Hi, I’m Kelsey. I’m looking for my next role.
I’m an experienced design leader who cares about building thoughtful, high performing teams, developing people, and shipping great products. I’ve managed design managers, designers, and UX researchers; and have directed design work across consumer products and internal tools.
I’m looking for a management position where I can oversee a product design org/team. I’m also interested in exploring roles that, in addition to product design, oversee adjacent teams, like brand design or UX research.
Some things I did at BuzzFeed
Hired, retained, and supported growth of a very talented and productive design team. The team was made up of design managers, designers, and a UX researcher that supported over 9 product areas. There was tremendous growth across the whole team — we hired designers new in their career, promoted designers to senior and staff, and supported first time people managers.
Built & cultivated a strong culture of design, where designers were leaders with huge impact on their cross functional teams. At BuzzFeed, designers are true thought partners to their product and engineering counterparts. They advocate for user-centered roadmaps and ensure their teams are working on the highest impact projects. This is all outlined in the career ladder, and reinforced by the coaching and management done within the design team.
Led the design team as they made major improvements of consumer & internal products. A couple of highlights: launching BuzzFeed News on its own domain, overhauling the BuzzFeed iOS app, redesigning our internal publishing tools to better serve users, and redesigning the BuzzFeed homepage.
Led and supported various diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DI&B) initiatives across all of tech. I created, analyzed, and shared results of a quarterly pulse survey that assessed how tech was performing on DI&B initiatives. I also acted as the executive sponsor to all DI&B work in tech, including being the point of contact for our Out in Tech partnership.
Work History
Most recently, I was the VP of Product Design & UX Research at BuzzFeed. I managed a team of design managers, product designers, and researchers who were responsible for all aspects of design, from research to execution. The team worked on the BuzzFeed website and app, the Tasty website and app, the HuffPost website and app, the BuzzFeed CMS, internal social publishing tools, new products and features for our clients, and more. I worked closely with the leaders of product, engineering, data, and project management to define strategic direction and guide execution across all teams in the BuzzFeed tech org.
Previously, I was a Product Design Manager for consumer products at BuzzFeed. Before that, I was the Design Director of Vox Media’s Storytelling Studio. I also led the design of storytelling tools on Autotune; worked on the relaunch of Racked, on the relaunch of Eater, with the Vox Media advertising team; and helped plan various community-based events with other members of the product team.
What I’m looking for
A management role. Where I can manage managers and oversee a product design org/team. I’m also interested in exploring roles that, in addition to product design, oversee adjacent teams, like brand design or UX research.
With good people. A diverse team at all levels, including leadership. Kind and smart people who care about others. An inclusive culture.
Working on consumer-facing products. Something I can see out in the wild. I like to be able to point to my team's work and say “that’s what we do”.
A fully remote role. I’m based in NYC, but looking for location flexibility. I’m pursuing remote roles at a company where many other employees are also remote.
At a place that cares about its team. Generous vacation, parental leave, 401k matching. Good physical and mental health care coverage. Healthy work/life balance. Professional development opportunities.
If you have a role that you think would be a fit, email me at scherer.kelsey@gmail.com.