Derek Onay

About

I'm an easy going no-ego designer. I started in engineering before shifting focus to product strategy and design throughout my career. I'm a great fit for someone wanting to focus on flexing their design, strategy, and engineering while having a bit of fun at the same time!

How I can help

With early designers, I focus on how to present and frame their work — helping them move from "here's what I made" to "here's why it matters," so their design decisions land with the audience in front of them. With senior designers, I work on the more political side of the craft: stakeholder management, expectation-setting, and how to hold a point of view under pressure without burning bridges. Beyond 1:1 mentorship, I've partnered with local design organizations to run portfolio review sessions, giving designers structured, honest feedback outside their own company walls. Recently, I've been focusing my attention on agentic workflows and prompt engineering, and applying both to building more efficient, scalable design systems — an area I'm excited to help other designers grow into as it becomes a bigger part of the craft.

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Expertise

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Testimonials

• It was a pleasure to talk with Derek! We had a great intro conversation where we shared each other's background and he gave me some insight into the industry. He showed a true passion in helping people succeed. I look forward to working with him more!

  Joseph · Aug 2026