Senior UX Leadership
Rik Sansone
Design leader focused on measurable product impact — accessibility, performance, and product-led growth.
+90%
Customer satisfaction increase and App Store ratings
+100%
ADA awareness embedded into product workflows
$5M
Estimated savings from research-led fixes
-37%
Reduction in help center calls from improved UX
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
- By holding stakeholder interviews, I uncover any common goals or expose any contrasting objectives.
- By conducting user research, I am able to clarify the user goals and inform the alignment with business objectives.
- By tracking KPI's such as time on task, usability ratings and usage data I am able to identify success or pain points and use them to improve the product.
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
- While at Delta Faucet, I served as a mentor for "IndyTech" an Indiana-based High School program.
- At Delta Faucet & Edible Arrangements, I established regular UX Sharing meetings during which:
- Team members could share and seek feedback on projects.
- I shard UX best practices, trends, and design news and teachings from classes such as the Stanford 'AI for Design' course
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
- By holding stakeholder interviews, I uncover any common goals or expose any contrasting objectives.
- By conducting user research, I am able to clarify the user goals and inform the alignment with business objectives.
- By tracking KPI's such as time on task, usability ratings and usage data I am able to identify success or pain points and use them to improve the product.
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
- While at Delta Faucet, I served as a mentor for "IndyTech" an Indiana-based High School program.
- At Delta Faucet & Edible Arrangements, I established regular UX Sharing meetings during which:
- Team members could share and seek feedback on projects.
- I shared UX best practices, trends, and design news and teachings from classes such as the Stanford 'AI for Design' course
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