About me

I help teams make sense of
hard problems.

Seven years designing digital products across fintech, insurance, enterprise SaaS, and AI. Based in Toronto. Always asking why before asking how.

Based in Toronto, ON
Experience 7+ years

Clarity is the job.
Everything else follows.

I'm at my best when a problem is still messy. When the team isn't sure what they're building or why. I like getting into those rooms early, asking the obvious question nobody's asked yet, then helping everyone agree on what we're actually solving.

I work closely with engineers and PMs, not handing things off, but figuring things out together. I run workshops, sketch and prototype early with help of AI, help me make things faster. Confidence comes from testing, not from waiting.

I use AI tools every day, my workflow has changed for the past months. They've made me faster at the parts that don't need me, which means I can spend more time on the parts that do.

Things I keep
coming back to.

Not a manifesto. Just the principles I find myself defending in meetings, writing in docs, and repeating to people I mentor.

01

A bad question leads to a good-looking wrong answer.

02

AI is a thinking tool. It doesn't replace the thinking.

03

Simplicity is the hardest thing to get right — and the first thing cut.

04

The best design decisions are made in a room, not in Figma.

05

Curiosity is more useful than confidence.

06

Ship something. Learn. Repeat. There's no other way.

Life is better with good coffee and a dog.

Originally from Peru and now based in Toronto, I collect experiences as much as I design products. You'll usually find me with a good coffee, a mystery novel, planning my next trip, or trying a new sport. Dragon boat, pickleball, and soon tennis keep me moving. Lucy, my Shih Tzu, home office supervisor, and favourite coworker, makes sure I never work alone. I also have a soft spot for architecture, interior design, and discovering beautiful spaces wherever I travel.

Toronto, CN Tower
Toronto My city.
Coffee and book
Coffee Morning ritual.
Architecture — Casa Milà, Barcelona
Architecture Spaces that inspire.
Lucy in an apple orchard
BOSS Lucy, Chief Happiness Officer.
Dragon boat racing
Sport Always exploring.
Interior design
Interior design The other kind of design.
Machu Picchu, Peru
Peru Collecting stories.

Every role left
something behind.

Every role has shaped how I approach product design, from building visual foundations to leading enterprise strategy and AI-powered workflows.

2024
— Present
Senior Product Designer
Eckler Financial

Enterprise fintech for people who live in spreadsheets. My job is designing tools that consultants and actuaries genuinely trust, and pushing toward AI-assisted workflows before the industry catches up.

2019
— 2023
Senior Product Designer
Encora Consulting

Four years across fintech, banking, insurance, SaaS, and energy trading, PCI Energy Solutions, TalentReef, Mibanco, Interbank, Caja Piura.

Working across that many industries sharpened everything: research, facilitation, making confident decisions with incomplete information.

2018
— 2019
Senior Product Designer
RIMAC Insurance

First time designing at the intersection of real complexity and real scale. Insurance is full of edge cases nobody wants to talk about. Learning to love that was the job.

2019
UX / UI Designer
Química Suiza

Internal tools for a large pharma distributor. A short engagement that taught me more about asking the right question than anything before it.

2015
— 2018
Web Designer → UX / UI Designer
Koech

Started building websites. Got curious about why some worked and others didn't. That question is still driving everything.

Specialties.

Product Design End-to-end design across complex domains — from early ambiguity through to shipped. I care about the whole thing, not just the screens. Core
Facilitation Running workshops, alignment sessions, and design critiques that move teams forward instead of in circles. Getting to yes without losing what matters. Core
Research Qualitative research, usability testing, and synthesis that actually changes what gets built — not just validates what's already decided. Core
Design Systems Building component libraries that teams actually use. The patterns, the docs, and the relationships that keep them alive over time. Core
AI Workflows Using Claude, Cursor, and Figma Make to move faster on the right things. Knowing where AI earns its keep and where it gets in the way. Active
Design Engineering Prototyping in code when a Figma frame won't do the idea justice. Comfortable enough with HTML and CSS to be useful in a pull request. Growing

Currently Exploring

I enjoy experimenting with emerging tools to design faster, think better, and build more meaningful products.

Claude CodeBuilding production-ready interfaces and accelerating development. CursorRapid prototyping, debugging, and code exploration. Figma MakeQuickly validating ideas through AI-assisted prototyping. AI AgentsExploring autonomous workflows for design and research. MCPLearning how AI tools connect with products and services. Prompt EngineeringCrafting better prompts for design, research, and development. Design SystemsBuilding scalable, reusable product foundations. StorybookBridging design and engineering with shared components. Design EngineeringConnecting UX thinking with front-end implementation.
[ Let's talk ]

Great products
don't happen by accident.Let's build one together.

Whether you're hiring, building, or simply exchanging ideas, my inbox is always open.

Status Full-time · Contract · Consulting
LinkedIn /in/ingridvaldera ↗
Location Toronto, ON