Senior UX Leadership
Business Acumen
Rik Sansone brings more than 10 years of UX leadership across enterprise software, consumer mobile apps, IoT, and B2B platforms. This page is organized around four leadership pillars — select the one most relevant to the role you are evaluating for.
Experience at
Rik approaches UX not as a deliverable function but as a strategic discipline — connecting user insight to long-term product direction and measurable business outcomes.
Shape Product Strategy
- Established a goal to differentiate from competitors through a superior experience
- Added at least one capability competitors lacked: animated installation instructions
- Result: 37% decrease in help center calls related to installation
Long-Term UX Vision
- Ensured the app architecture had scalable space for future IoT products
- Integrated custom personalization into the app, adding features as new products launched
- Result: Multiple industry awards and market recognition
Align with Business Goals
TODO — content to be added
Effective UX advocacy means building shared understanding — with stakeholders, with development teams, and with the users themselves. Rik has a consistent record of translating research into organizational buy-in.
Communication with Stakeholders
- Used quantitative stats in presentations to validate prototype decisions
- Showed recorded videos of real users engaging with prototypes during stakeholder reviews
- Result: UX solutions received little to no pushback at review
Evangelizing UX
- Conceived and delivered a presentation: "What IS UX?" — making the discipline accessible across non-design functions
- Established regular sharing meetings across the parent company's UX resources
- Result: Became the go-to UX expert sought out across multiple channels
Communication with Users
- Conducted user interviews to establish understanding of real habits and build genuine empathy
- In-person ride-alongs with delivery drivers, warehouse tours, and IRL observation sessions
- Result: Discovered and designed solutions for the real problems — not the assumed ones
Rik runs UX as a practiced, repeatable discipline — embedded in product cycles, measured rigorously, and structured to grow organizational capability over time.
Process & Workflow
- Practiced Agile as UX leader — participating in sprint planning and delivering within development cadences
- Integrated user tests and ADA audits into the regular workflow as standing deliverables, not ad-hoc events
- Result: Increased productivity and goals met consistently across multiple sprints
UX Maturity
- Assessed UX maturity level across the parent company's subdivisions to identify gaps and opportunities
- Roadmapped where and how UX needed to evolve over the next 5 years
- Result: UX established as a crucial, omnichannel organizational need
Data-Driven Decisions
- A/B tests used to determine which design elements resonated most with users
- Time-on-task always measured — duration to complete a flow successfully is a core success metric
- User satisfaction scored on a 1–7 scale; scores of 6–7 required to get the green light
Leadership for Rik means creating the conditions for great work — building trust, developing people, and pushing teams to think beyond the obvious.
Inspire & Motivate
- Encouraged brain stimulation with conversations reaching across creative fields beyond UX
- Facilitated structured brainstorming sessions to push beyond first-instinct solutions
- Consistently pushed the team for "out of the box" concepts — not incremental improvements
- Result: New experiences that helped grow team trust, confidence, and creative range
Mentoring
TODO — content to be added
Empathy & Conflict Resolution
- Led conflict resolution for a local Indiana teen tech group where one team member was preventing others from contributing
- Coached the affected member to let the work speak for itself — shifting the dynamic constructively
Rik approaches UX not as a deliverable function but as a strategic discipline — connecting user insight to long-term product direction and measurable business outcomes.
Shape Product Strategy
- Established a goal to differentiate from competitors through a superior experience
- Added at least one capability competitors lacked: animated installation instructions
- Result: 37% decrease in help center calls related to installation
Long-Term UX Vision
- Ensured the app architecture had scalable space for future IoT products
- Integrated custom personalization into the app, adding features as new products launched
- Result: Multiple industry awards and market recognition
Align with Business Goals
TODO — content to be added
Effective UX advocacy means building shared understanding — with stakeholders, with development teams, and with the users themselves. Rik has a consistent record of translating research into organizational buy-in.
Communication with Stakeholders
- Used quantitative stats in presentations to validate prototype decisions
- Showed recorded videos of real users engaging with prototypes during stakeholder reviews
- Result: UX solutions received little to no pushback at review
Evangelizing UX
- Conceived and delivered a presentation: "What IS UX?" — making the discipline accessible across non-design functions
- Established regular sharing meetings across the parent company's UX resources
- Result: Became the go-to UX expert sought out across multiple channels
Communication with Users
- Conducted user interviews to establish understanding of real habits and build genuine empathy
- In-person ride-alongs with delivery drivers, warehouse tours, and IRL observation sessions
- Result: Discovered and designed solutions for the real problems — not the assumed ones
Rik runs UX as a practiced, repeatable discipline — embedded in product cycles, measured rigorously, and structured to grow organizational capability over time.
Process & Workflow
- Practiced Agile as UX leader — participating in sprint planning and delivering within development cadences
- Integrated user tests and ADA audits into the regular workflow as standing deliverables, not ad-hoc events
- Result: Increased productivity and goals met consistently across multiple sprints
UX Maturity
- Assessed UX maturity level across the parent company's subdivisions to identify gaps and opportunities
- Roadmapped where and how UX needed to evolve over the next 5 years
- Result: UX established as a crucial, omnichannel organizational need
Data-Driven Decisions
- A/B tests used to determine which design elements resonated most with users
- Time-on-task always measured — duration to complete a flow successfully is a core success metric
- User satisfaction scored on a 1–7 scale; scores of 6–7 required to get the green light
Leadership for Rik means creating the conditions for great work — building trust, developing people, and pushing teams to think beyond the obvious.
Inspire & Motivate
- Encouraged brain stimulation with conversations reaching across creative fields beyond UX
- Facilitated structured brainstorming sessions to push beyond first-instinct solutions
- Consistently pushed the team for "out of the box" concepts — not incremental improvements
- Result: New experiences that helped grow team trust, confidence, and creative range
Mentoring
TODO — content to be added
Empathy & Conflict Resolution
- Led conflict resolution for a local Indiana teen tech group where one team member was preventing others from contributing
- Coached the affected member to let the work speak for itself — shifting the dynamic constructively