Kayla Sommer
Product Manager - Decisioning at Tic:Toc- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Dmitry N.
Unicorn. Ninja. Rock star. These terms are overused in tech, yet once in a while you get the opportunity to work with someone to whom they actually apply. Kayla is such an individual. I hired Kayla to join my team at Digital Reasoning and have had the pleasure of managing her for close to a year now, and am still perpetually impressed by her passion, professionalism, willingness to be challenged, learn, and improve, and ability to continually deliver designs of outstanding quality. Since joining Digital Reasoning, Kayla has quickly ramped up to take the lead on a number of strategic projects, including our internal design system and the redesign of our main application for the financial services vertical. She has also impressed her colleagues in Engineering and Product Management by repeatedly surpassing their expectations, incorporating their feedback, and challenging their thinking. Finally, she has earned a promotion less than six months after coming on board. In short, she has kicked butt. What really sets apart Kayla in my mind is her "product sense" - her ability to quickly absorb complex business requirements and usage scenarios - to understand the full product stack, from the HTML/CSS through the front-end architecture down to the APIs and data stores - and to integrate both in quickly coming up with UX and UI designs that are truly user-centric, highly innovative, conceptually sound, and eminently buildable. So, at the risk of repeating myself: If you don't believe in unicorns, ninjas, or rock stars, you should try working with Kayla. She will make you a believer.
Barry Archer PMP, CSM
Rarely in IT do you meet someone like Kayla. Calling her just a JavaScript Developer does not begin to cover her abilities. She is the perfect blend of art and science. Her understanding of the UX, coupled with her ability to design and then code her solution was remarkable. She is a strong process advocate and a great person to work around. I would love to have her on my team again, and look forward to working with her in the future.
Dmitry N.
Unicorn. Ninja. Rock star. These terms are overused in tech, yet once in a while you get the opportunity to work with someone to whom they actually apply. Kayla is such an individual. I hired Kayla to join my team at Digital Reasoning and have had the pleasure of managing her for close to a year now, and am still perpetually impressed by her passion, professionalism, willingness to be challenged, learn, and improve, and ability to continually deliver designs of outstanding quality. Since joining Digital Reasoning, Kayla has quickly ramped up to take the lead on a number of strategic projects, including our internal design system and the redesign of our main application for the financial services vertical. She has also impressed her colleagues in Engineering and Product Management by repeatedly surpassing their expectations, incorporating their feedback, and challenging their thinking. Finally, she has earned a promotion less than six months after coming on board. In short, she has kicked butt. What really sets apart Kayla in my mind is her "product sense" - her ability to quickly absorb complex business requirements and usage scenarios - to understand the full product stack, from the HTML/CSS through the front-end architecture down to the APIs and data stores - and to integrate both in quickly coming up with UX and UI designs that are truly user-centric, highly innovative, conceptually sound, and eminently buildable. So, at the risk of repeating myself: If you don't believe in unicorns, ninjas, or rock stars, you should try working with Kayla. She will make you a believer.
Barry Archer PMP, CSM
Rarely in IT do you meet someone like Kayla. Calling her just a JavaScript Developer does not begin to cover her abilities. She is the perfect blend of art and science. Her understanding of the UX, coupled with her ability to design and then code her solution was remarkable. She is a strong process advocate and a great person to work around. I would love to have her on my team again, and look forward to working with her in the future.
Dmitry N.
Unicorn. Ninja. Rock star. These terms are overused in tech, yet once in a while you get the opportunity to work with someone to whom they actually apply. Kayla is such an individual. I hired Kayla to join my team at Digital Reasoning and have had the pleasure of managing her for close to a year now, and am still perpetually impressed by her passion, professionalism, willingness to be challenged, learn, and improve, and ability to continually deliver designs of outstanding quality. Since joining Digital Reasoning, Kayla has quickly ramped up to take the lead on a number of strategic projects, including our internal design system and the redesign of our main application for the financial services vertical. She has also impressed her colleagues in Engineering and Product Management by repeatedly surpassing their expectations, incorporating their feedback, and challenging their thinking. Finally, she has earned a promotion less than six months after coming on board. In short, she has kicked butt. What really sets apart Kayla in my mind is her "product sense" - her ability to quickly absorb complex business requirements and usage scenarios - to understand the full product stack, from the HTML/CSS through the front-end architecture down to the APIs and data stores - and to integrate both in quickly coming up with UX and UI designs that are truly user-centric, highly innovative, conceptually sound, and eminently buildable. So, at the risk of repeating myself: If you don't believe in unicorns, ninjas, or rock stars, you should try working with Kayla. She will make you a believer.
Barry Archer PMP, CSM
Rarely in IT do you meet someone like Kayla. Calling her just a JavaScript Developer does not begin to cover her abilities. She is the perfect blend of art and science. Her understanding of the UX, coupled with her ability to design and then code her solution was remarkable. She is a strong process advocate and a great person to work around. I would love to have her on my team again, and look forward to working with her in the future.
Dmitry N.
Unicorn. Ninja. Rock star. These terms are overused in tech, yet once in a while you get the opportunity to work with someone to whom they actually apply. Kayla is such an individual. I hired Kayla to join my team at Digital Reasoning and have had the pleasure of managing her for close to a year now, and am still perpetually impressed by her passion, professionalism, willingness to be challenged, learn, and improve, and ability to continually deliver designs of outstanding quality. Since joining Digital Reasoning, Kayla has quickly ramped up to take the lead on a number of strategic projects, including our internal design system and the redesign of our main application for the financial services vertical. She has also impressed her colleagues in Engineering and Product Management by repeatedly surpassing their expectations, incorporating their feedback, and challenging their thinking. Finally, she has earned a promotion less than six months after coming on board. In short, she has kicked butt. What really sets apart Kayla in my mind is her "product sense" - her ability to quickly absorb complex business requirements and usage scenarios - to understand the full product stack, from the HTML/CSS through the front-end architecture down to the APIs and data stores - and to integrate both in quickly coming up with UX and UI designs that are truly user-centric, highly innovative, conceptually sound, and eminently buildable. So, at the risk of repeating myself: If you don't believe in unicorns, ninjas, or rock stars, you should try working with Kayla. She will make you a believer.
Barry Archer PMP, CSM
Rarely in IT do you meet someone like Kayla. Calling her just a JavaScript Developer does not begin to cover her abilities. She is the perfect blend of art and science. Her understanding of the UX, coupled with her ability to design and then code her solution was remarkable. She is a strong process advocate and a great person to work around. I would love to have her on my team again, and look forward to working with her in the future.
Credentials
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Certified Product Manager (CPM)
Product SchoolJul, 2022- Oct, 2024
Experience
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Tic:Toc
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Australia
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Financial Services
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100 - 200 Employee
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Product Manager - Decisioning
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Jan 2023 - Present
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Senior Product Analyst
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Nov 2021 - Jan 2023
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Rainforest QA
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United States
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Software Development
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1 - 100 Employee
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Senior Product Designer
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Aug 2020 - Oct 2021
Collaborate directly with the Senior Leadership, Customer Success, and Engineering to pitch product enhancements and design the user experience. Led engineering squads to deliver new features and product improvements. Highlights: Grew the conversion of a core Automation feature by 40% among PAYG and trial clients. Redesigned core app functionality, including the visual editor for Automation tests and reviewing test results. Standardized project management processes including project kick-offs, risk analysis, and project closeout. - Project Management (Shape Up) - Performed & Directed User Research - Competitor Analysis - Information Architecture - Visual Design - Experience Design - Interface Design - Copywriting - Managed Beta & GA releases - Go to Market Documentation - Product Analytics to track KPIs / SQL - Candidate Interviewing Show less
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Freelance UI/UX Designer
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United Kingdom
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Design Services
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400 - 500 Employee
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Freelance Product Designer
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Jun 2020 - Oct 2021
Product Design for Pearler.ai (AI-powered security assessments) - Pearler helps companies get certified faster, close enterprise deals, and build scalable security practices that stand the test of any audit. - Collaborated with the Founder to take an idea and make it a reality. Designed an MVP of the core security questionnaire answering experience. Product Design for TCPinpoint Track, collaborate and manage the delivery of your retail tenancy. Performed a UX Audit, crafted a lightweight design system, and redesigned the customer experience of their Sign-up and product tables with a focus on usability. UX Consulting for South Australian State Emergency Services: * Performed a UX audit of the internal volunteer tooling * Drafted a UX Research and Usability testing plan to improve the experience of SES volunteers Show less
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Point72
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United States
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Financial Services
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700 & Above Employee
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Product Designer
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Feb 2019 - Oct 2019
I led the research & product design of an AI-powered surveillance tool for banks and asset management firms. - User Research - Product Backlog Management - Information Architecture - Voice, Tone & Copywriting - Visual Design - Experience Design - Interface Design - Design System - Usability Testing I led the research & product design of an AI-powered surveillance tool for banks and asset management firms. - User Research - Product Backlog Management - Information Architecture - Voice, Tone & Copywriting - Visual Design - Experience Design - Interface Design - Design System - Usability Testing
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Stock'd
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France
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Retail
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Creative Co-Founder
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Jan 2018 - Jul 2019
Cofounder of a preseed start-up --- Never took off, may try again one day. Performed market research, business modeling, MVP branding, and prototyping. Stock'd helps breweries build a more meaningful relationship with their community by efficiently and affordably describing their offerings and where to find them. Stock'd provides beer enthusiasts the convenience of discovering all craft brews and beer-related events near them in one place. From the pitch: Small craft breweries lack an easy, consistent, and inexpensive way to market their products and connect with the beer-drinking community. - It’s not easy to manage multiple social media accounts. - Posting across different platforms is inconsistent. - Paying someone to manage this, can get expensive. Stock'd enables breweries to efficiently and affordably market their brand, keep customers informed, engage the community in events, and announce special releases. Show less
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UX Designer
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Oct 2017 - Feb 2019
Designed native apps and embedded interfaces for the Wiser smart home system. Highlights: Translated complex electrical and IOT requirements into natural consumer flows. Introduced best practices in a waterfall/industrial-focused environment, including user research, user journeys, user flows, wireframes, and standardization of the UI to speed up design and developer delivery times. Performed multi-language, multi-cultural user research to validate features, terminology, and interactions. Refined and clarified product and global marketing requirements into an actionable engineering backlog. - Agile Methodologies - Product Backlog Management - User Research - Stakeholder Management - Information Architecture - Voice & Tone - Copywriting - Visual Design - Experience Design - Interface Design - Design System - Usability Testing Show less
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UX Designer
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Sep 2016 - Oct 2017
Collaborated with Product and Engineering to design AI-powered solutions for the financial compliance and healthcare industry. Highlights: Redesigned the flagship product used by analysts to surveil billions of messages generated by tens of thousands of employees to detect threats. This led to a 250% increase in detection acuity, enhanced discoverability, and quadrupled efficiency. Principal Designer for a cancer care workflow application that classified and prioritized cancer cases for optimal follow-up. Augmenting physicians, nurse navigators, and care coordinators with dynamic work queues, care pathway matching, and care complexity triage while easing documentation burdens. By spending more time navigating and coordinating care, the average speed to treatment decreased by five days. I championed the development of a design system and worked closely with both Product Management and Engineering to identify potential areas of focus in the product roadmap. - User Research - Stakeholder Management - Information Architecture - Visual Design - Experience Design - Interface Design - Design System Show less
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Aloompa
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United States
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Software Development
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1 - 100 Employee
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Javascript Developer
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Jan 2016 - Aug 2016
I performed multiple roles in a fast-paced startup environment, including development, user research, and project management. Highlights: I developed the UI for Aloompa's fully responsive CMS and a way to take your festival experience home with you via LiveStory. I architected LiveStory in a way that a designer could release a production-quality web embed to a festival app at the push of a button. Working with the visual design and quality assurance team, I championed forming a cross-functional user research team that executed the first user studies in Aloompa’s history. We focused on improving the information architecture of the CMS and identifying communication problems in the contract fulfillment process. As an advocate for agile methodologies, I facilitated a move to utilizing JIRA for agile development and managing the product backlog. Drafted an SDLC process to improve engineering delivery capacity. - Agile Methodologies - ReactJS - Redux - Less - Test-driven development - User Research Show less
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Frontend Developer
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Jan 2015 - Dec 2015
Developed the user interface for an e-commerce platform for distributing viral and breaking news videos to media organizations worldwide. Implemented a living style guide that enforced a modular approach to front-end development, shortened deliverable cycles, and facilitated transparent communication between designers, developers, and stakeholders. - Agile Methodologies - AngularJS - HTML5 - Sass Developed the user interface for an e-commerce platform for distributing viral and breaking news videos to media organizations worldwide. Implemented a living style guide that enforced a modular approach to front-end development, shortened deliverable cycles, and facilitated transparent communication between designers, developers, and stakeholders. - Agile Methodologies - AngularJS - HTML5 - Sass
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Education
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2022 - 2022
Product School
Product Management Certification -
2018 - 2018
Nashville Entrepreneur Center
Entrepreneurship - Preflight -
2014 - 2014
Nashville Software School
Software Development -
2007 - 2011
Delta State University
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Painting
Community
