Skip to content
Yujia Zhao
Yujia Zhao smiling to camera, wearing a red and navy striped top with sunglasses pushed up over dark hair, in front of a harbour of moored sailboats and clear blue water.

From big ideas to solid ground

I’m a product designer and design leader who likes the messy early stage, when an idea is still a sentence on a whiteboard. My job is to make it concrete quickly, test it against real constraints, and bring people with me. I’ve done it as an IC, as a consultant, and as a manager, and now increasingly by directing AI agents.

What others say about me at work

Below are some unsolicited kind words I received on random days, outside of performance reviews, 360 reviews, LinkedIn endorsement requests, or other structured feedback formats.
Workplace recognition post, September 29, 2025, recognizing Yujia for “Accountability”: “Yujia, thank you so much for your strong partnership and leadership as we approach the latter stages of the Alteryx One App. Your ability to contribute as an individual designer, while hiring and building a new team in a new context is INCREDIBLE. You and your team have been excellent discovery partners and have driven an immense amount of work around the AOA solution in a short amount of time. I am honored and thankful for your expertise and partnership. Looking forward to everything else we’ll accomplish together!”
from a Product Management Director at Alteryx
Workplace recognition post, September 20, 2025, recognizing Yujia for “Empowerment”: “Thank you for leading the UX efforts for the Alteryx One project! This project has definitely stretched what UX has been asked for in the past, and you and your entire team have really stepped up and become leaders for this project in an amazing way! I look forward to seeing what we build in the hands of users!”
from a Principal Engineering Architect at Alteryx
Workplace recognition post, March 6, 2026, recognizing Yujia for “We win through excellence and execution”: “On Employee Appreciation Day, I want to recognize the rigor and thoughtfulness you bring to every project. You’re forging excellent UX pathways through the brand-new Alteryx One experience, and it shows. I can’t wait to see this launch come to life so we can collectively celebrate the incredible work you’ve put into it.”
from the VP of Experience & Insights at Alteryx
Slack message to Yujia, June 29, 2021: “I was on a call earlier today where someone said ‘I can’t believe how productive Yujia is at taking “big idea” concepts to ground and iterating on them. We talk about something and then a day or two later she shows up with an incredibly thoughtful design. So fast, so inspired.’ WOW. When I heard this I wrote it down word for word and just had to send you a personal note of thanks. This is incredibly high praise — and not the first time I’ve heard something similar. Brilliant! Well done!!!”
from the CEO of Trifacta

My career path at a glance

Even though product design is my passion and I was trained for it in school, I didn’t follow a traditional career path. I worked in large corporations and startups, tried to stand on my own as a consultant, did plenty of IC work, and also led teams. In the age of AI, I think roles are getting blurry, but one thing remains constant for me — I solve problems and envision better things through design, whether by myself, leading others, or leading AI agents.

View resume (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
Career timeline, a curving line linking five roles. Adobe, Ooyala, 2010 – 2014: Sr. Product Designer, analytics SaaS and a video management platform. ZENxd, 2014 – 2020: Design Consultant, payroll SaaS, travel, scientific instrument e-commerce, printing management tools and more. Trifacta → Alteryx, 2020 – 2023: Lead Product Designer, data transformation tools, billing, trials, onboarding, growth and integration. Alteryx, 2023 – 2025: Product Design Team Lead, data platform, admin experience, marketplace and dev portal. Alteryx, 2025 – now: Product Design Manager, data platform services and patterns — automation, SDLC, asset management, notifications and more — plus onboarding, trial and growth.