Systems thinker, connector, change maker
SERVICE & product design, experience & OPERATIONS, DESIGN LEADERSHIPI enjoy the messy middle. The tangled processes and painful touchpoints that make life harder for customers and the teams serving them. I map it, make sense of it, and bring the right people together to redesign it into something they barely notice, because it just works.
Selected work
Design system
Cross-functional
Operations
Product design
Ed Tech
SaaS
Hi, I’m Julie
I'm a Vancouver-based senior design leader with deep experience in service and product design, operations, marketing, and team development. I help organizations turn fragmented, painful journeys into experiences that feel simple, coherent, and human.
I've led teams, shaped strategy, and delivered change across industries. I believe the smallest details carry the most weight, and I hold that bar with rigor — from a single interaction to the full arc of a client's experience.
Outside of work, I am a mother, triathlete, and painter. Each one is a reminder to stay curious, embrace discomfort, and find joy in the process.
North Vancouver, BC
Think Tank Training Centre
Product design • ed tech • brandsaas • ai • design systemHead of Experience • 2021 - Current
At Think Tank, I partnered with leadership, students, instructors, and department heads to build a custom, proprietary operating platform powering the entire school experience. I led the redesign of critical touchpoints across the student and instructor journey, from admissions and onboarding to learning content design, driving digital transformation that reshaped how the school operates. Alongside that work, I served as the connective tissue across departments, leading senior leadership team meetings and working directly with the CEO to keep department initiatives aligned, on track, and moving forward together.
Vancouver, BC
AutoTrader.ca
design system • executive communicationchange management • cross functional Associate Director of Design • 2020 - 21
At AutoTrader, I led the creation of AXLE, the company's design system, born from a need to unify a fragmented experience across iOS, Android, web, marketing, and brand. Rather than starting with visuals, I started with the system, mapping how disconnected teams and processes were producing an inconsistent product experience, then rebuilding the workflows that let one coherent visual language scale across every platform. I brought together the heads of engineering, marketing, brand, and design, ran workshops to align them around a shared vision, and presented the work and its business case directly to the C-suite. AXLE has since been adopted company-wide and remains in active use today.
Vancouver, BC
Habanero Consulting Group
Information architecture • accessibilityuser research • public sector / transitSenior UX Consultant • 2019 - 20
At Habanero, I led the redesign of the global navigation system for TransLink.ca, treating it as a critical touchpoint in the broader transit experience rather than a standalone web project. The site serves a wide range of people across the Lower Mainland, from daily transit riders and first-time visitors to job seekers, vendors, and community stakeholders. I started by aligning organizational priorities with stakeholders across TransLink, then grounded the work in direct consultation with users spanning a wide range of goals, backgrounds, and abilities, with accessibility at the center of the mandate, not as a compliance checkbox, but as a recognition that this touchpoint needed to work for everyone who depends on it.
Vancouver, BC
RED Academy
service design • team leadershipemployee experience • student experienceGeneral Manager • 2017 - 19
As GM of RED Academy's Vancouver campus, I led the organization through scaling and transformation, applying a service design lens from employees to students and treating the campus as one connected system rather than separate departments. I managed a team of 35+ across five teams while stabilizing costs and driving profitability, redesigned the employee experience through new HR systems and culture programs, and applied that same thinking to students, building onboarding and co-op programs across a portfolio of 10+ programs with 50+ NPS. I also led a multi-location website redesign and a Community Partnership program delivering $3M+ in pro-bono value, with outcomes including 100% work-study co-op placement.
Curriculum design • experiential learninginstruction / teachingLead Instructor - UI & Communication Design • 2016 - 17
At RED Academy, I was Lead Instructor and curriculum creator for the UI & Communication Design diploma program, designing and teaching it from the ground up and shaping the student experience end to end, from first contact through graduation. Rather than a standard lecture-based curriculum, I built an experiential, hands-on approach that kept students engaged and building real skills. Because RED operated like a working agency, my program didn't exist in isolation, I coordinated curriculum and project work with the marketing, UX, and web development programs so students collaborated across disciplines, and created the marketing that promoted the program itself.
Vancouver, BC
Pound & Grain
brand & marketing design • agencyclient relationshipsAssociate Creative Director • 2015 - 16
Senior UX/UI Designer • 2013 - 15
Designer / Web Developer • 2011 - 13
During my time at Pound & Grain, I worked on the creation and design of marketing campaigns, websites, e-commerce platforms, apps, and video production for brands including TELUS, Rutgers University, Future Shop, EA Sports, Escents, YYoga, Petcurean, and Cactus Club, among many others. Alongside client work, I designed workflow systems to improve productivity and strengthen client relationships, and coached and mentored designers on the team, helping build a stronger creative practice across the agency to meet client demands.