Senior UX Strategist · Product Discovery · Design Leadership

Design strategy that
defines what gets built.

Twenty years moving cross-functional teams from ambiguous problems to focused execution — through structured discovery, stakeholder alignment, and rigorous information architecture.

20+
Years practising
15+
Design Sprints facilitated
100s
Research sessions conducted
EST
Remote · Full-time available
Pipefy Discovery · B2B SaaS · Activation Science 2020 – 2021

B2B Product Discovery & Segmentation Strategy

Led a 100-session discovery programme — 64 prospect and 36 customer/churner interviews — identifying that the platform had never formally defined its High-Value Actions. Redirected Phase 2 from churn diagnosis to activation science mid-programme. Validated two fundamentally different user archetypes and recommended divergent onboarding paths: self-service PLG for SMB, sales-assisted for enterprise.

Platform doubled ARR. Raised $75M Series C in 2021. Investors explicitly cited the segmentation this discovery defined.
Newfold Digital Information Architecture · Usability Testing 2022 – 2025

Navigation Redesign Across Global Hosting Brands

Four-method discovery programme — competitive benchmarking, user interviews, card sort, and Figma prototype — validated in 18 moderated usability sessions across HostGator, Web.com, and Bluehost. Prototype rated 4/5 (Much Better) vs. live platform and two competitors. Architecture shipped to production in 2025.

Shipped to production. Validated against live platform and two market competitors.
State Bar Association Information Architecture · BRD · Discovery 2025

Portal Ecosystem Unification for 50K Members

Reframed a visual redesign brief into a structural argument about organisational change. Audited 140+ services, ran heuristic evaluation (6.2/10 baseline), facilitated stakeholder prioritisation workshops, and delivered three-tier IA with complete BRD.

4 authentication systems → 1. Projected 40% reduction in first-level support volume.
MadeiraMadeira Ethnographic Research · Product Strategy 2019

Field Research Redirecting a Home Commerce Strategy

In-home field interviews and contextual observation mapping the full purchase decision journey. Central finding: spatial visualisation was the primary purchase barrier — 2D product photography could not bridge representation and spatial reality. This insight redirected the company's physical retail strategy entirely.

Client reached unicorn status ($1B+ valuation) in 2021. Physical guide shop network traces directly to this finding.
01

Product Discovery

Research programmes that surface what users need and what organisations can build. Interviews, activation frameworks, segmentation strategies, and BRDs that define what to build before engineering commits a sprint.

02

Information Architecture

Sitemaps, taxonomies, user flows, and content hierarchies that make complex systems navigable — from portal ecosystem unification to enterprise SaaS and mobile applications.

03

Design Sprints & Facilitation

15+ Design Sprints facilitated. Cross-functional teams from a defined problem to a Figma-prototyped, tested solution in five working days. Problem definition is half the work.

04

Usability Research

Moderated and unmoderated usability studies, heuristic evaluation, and prototype validation. Findings delivered as product decisions — not data dumps — with prioritised backlogs ready for engineering commitment.

05

Design System Literacy

Lo-fi concepts, interaction specs, and Figma prototypes built within existing multi-brand design systems. I reduce downstream ambiguity before engineering begins, and I know when to engage specialist designers.

06

AI-Assisted Strategy

AI tools integrated into research synthesis, competitive analysis, and ResearchOps infrastructure — scaling strategic throughput without scaling headcount. Knowledge systems that compound over time.

Two decades at the boundary between design and product.

I've been defining digital products since before "product thinking" was a phrase. Twenty years of client engagements, research programmes, graduate students, and Design Sprints have led to one durable conclusion: the hardest problem is almost never the interface. It's the ambiguity upstream of it.

My work occupies the ground between design and product management — leading the discovery phases most teams skip, facilitating the stakeholder sessions most consultants defer, and delivering the artefacts — BRDs, sitemaps, prioritised backlogs — that turn strategic clarity into engineering commitment.

I co-founded Brazil's first institution dedicated exclusively to Interaction Design. I've taught at eight universities. I've run research programmes for clients ranging from B2B SaaS startups to one of Brazil's largest insurance groups. I build the systems that make organisations smarter about their users — and then I make sure those findings actually change what gets built.

Based in Curitiba, Brazil · Available for senior contract engagements · Full-time · Remote · EST-compatible

Let's define what gets built.

Available for senior contract engagements in product discovery, UX strategy, information architecture, and facilitation. Full-time, remote, EST-compatible.

hello@faberludens.pro
Location Curitiba, Brazil · EST-compatible