Radu Vucea ⭐️

Leading AR/VR Design @ Reality Labs

Mento Design Academy

Our mission is to help young professionals and career-switchers transition faster and smoother to a career in UX, UI, or Product Design by teaching the right skills, the right way.

Founder

MYBENEFITS

Advisor & Investor

FlairMakers

ixperi

Building a Digital Product Design Studio has been a dream of mine for a long time.

In early 2021, I finally decided to give it a go, and I co-founded ixperi with the mission of creating an elite design team that could deliver exceptional quality and impact.

In just three years, completely bootstrapped, my team and I:

→ Grew the studio to 13 stellar Product Designers and Product Managers
→ Built a fantastic culture of learning, development, and excellence through mentorship and coaching
→ Went from $0 to $1M in yearly revenue
→ Designed and delivered for high growth start-ups like Fresha, FlowX and Jellysmack

Co-Founder, Exit in 2023

Actio

Chief Design Officer

VP, Product Design

Fitbit (now part of Google)

In my role of Product Design Manager at Fitbit, I was initially in charge of building from the ground up and leading the whole design team in Bucharest.

In my three years in this role I have:

→ Built the Product Design team in Bucharest, 15 strong, influencing the headcount strategy to bring in key roles such as UX Research and Design Ops.
→ Created an amazing design culture, recognized company-wide, based on transparency, authenticity, trust, and support, which enabled shipping successful products while maintaining a near-zero attrition rate.
→ Established processes and opportunities that enabled team growth, such as reviews, critiques, and knowledge sharing sessions and events such as Learning Friday and Friday Speaker Series.
→ Influenced the company roadmap and strategy to ship the first line of Fitbit products for kids.
→ Shipped several products that had a revenue and company strategy impact, such as Active Zone Minutes and Fitbit Premium, the latter bringing in over 1,000,000 subscribers in under one year.

Product Design Manager

While in my role as a Senior Product Designer at Fitbit I owned the development of the Fitbit App Gallery from the ground up.

Initially meant to support our first smartwatch, the Ionic, with custom content that users could download, it now supports almost a dozen Fitbit smart devices, counts over 12,000 apps, and watch faces, all of which have been downloaded over 245 Million times.

The Fitbit App Gallery also attracted a thriving community of over 1,000 developers, many of them creating a steady stream of income through creating content for Fitbit.

Senior Product Designer

Vector Watch

While in my role at Vector Watch I wore many hats, as any does in a startup.

From redesigning the company's website with a goal to increase sales — to creating marketing assets in partnership with our marketing department to create awareness, no day was the same.

My most significant achievement, however, has been creating the Vector Developer Portal from the ground up, an easy-to-use web-based tool anyone could use to create a custom watch face or app for their Vector Watch.

It was exceptionally received, gathering over 1800 content creators and over 3000 watch faces and apps in just a few months.

Vector Watch was acquired in 2017 by Fitbit, and I went to be a Product Designer and Design Manager for them.

Product Designer

Adobe

In my time at Adobe, I moved from a Graphic Designer role in the marketing department to a Visual Designer role for the same product and, ultimately, for the last two years, to a Product Designer role as part of the innovation team tasked with validating next-generation products for Adobe.

Through a Lean Startup methodology we were validating product ideas and opportunities, at a fast pace, employing user interviews, prototyping and usability testing, working within a cross-functional team of developers, product managers and designers.

The most notable achievement is validating the MVP for what would become Adobe Stock and the Libraries feature inside Photoshop, Illustrator and other five Adobe CC products.

Various

Freelance Digital Designer

I am a Senior Design Executive, Investor, and Advisor who began his career back in 2005. Since then, I had the opportunity to work for startups, design studios, and big brands alike, having built products and design teams from scratch for companies like Adobe and Fitbit.

More recently, I served as Chief Design Officer for Berlin-based start-up Actio. With a drive for entrepreneurship, I founded my own Product Design Studio back in 2020 and grew that to a 7 figure yearly revenue in less than two years, exiting in late 2023. I now serve as an advisor and investor for several tech start-ups across the world.

My happy place is helping other designers grow and create stellar work. Having hired and mentored hundreds of designers to date, I'm currently focused on scaling up my Design Academy, founded three years ago.

Feel free to contact me for the following:
* Public speaking opportunities (panels, podcasts, events, corporate training)
* Advisory roles on Product Design
* Opportunities on the level of Co-Founder or Senior Design Leadership

Make sure to check my recommendations on my profile here if you'd like to know what it's like to work with me.

Oberlin Public Library

•	Managed, scheduled, trained, and lead a team of eight. Performed evaluations and disciplinary procedures for staff. Hired and trained new staff members.
•	Oversaw reference, interlibrary loans, adult programming, and marketing/social media. 
•	Maintained and upgraded all computers, software, and databases. Designed and launched the library’s new website in 2017. 
•	Oversaw budgets and monitored expenses for adult programming and collections, including e-materials. Negotiated contracts with vendors.
•	Constantly evaluated to improve all aspects of public service to all library users by creating new policies and procedures. 
•	Provided reference services via phone, e-mail, and in-person.

Adult Services Supervisor

•	Provided reference and readers’ advisory services for patrons of all ages. Designed and implemented programming for adults and families. Collection development duties.

Adult Services Librarian

Rocky River Public Library

•	Provided reference and reader’s advisory services to children and adults.

Adult Services and Children's Librarian Substitute

Ashland University

•	Managed all phases of operation of the TERC including the following: recruite and recommended staff to be hired; managed, scheduled, trained, and evaluated staff of 7, including student workers and interns; established and implemented daily operating systems; managed the finances for the TERC; maintained inventory of media supplies and equipment; maintained  technology lab.
•	Maintained curriculum library by selecting and ordering resources, managed the library system, and maintained the collection. Provided reference and reader’s advisory services.
•	Oversaw purchasing of all media, library, and office supplies and all curriculum library resources as well as recommended and oversaw purchasing of equipment such as computer and office equipment.

Coordinator - Teacher Education Resource Center

•	Designed and implemented programming for ages 0-18, including weekly story times, and provided outreach story times to daycares and schools and library tours for outside groups. 
•	Provided reference and readers' advisory services for patrons of all ages in person and via phone and e-mail. 
•	Selected and managed the juvenile and young adult collection. Designed displays on fiction and non-fiction topics.

Youth Services Librarian

Grafton-Midview Public Library

•	Oversaw adult programming, reference, collection development, outreach, and circulation departments. 
•	Scheduling for 20 employees, trained five new staff members, and oversaw practicum student. 
•	Planned and implemented adult and teen programming, assisted with children’s programs.

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The Battle

Radu Vucea ⭐️

Jennifer Bowman

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