Design Manager and Systems Lead bridging creative direction, product design, and process design. I build the systems that help design teams move faster, stay aligned, and deliver with clarity, from scaling a design org from 15 to 50 during nine-figure revenue growth to leading multi-million-dollar launch portfolios with a lean, distributed team. I specialize in UX Design and Content Architecture, Design Systems and Scalable Standards, MVP Design and Iterative Launch, Cross-Functional Product Collaboration, Accessibility and Usability Best Practices, Mentorship and Team Enablement, and Workflow Optimization and Tooling Strategy.

Carlos Esparza

Design Manager and Systems Lead bridging creative direction, product design, and process design. I build the systems that help design teams move faster, stay aligned, and deliver with clarity, from scaling a design org from 15 to 50 during nine-figure revenue growth to leading multi-million-dollar launch portfolios with a lean, distributed team. I specialize in UX Design and Content Architecture, Design Systems and Scalable Standards, MVP Design and Iterative Launch, Cross-Functional Product Collaboration, Accessibility and Usability Best Practices, Mentorship and Team Enablement, and Workflow Optimization and Tooling Strategy.

Available to hire

Design Manager and Systems Lead bridging creative direction, product design, and process design. I build the systems that help design teams move faster, stay aligned, and deliver with clarity, from scaling a design org from 15 to 50 during nine-figure revenue growth to leading multi-million-dollar launch portfolios with a lean, distributed team.

I specialize in UX Design and Content Architecture, Design Systems and Scalable Standards, MVP Design and Iterative Launch, Cross-Functional Product Collaboration, Accessibility and Usability Best Practices, Mentorship and Team Enablement, and Workflow Optimization and Tooling Strategy.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
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Intermediate
Intermediate
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Intermediate
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Work Experience

Brand & Product Design Consultant at Verified Athletics
January 1, 2025 - Present
Building an integrated design and brand system for a B2B SaaS platform serving college recruiters. Designing multiple screens to unify three disparate dashboards into a consistent pattern library. Partnering directly with the founder/PM to build and align Figma components with Cursor/Next.js development. Introducing scalable design tokens, color variables, and process documentation for design–dev parity. Delivering production-ready UI code in Cursor— collaborating directly within the repo and shipping via Git branches.
Art Director (Product & Launch Design Systems) at 1517 Media
January 1, 2022 - Present
Design Program Manager / Art Director— Led a small distributed design team supporting 70+ launches annually, underpinning ~$3.5M in annual revenue. Established modular brand systems and asset kits for authors and internal teams. Partnered with marketing, editorial, and strategy to shape campaigns from concept through release. Balanced creative direction with system design, improving consistency and turnaround speed. Oversaw design for author branding packages, product page assets, and visual guidelines to support multi-channel promotion.
Lead UX Designer at Callisto Media
January 1, 2019 - January 1, 2022
Built production-ready templates, libraries, and documentation that scaled a 15 → 50+ designer org during a period of $10M–$100M company growth. Partnered with product, editorial, and data teams to integrate UX standards and testing into rapid publishing workflows, improving design throughput and quality. Initiated iterative A/B testing programs that produced double-digit sales lifts across multiple categories. Developed onboarding and training frameworks to raise team fluency in UX tooling and design system adoption.
Co-Founder / Creative Director at Field Studios
January 1, 2015 - January 1, 2020
Produced and edited the award-winning documentary Since I Been Down, whose impact campaign contributed to criminal-justice reform and the release of multiple wrongfully sentenced individuals. Built and launched City Ciné, a mobile-first MVP for discovering NYC’s free outdoor film screenings. (Designed user flows for borough/date/title-based search; reached hundreds of users in first summer) Produced branded editorial content for TED and film clients, leading teams in design, motion, and video.

Education

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Qualifications

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Industry Experience

Education, Media & Entertainment, Non-Profit Organization, Real Estate & Construction, Travel & Hospitality, Other, Software & Internet, Professional Services
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