GNGreg Niejadlik
Founding mentor
🌱 First session
Founder | Principal UX Strategist & Consultant @ Needle Peak Design
About
I help designers and teams work backward from the end goal to create experiences that feel effortless and matter. With 25+ years in design across Amazon, eCommerce leaders, startups, agencies, nonprofits, and consulting, I have led products from 0 to 1.1, scaled others to millions of users, and learned just as much from the misses as the wins. My focus is on UX strategy, data-driven design, system thinking, and ruthless feature prioritization to make products that matter. As a mentor, I enjoy helping people sharpen their design process, navigate career growth, and think through complex product decisions. Whether you are moving from IC to leadership, tackling system design challenges, or figuring out how to turn ideas into high-impact outcomes, I can help guide the way. Outside of designing stuff, I’m based in the Pacific Northwest, where I spend as much time as I can outdoors with my family
How I can help
I help both early or mid career designers polish their storytelling and focus in their job search. I help design leads or managers grow their skills to speak with influence.
Ask me about
IC to manager
First or only designer
A failed launch
Layoffs
Building a design system
First design hires
Growing into leadership
Presenting to execs
Imposter syndrome
Influence without authority
Negotiating comp
Pivot into design
Craft to strategy
Stakeholder standoffs
A hard problem I've navigated
Craft to strategy: My work history is grounded in craft and execution. I'm a designer. However, when I stepped away from in-house to create my own consultancy, the shift was positioning. I stopped selling UX as a deliverable and started selling a business operating system. That reframe helped me with workflow redesigns, client system restructuring, and solving hard problems. This is about speaking the language of decision makers.
Expertise
Experience
Founder, UX Principle Strategist · Needle Peak Design
2020-Present
UX Consulting Strategist and Advisor · i2o Retail
2022-Present
Sr Director, UX and Design · CommerceIQ
2021-2022
UX Lead · Amazon
2005-2018
Head of Product Design · Helping Hands Community
2020-2022
Department Lead · REI
2002-2005
Interaction Designer · IDEO
2000-2002
Visual Interface Designer · SANDbOX Advanced Development
1999-2000
What mentees say
1 testimonial on Hop · 792 sessions and 5.0 on ADPLIst, checked by the Hop team. See it on ADPLIst ↗
Quotes from other platforms are shown as given and aren't part of this mentor's Hop record.
Greg was exceptionally knowledgeable and inciteful on all kinds of design philosophy.
Nate · Aug 2026 · Hop session
Amazing communication skills and deep subject knowledge made complex ideas easy to understand. He provided insightful information. My overall experience exceeded expectations, and I highly recommend booking a session
A mentee on ADPLIst · verified Sep 2026
Working with Greg has been an outstanding experience. His subject knowledge truly shone through as he provided insightful feedback on my interview and portfolio presentations. For example focus on user-centric outcomes and engage interviewers effectively. I've learned a lot and highly recommend!
A mentee on ADPLIst · verified Sep 2026