Harsha Vemulapalli
Detroit, MI • Contact Me • LinkedIn
Strategic design executive with 25+ years driving digital experience transformation across financial services, B2B, B2C. Proven expertise leading large-scale design organizations (70+ person teams) that deliver measurable business impact through intuitive B2C and B2B experiences across web and mobile platforms. Deep experience navigating regulated industries, operationalizing enterprise design systems at scale, and partnering with Product, Engineering, and Business teams to modernize user flows that strengthen acquisition, retention, and customer satisfaction.
Skills & Expertise
Experience Design Leadership & Strategy
Executive leadership, Digital experience strategy, Product design, Product vision & strategy, Team building & mentorship, Cross-functional collaboration, Communications, Business Strategy, Servant leadership, Customer experience
Financial Services & Regulated Industries
Financial services platforms, Fintech user experience, Retirement & benefits systems, Regulatory standards & compliance, Privacy & accessibility standards, Financial product workflows, B2C consumer acquisition, Customer trust & retention
Design Excellence & User Experience
Product design, User flows & journey mapping, Interaction design, Usability testing, Visual design excellence, Acquisition & retention optimization, Multi-platform experiences (web/mobile), Satisfaction measurement, Content strategy, Customer needs analysis
Technical Capabilities & Design Tools
Front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), Figma, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator), Figma Make (AI-assisted prototyping), Miro, Jira, UserTesting, Dovetail, Design systems governance
Innovation & Emerging Technology
AI-powered design workflows, Personalization at scale, Data-driven design, Emerging technology integration, Hybrid team operations (onshore/offshore)
Professional Experience
Director Experience Design and ResearchSiemens
Leading enterprise-wide digital experience modernization across Siemens' global portfolio, including financial services platforms, regulatory compliance systems, and consumer-facing marketplaces serving millions of users.
Strategic Leadership & Business Impact
- Set and deliver unified UX/UI strategy across corporate, marketplace, and financial services platforms, partnering with Product, Engineering, and Business teams to align design with strategic priorities
- Lead 70-person cross-functional teams (4 direct reports: Senior Managers and Managers) spanning UX design, visual design, content strategy, user research (qual/quant), taxonomy, and operations across San Francisco, Munich, and remote locations
- Built culture of creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning through mentorship programs, design critiques, and psychological safety practices
- Advise executive leadership (C-level) on experience strategy, digital transformation efforts, and design maturity acceleration
Design Systems & Scalability
- Evolved and operationalized enterprise design system for 3,000+ internal creators and hundreds of agency partners, ensuring consistency, scalability, and innovation across 150+ digital properties
- Established design governance frameworks ensuring all experiences meet accessibility, privacy, and regulatory standards
- Scaled unified design and content system adopted across 5,000+ pages and multiple federated business units
User Experience & Business Outcomes
- Simplified and modernized user flows for financial services workflows, improving acquisition and reducing time-on-task for complex transaction processes
- Led design of AI-powered product finder that increased conversion by 10% and engagement by 15% through intuitive user flows and personalization
- Delivered measurable impact through product scorecards: boosted engagement by 26% and conversion by 17%
- Developed hybrid onshore/offshore delivery model and applied AI tools (Microsoft Copilot) to enhance quality and reduce time-to-insight by 20%
User Research & Insights
- Partnered with UX research to uncover customer needs and inspire design innovation through global user research panels
- Built AI-powered research agent enabling teams to query validated insights, accelerating data-driven decision-making across product development
Senior Manager UX Smart VehicleAmazon
Co-led design strategy for Amazon's next-gen in-vehicle consumer platform integrating commerce, media, and personalization across vehicle hardware and cloud services.
- Directed design for complex multi-service user flows across vehicle systems, AWS services, and embedded apps balancing safety, usability, and business KPIs
- Designed vehicle-specific monetization flows and consumer acquisition features through iterative, user-centered design
- Led 13-person team (3 directs: Principal and Senior ICs) across UX design, research, conversational design, and visual design in Seattle, San Francisco, and Detroit
- Introduced lean UX processes increasing collaboration and reducing delivery timelines by 12%
Senior Director User Experience Design & ResearchVMware
Led design, research, and service design transformation for VMware's internal employee experience, including financial systems, HR benefits, and enterprise workflow tools serving 35,000+ users.
Platform Experience & Regulatory Compliance
- Directed modernization of SAP Commerce-powered CPQ and subscription billing systems, reducing time-on-task by 30% and enabling VMware's subscription-to-SaaS transformation
- Integrated Workday HR workflows with benefits administration, ITSM, and compliance tools, ensuring privacy and regulatory standards for vaccination attestations and hybrid work systems
- Re-platformed post-COVID digital systems maintaining 75%+ CSAT while reducing support load by 20%
Team Leadership & Measurement
- Built and mentored 75-person distributed team (9 directs: Directors, Senior Managers, and Staff-level ICs) across UX strategy, design, research, visual/motion design, content design, and design operations in Palo Alto, Sofia, and Bangalore
- Designed centralized experience scorecard and measurement frameworks adopted company-wide, enabling data-driven decision-making
- Operated as player/coach, directly contributing to critical design efforts while scaling leadership capacity
Executive Advisory
- Guided C-suite stakeholders through platform strategy, experience operating model transformation, and design maturity roadmaps
- Ran platform discovery sessions, opportunity mapping, and cross-functional alignment workshops
Director UX and ResearchCARFAX
Led UX, visual design, and research teams elevating B2C consumer trust and brand consistency across digital and physical touchpoints for millions of vehicle buyers.
- Directed end-to-end redesign of vehicle history report experience, achieving 7% conversion lift and strengthening customer acquisition through trust-building design patterns
- Modernized cross-platform experiences across mobile, web, and dealer tools, increasing consumer engagement and satisfaction
- Established repeatable user research cadence and design process improving brand consistency and customer retention
- Led 30-person team (3 directs: Senior Managers and Managers) across UX design, research, graphic design, and design operations in Centreville, Columbia, and London
Head of Experience DesignRobert Bosch, LLC
Built and led Bosch's internal design consultancy serving automotive, power tools retail (B2C), and IoT product lines.
- Directed UX strategy for AI/ML-powered infotainment platform and autonomous driving systems, balancing innovation, safety, and consumer adoption
- Led B2C e-commerce design for Power Tools direct sales, optimizing user flows and checkout experiences for retail customers
- Drove service design initiatives saving $6M while optimizing design-to-sales processes
- Scaled 120-person design organization (5 directs, 90 indirect reports) across Detroit, Sunnyvale, Chicago, Boston, Guadalajara, and Mississauga
User Experience ManagerGeneral Motors
Led UX and research for connected-vehicle ecosystems across seven global brands.
- Directed UX for OnStar, CarPlay, and Android Auto integration.
- Unified design systems across mobile and in-vehicle launching seven apps in 23 languages within one year.
Design ManagerAir Mobility Command
Led consulting teams delivering mission-critical planning and decision-support systems for U.S. Air Force operations.
- Directed end-to-end design for high-urgency planning tools supporting 1,200+ daily missions, generating $2M+ in operational savings
- Established command-wide human interaction design guidelines based on research-driven principles
- Co-led proposal development and competitive bids resulting in multi-year contract extensions
User Experience and Analytics ManagerCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
Led UX, research, and analytics for CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention supporting 14+ websites and three mobile apps in a highly regulated environment.
- Designed and launched CDC's first mobile app and responsive website, increasing HIV testing conversions by 70% through optimized user flows
- Built enterprise measurement and effectiveness framework for data-driven experience decisions at national scale
- Navigated HIPAA compliance and federal accessibility standards (Section 508) while modernizing digital experiences
- Developed and won multiple follow-on contracts through proposal development and RFP responses