SHELA XU

product Design leader

Shela Xu

I am a design leader and proud people manager dedicated to fostering a culture of inclusion, safety and trust that brings out the best in people. I coach and develop individuals to turn their unique talents into superpowers. I encourage creative problem solving, critical thinking and courageous decision making so that teams can drive meaningful impact.

Experience

Senior Manager, Product Design - Lattice

May 2022 - Jan 2023

Led a team of product and content designers for Performance Reviews flagship product. Worked with leadership, stakeholders, and product and engineering partners to shape and execute a product strategy that enables our customers to unleash their people's potential and delivers a standout end-to-end user experience.

Twilio, Product Design Manager

Oct 2020 - Apr 2022

Managed designers across Core Platform including Identity, Consumer Trust, Account Security, Enterprise, Prod Ops, Internal Tools, and Platform Engineering. Hired the first designer in all but one business unit and facilitated design integration into teams. Bridged siloed groups to help cultivate collaboration, trust, and a fun work environment.

BlackLocus, Product Design Manager

July 2019 - Oct 2020

Directed the UX strategy and vision for the merchandising product suite in close partnership with Home Depot stakeholders and internal teams (product, engineering, data). As the first design leader, I assembled a team of three designers and championed adoption of design thinking and storytelling throughout BlackLocus.

Blacklocus, Product Designer

Feb 2015 - July 2019

As the first designer at BlackLocus, I spearheaded three key merchandising solutions from concept to launch, overseeing end-to-end discovery and design for data-driven products that enable Home Depot business users to make informed merchandising decisions at scale through automation.

Optaros (MRM), UX Consultant

Jul 2011 – Nov 2014 

Worked with clients to overhaul their e-commerce experiences, collaborating with an international team of PMs, developers, and QA.  Implemented visual designs into front-end solutions in Magento and Drupal.

Toolbelt

Product Strategy

Storytelling 

User Research

Journey mapping 

Concept validation

Interaction design 

User testing 

Prototyping 

Light front end coding

Interests

👩‍🍳 cooking

🧗 rock climbing

🌱 plants

🐈‍ my cat milo