Jay Sylvester

jaysylvester.com
linkedin.com/in/jaysylvester

Core competencies
- Accomplished manager and mentor of UX designers and UI developers
- Holistic strategist who balances business, design, and technical concerns
- Intuitive team builder adept at identifying critical needs and ideal candidates
- Vocal driver of product design process definition and implementation
- Insightful interaction designer with extensive web and mobile experience
- Proven web architect with focused expertise on front end development

Primary Skills
- Team Leadership
- User Experience
- Interaction Design
- Information Architecture
- Responsive / Mobile
- Lean UX / Agile

UX Manager at Linode - 2019 to 2020
I led the UX team at Linode, an innovative cloud hosting provider, where most of our work centered around the Cloud Manager, a browser-based tool for administrating servers hosted on the Linode platform. I drove implementation of the company’s first moderated usability studies and completely redesigned the Cloud Manager based on extensive industry and user research.

UX Lead at Vidyo – 2015 to 2018
Vidyo welcomed me to their growing UX team in order to build an internal design practice and help transform the company into a customer-focused organization. I defined the process for user experience research and design and managed the UX designers responsible for the company’s flagship video conferencing systems, including desktop, mobile, and conference room applications.

Creative Director at Fitly – 2014
I led the responsive redesign of a startup incubator product under a tight deadline, implementing a rapid mobile first design process that started with mobile wireframes and then went straight to coding and designing on the fly in the browser. We followed up with design comps for phase two, improving the visual design and proposing feature enhancements.

UX Lead at hibu / Znode – 2012 to 2013
While managing a blended UI team consisting of UX designers and front end developers, I promoted a user-centered design philosophy across the organization that established the needs of the customer as the primary consideration in all feature development. We produced wireframes, prototypes, and final production code for hibu web properties.

Manager of UI Development at Abercrombie & Fitch – 2010 to 2012
I led a large team of UI engineers responsible for all e-commerce front end development. Building strong partnerships with stakeholders, UX architects, visual designers, and my IT colleagues, I broke down traditional silos and got us working collaboratively. My team overhauled the front end code base, drastically improving performance and maintainability.

Senior Front End Developer at Weblinc – 2009 to 2010
As a hands-on developer, I performed sophisticated front end development on large-scale e-commerce platforms utilizing standards compliant HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Leading several development projects, I mentored junior front end developers and advised designers on appropriate user interface design elements based on their technical feasibility.

Lead Developer and SEO Manager at NetPlus Marketing – 2006 to 2008
I managed the small but highly productive team responsible for all client web site programming, while also assuming responsibility for IA/UX artifacts including sitemaps, taxonomies, flowcharts, wireframes, and HTML prototypes. As SEO Manager, I authored detailed web site SEO recommendations based on extensive reviews of site content and analytics.

Web Specialist at Ricoh Corporation – 2004 to 2006
I redesigned the human resources intranet site, replacing an outdated and confusing layout with vastly improved information architecture and a contemporary look and feel. I also optimized all Ricoh subsidiaries' sites for search engine rankings, writing meta descriptions and page content and proposing information architecture changes.

Web Producer at Panasonic Consumer Electronics – 2000 to 2004
I supervised our interactive agency, reviewing and approving all sites within core product lines including TV, Home Theater, and Home Appliances. Through careful planning with product managers and the advertising department, I coordinated site updates with product introductions, promotions, and events. I also designed and coded the Panasonic Premium sales incentive web site.

Education
Bachelor of Arts, English from Pennsylvania State University – 1998