Front End User Experience

Waheed Akhtar, Senior UX/UI designer & Design Lead

Melbourne, Australia, +61.436.335.417, ******.******@*****.*** PROFILE Experienced in spearheading Visual and User Experience Design, Digital Transformation, and Mobile and Frontend technologies. Recognized for driving pre-sales, creativity, and delivery of innovative projects tailored for Mobile, Web, Gen-AI and Metaverse. Skilled in leading large-scale digital transformation efforts for prominent organizations and successful digital banking initiatives. An entrepreneurial mindset with a strong focus on AI, services, and product design, driving the evolution of the digital landscape. Adept at leveraging a diverse skill set, from user experience and graphic design to front end development and architecture design, to deliver impactful solutions. With my extensive experience, I have amassed a wealth of practical experience working in multicultural environments and have a proven track record of success in shaping the digital future for leading clients and organizations.

LINKS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waheedakhtarwahid/ Design Portfolio:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ml2qE5tnxqEle99skLlFyjoSro_xjmo_/view?usp=drive_link SOFT SKILLS Art Direction & Creative Leadership Technical Leadership Digital Transformation Strategic Thinking

Pre-sales Creativity

Branding Product Design

Service Design Service Blueprinting

Attention to detail Agile Methodology

Communication Collaboration

Problem-solving Conflict resolution

Adaptability Time management

HARD SKILLS Design Thinking

Agile Methodology

Design Systems

User Experience Design

User Interface Design / Visual

Design

Human-centered design (HCD)

User Research

Interaction Design

Service Design

Branding / Brand Design

Product Design

Typography

Prototyping

Wireframing

Atomic Design

Carbon Design System

Ant Design

Figma

Sketch

Adobe XD

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Mural

Miro

JIRA

Front End Development

Front End Architecture

GIT

Bootstrap

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE Banking and FinTech Insurance

E-commerce Digital Media

Healthcare EdTech / EduTech

Government sector

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Feb 2016 — Oct 2024 UI/UX and Front End Lead (ASEAN), IBM Singapore As a Senior UX/UI designer, Design and Front End Lead (ASEAN), I led UI/UX and Frontend practices, driving presales and innovation in mobile and web solutions, Gen-AI, Metaverse, and Spatial Computing for diverse industries. Focused on delivering exceptional user experiences and visual designs, My roles and responsibilities included:

• Strategic Leadership: Defined long-term vision and strategy for user experience design, ensuring alignment with business objectives. Established design principles, guidelines, and best practices to drive the development of user-centric products and services.

• Team Management: Led and mentored a team of UX professionals, fostering collaboration, professional growth, and adherence to design methodologies and processes.

• User Research & Insights: Directed user research initiatives to deeply understand user needs, behaviours, and motivations, translating findings into actionable design insights to inform and validate solutions.

• UX Design & Prototyping: Oversaw UI design, interaction design, and information architecture, guiding the creation of wireframes, prototypes, and visual designs to effectively communicate and test concepts.

• Front End Architecture: Directed and managed all aspects of frontend development, including designing and implementing scalable, efficient, and maintainable frontend architecture for web and mobile applications.

• Design Systems; Developed and implemented scalable design systems with reusable components and detailed guidelines, ensuring consistency across products. Collaborated with cross-functional teams to integrate design systems into DevOps pipelines, streamlining workflows for version control, testing, and deployment.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Partnered with cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and other stakeholders, to ensure alignment and a shared vision for user experience objectives.

• Usability Testing & Evaluation: Developed and implemented usability testing strategies to validate designs and identify improvement opportunities. Leveraged user feedback and metrics to drive continuous enhancements.

• Workshops and Brainstorming Sessions: Organized and led design thinking workshops and brainstorming sessions to drive creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving across multidisciplinary teams. Utilized user-centric methodologies to identify pain points, generate innovative solutions, and align stakeholders on project goals.

• Emerging Technologies & Gen-AI: Pioneered the adoption and integration of Generative AI tools to optimize and streamline designers’ daily workflows. Identified opportunities where AI could add value, such as automating repetitive tasks, generating design variations, and accelerating prototyping processes.

• Metaverse: Led the creation of a metaverse experience for Samsung Smart Home, including a digital twin of Samsung Model House Showrooms. Developed an integrated Metaverse and Microverse experience for IBM’s onboarding process, featuring a Digital Twin of IBM Studio Singapore and a Virtual IBM Museum. Presented at Think Singapore 2023, where the booth became the most visited and received coverage by Channel News Asia.

• Talent Acquisition, Mentorship, and Team Development: Led talent acquisition to onboard top design professionals aligned with organizational goals. Developed mentoring programs to enhance skills and foster growth in UI/UX design, frontend development, and emerging technologies. Noticeable Clients:

Ministry of Defence Singapore (MINDEF), DBS, Siam Commercial Bank, UOB, Bank of Philippine Islands, AIA, Chinabank, Standard Chartered, Celcom, XL Axiata, Celcom, Mandiri, SingHealth, Singtel, PUB Singapore, Adira, Parkway, SIA (Singapore Airlines), ABS-CBN and more. Jul 2010 — Feb 2016 Design Lead, Aleph Labs Singapore I led the UI/UX and frontend team, driving innovation in mobile and web solutions across a range of industries. My primary focus has been on delivering exceptional user experiences and developing scalable frontend architectures while fostering team development and encouraging creativity. At Aleph Labs, my core responsibilities include the following:

• Team Management: I mentored and guided UX professionals, fostering collaboration, promoting skill development, and ensuring adherence to established design methodologies.

• User Research and Insights: I directed research initiatives aimed at uncovering user needs, behaviours, and motivations, translating these findings into actionable insights and validating proposed solutions.

• UX Design and Prototyping: I oversaw the processes of UI design, interaction design, and information architecture, creating wireframes, prototypes, and visual designs to effectively communicate and test design concepts.

• Frontend Architecture: I designed and implemented scalable, efficient, and maintainable frontend solutions for web and mobile applications, ensuring seamless integration with established design principles.

• Usability Testing and Evaluation: I developed strategies for usability testing, utilizing feedback and metrics to facilitate continuous enhancements in user experience.

• Talent Acquisition and Mentorship: I established high-performing design teams through strategic hiring practices, mentorship initiatives, and skill development programs, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives and emerging technology trends. Noticeable Clients:

OCBC, DBS, UOB, Standard Chartered, CIMB, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, NTUC, SP Services (Singapore Power), Singtel, Starhub and more.

Jan 2001 — Jul 2010 Art Director, Senior Developer // Team Lead Lahore, Pakistan In the first decade of my career, I gained extensive experience working across multiple IT companies in Pakistan, where I held various roles, including Art Director, Senior Developer, and Team Lead. I played a key role in talent development and mentoring teams. The companies I worked for in Pakistan include:

• Markco Tech (Jan 2010 - Jul 2010)

• MIT (Jan 2007 - Dec 2009)

• AbsoluteByte (Feb 2007 - May 2007)

• SDSol (Jan 2001 - Jan 2007)

This diverse experience allowed me to develop a broad skill set, balancing creative design leadership with technical development and team management responsibilities.

PROUD MOMENTS • Conceptualized a new design and development tool and presented it to IBM’s CEO, Ginny Rometty, earning recognition from the senior executive team for its impact on efficiency and quality. Demonstrated leadership, technical expertise, and alignment with strategic goals.

• Initiated and successfully established a collaboration between IBM China, Singapore, and Philippines, overcoming leadership opposition. This effort secured a $6M contract with a leading bank in Philippines. AWARDS AND

RECOGNITIONS

• Special Appreciation Award for UX and Design - Presales IBM - 2022

• Won two Special Appreciation Awards for Contributions to Presales - IBM - 2022

• Manager Appreciation with BluePoints - IBM - 2022

• Special Appreciation for Leadership - IBM - 2022

• IBM BluePoint Award - IBM - 2021

• Special Appreciation for Collaboration and Leadership IBM 2021

• Special Appreciation for Mentorship IBM 2021

• Special Performance Bonus - IBM 2021 - (included a prize of 2K SGD)

• Special Performance Bonus - IBM 2021 - (included a prize of 4 salaries)

• Special Appreciation for Client Success - IBM - 2020

• Delivery & Quality Super Stars in ASEAN - IBM - 2020

• Special Appreciation for Client Success - IBM - 2020

• IBMer Appreciation Award - IBM - 2018

• Client value OTAA - IBM - 2018 (Outstanding Achievement Award, included 1K USD prize)

• Special Performance Bonus - IBM 2017 (included a prize of 3 salaries)

• Manager's Choice Award - IBM - 2016

• Special Performance Bonus - Aleph - 2015 (included a prize of 2 salaries)

• Player of the Year Award - Aleph - 2012

EDUCATION

Jan 2019 — Jan 2021 Master of Business Administration, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Jan 1998 — Jan 2001 BSc, The National College

BOOKS THAT INSPIRED

ME

SPRINT: How to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days, by Jake Knapp

UX lifecycle: by Jeremy Baines & Clive Howard

Designing for growth - A design thinking toolkit for managers: by Jeanne Lietka and Tim Ogilvie

Change by design: by Tim Brown

HOBBIES • Product Photography and Portrait Photography

• Music

• Movies and Documentaries

• Poetry

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