Otobong Okoko

Senior Product Designer - Building Products from Zero to Scale | AI | SaaS | Enterprise | B2B & B2C

Berlin, Germany • otobongsok@gmail.com • +491756899970

Senior Product Designer - Building Products from Zero to Scale | AI | SaaS | Enterprise | B2B & B2C

About

I started my career as a frontend engineer, and that technical foundation has been instrumental to my journey as a designer. It gave me a unique perspective, bridging the gap between what's technically feasible and what users truly need....

Design Philosophy

I believe great design is a strategic business function, not just an aesthetic one. This approach extends to my leadership style: I focus on building resilient, data-informed design teams that serve as strategic partners to the business, rather than...

Core Strengths & Expertise

•UX Engineering: I have a deep understanding of front-end development principles. I can comfortably deliver accessible & responsive designs with HTML, CSS, & JavaScript. Great for functional testing as prototypes, reusable components, and production-ready code, even with AI as a sparring partner.

•Cross-Disciplinary Expertise: I've built a strong background in product design, UX research, accessibility, technical development, and cross-functional leadership.

•Industry-Spanning Experience: I've applied my design skills successfully across different industries, from large e-commerce platforms and banking to early-stage startups.

•Mentorship & Team Growth: Guiding and empowering junior designers to build their skills and careers.

Core Competencies

•Strategic Product Vision: I translate stakeholder goals into cohesive design roadmaps that thoughtfully balance user needs, technical feasibility, and business objectives.

•Cross-Functional Leadership: I enjoy bringing design, engineering, and product teams together to make sure products are delivered smoothly.

•Technical Design Implementation: My engineering background helps me create designs that are not just great for users but are also efficient to build.

•Accessibility Excellence: I am a strong advocate for inclusive design, creating products that serve a wide range of people.

Experience

Senior Product Designer, Customer Care Pillar

ZALANDO SE

Nov 2021 - Present·Berlin, Germany

I lead the end-to-end design for the customer care division at Europe's largest fashion e-commerce platform. My focus has been on initiatives that improve customer support experiences while making...

Customer Care: Contextual Self-Help

Problem

Dealing with approximately 20 million customer inquiries every year. We needed a better way to solve customer challenges without them having to make...

Solution

Designed a data-driven contextual support system that gave customers personalized self-service options. My technical background as a UX engineer...

Impact

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Reduced support ticket volume by 42%

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Decreased resolution time from over 24 hours to under 3 hours

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Improved customer satisfaction scores by 28%

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Generated €3.4M in annual operational savings

Guided Conversational Chatbot

Problem

Old chatbot was rigid with 78% abandonment rate and 43% escalation to human agents. Customers felt trapped in loops and kept having to repeat...

Solution

By analyzing over 100 customer histories, I designed a new conversational architecture using natural language understanding with dynamic conversation...

Impact

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Increased automation rate by 34%, beating target by 9%

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Reduced average handling time by 47%

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Improved first-contact resolution rate by 23%

Accessibility Transformation Initiative

Problem

78% of customer-facing interfaces had major WCAG compliance issues, excluding 15% of potential customers and creating legal/reputational risks.

Solution

Drove WCAG compliance solution for Customer Care touchpoints. Optimized and tested designs to achieve AA and AAA accessibility compliance for web...

Impact

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Achieved WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across 94% of customer interfaces

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Expanded potential market by approximately 2.3 million new customers

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Reduced legal compliance risk by 65%

Design Lead

UNITED BANK OF AFRICA

Jan 2020 - Nov 2021·Lagos, Nigeria

Directed the design strategy for a pan-African financial institution, leading and managing design and engineering teams to deliver digital transformation initiatives that redefined banking...

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Established the bank's first comprehensive design system with 120+ reusable components, increasing design-to-development velocity by 65%

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Elevated organizational UX maturity through structured stakeholder engagement, improving cross-functional collaboration by 60%

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Mentored a team of four designers and one intern, developing their skills and careers

HCM CONNECT

Problem

Fragmented HR infrastructure creating significant vulnerabilities. Disconnected systems caused payroll errors, wasted 30+ weekly hours on manual...

Solution

Led architecture and design of centralized employee management ecosystem consolidating seven systems into single source of truth....

Impact

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Eliminated $80,000 in monthly license fees

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Improved HR team productivity by 43%

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Reduced compliance reporting time from 3 days to 4 hours

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Contributed to 8% annual profitability improvement

Product Designer & UX Engineer

STERLING BANK PLC

Jan 2014 - Jan 2020·Lagos, Nigeria

Over eight years, evolved from frontend engineer to senior product designer, playing a key role in digital transformation initiatives that redefined the bank's customer experience strategy and...

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Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop comprehensive product roadmaps

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Conducted thorough requirements analysis, user research, and usability testing for data-driven decisions

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Created production-ready UI components in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Specta (Digital Lending Platform)

Problem

Nigeria's lending system was inefficient, taking 14-21 days for approval with extensive paperwork. This resulted in 68% application abandonment rate...

Solution

Architected Nigeria's first fully digital lending platform using biometric identity verification and real-time credit scoring for 5-minute loan...

Impact

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Facilitated N20 billion ($55 million) in loan disbursements

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Achieved 5-minute loan approval vs. 14-21 days previously

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Increased completion rates by 82% above industry standards