I'm a product designer based in Braga, Portugal. I do my best work where user complexity meets business pressure.
I like problems where the right answer is rarely obvious. Getting there takes more than craft. It takes iteration and a lot of listening: to users, to the data, and to people who see the problem differently.
I've worked on enterprise and consumer products, in studios, consultancies and in-house teams, as the only designer and as one of many.
How I got here
I studied design at the University of Aveiro in Portugal and spent a semester at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy.
I started my career at Gen Design Studio in Braga, where I spent 8 years. The first 5 were in graphic design: branding, advertising, and print. As the studio grew, I began leading and mentoring other designers, and my focus shifted to digital products, first UI, then UX. For the next 3 years I worked mostly with Tekzenit, a US consultancy specializing in digital transformation for large telecoms such as AT&T. They eventually invited me to join them in Dallas, where I spent 2 years working with clients including Ericsson and Airtel.
After a decade in studios and consultancies, I wanted to stay with a problem beyond delivery: to see what happened when people used what I designed, learn from it, and keep improving it. That brought me to Decisiv, which I joined remotely from Portugal as Senior Product Designer. Over nearly 8 years I grew into the Lead Product Designer role, on a platform that fleets and service providers across North America use to manage commercial vehicle repairs.
Most of my work was improving everyday workflows for service providers, such as how they track repairs and update estimates, along with new features and integrations. I also designed new products, including a preventive maintenance app, and professional services projects for partners, including a roadside assistance call center app for Michelin. Alongside that work, I mentored designers, ran design critiques and design operations, and led the design system that gave a 15-year-old platform a shared foundation.
When a former colleague invited me to join Talent.com, a global job marketplace, as Lead Product Designer, I hesitated. I wasn't sure consumer products would hold my attention. Working on growth and monetization changed that. I redesigned how job seekers apply and discover related jobs, with A/B tests giving us answers in days rather than quarters. I'd never had a clearer line between my work and revenue, and I still design with that line in mind. It was also at Talent.com that I started exploring how AI could make job search easier and support my own design process.
Today I'm back at Decisiv, helping modernize the platform.
I have never met a designer better at thinking through all the nitty-gritty nuances users experience in complex platforms who is also so capable of coming up with the perfect solution to keep it simple.
Carla is genuinely kind and an exceptional mentor. I learned tremendously from her and still miss our collaboration.
Carla's ability to join a team, integrate, and start delivering impact within the first 4 months of employment is truly remarkable.
How I keep growing
I've been a member of the Interaction Design Foundation for almost a decade, and have earned over a dozen certifications along the way, some for a specific need, others out of curiosity.
Right now I'm paying close attention to how AI is changing the craft. I designed and built this portfolio with Claude, to own something from concept to launch. Most of my learning happens that way: in response to a problem or a gap.
Outside work
I live in a quiet part of Braga with my partner and our daughter, close to family. Weekends usually involve a slow breakfast, a library trip, cooking something from scratch. My parents have a vegetable garden that could always use another pair of hands.