, culture, and secure enterprise platforms

Enterprise & Public-Sector Clients (via Pixel) 2017–2022

Lead UX Strategist (Platform Programs)

Served as lead UX strategist for complex, multi-dataset platforms with advanced search and discovery needs
Designed scalable IA, entity/facet models, and relevance governance
Built use-case libraries, result templates, and tuning frameworks adopted across teams

Adwaiy Tech LLC 2015–2016

Lead UX Engineer / Strategist

Led UX modernization of legacy platforms; introduced responsive patterns and accessibility audits. Mentored designers; established reusable component patterns.

INCATech 2014

Senior UX Strategist

Directed redesign of a high-traffic public platform. Shipped an accessible component library and journey maps still in active use.

Salient CRGT 2014–2015

Senior UX Engineer

Introduced UX governance and SOPs for organizations migrating to modern digital standards.

Masslight 2013–2014

UX Subject Matter Expert

Led large-scale content and IA redesign; reduced content bloat by ~75%. Authored UX playbooks adopted by multiple delivery teams.

Pixel Creative (Freelance) 2007–2013

Multimedia Designer / Team Lead

Delivered branding, UI, and marketing work for commercial clients (including Sony Music). Managed small cross-disciplinary teams.

SELECTED CASE STUDIES

Service Modernization Platform

Booking completion ↑ ~X–Y%

CMS & Inventory Unification

Time-to-publish ↓ ~X–Y%

Recruiting Platform

Time-to-hire ↓ ~X–Y%, SLA adherence ↑

Brand & Web Redesign

Qualified leads ↑, bounce ↓

(Full case studies at scienceofdesign.io/portfolio)

TOOLS & METHODS

Figma FigJam Jira / Linear Confluence / Notion Miro Design systems & tokens Storybook GA / Looker-style analytics Lighthouse Axe A/B testing Qualitative & usability testing Agile / SAFe

CERTIFICATIONS

UX Management — Nielsen Norman Group

SAFe Agile — Scaled Agile

Accessibility Compliance (WCAG / Section 508) — DHS

EDUCATION

B.S. Psychology — University of Maryland