HWHarrison Wheeler
Director of Design @ Independent
About
I've been a design professional for more than 15 years, with experience spanning hands-on design work, design leadership, and building high-performing teams. Throughout my career, I've helped shape hiring and recruiting processes, reviewed hundreds of design portfolios and case studies, and served on hiring panels. I've worked across both fast-growing startups and established enterprises, giving me a broad perspective on how design scales in different environments. I'm happy to talk about strategic thinking, organizational design, systems thinking, design leadership, hiring, career growth, and building effective design teams.
How I can help
IC looking to get into management. Strategy and soft skills. Career coaching.
Ask me about
Expertise
Experience
Design Director · LinkedIn
2017-2025
Managing a team across a portfolio of products that enable marketers and advertisers to reach over 1 billion users through experiences in the feed, messaging, connected TV, and campaign management tools. Focusing on helping marketers create, launch, and measure successful marketing campaigns. Facilitating team alignment by building clear visions across three strategic priorities, driving clarity and cohesion throughout the organization. Leading discussions on product quality, resulting in investments in new product surfaces and empowering research to conduct comprehensive usability studies. Ensuring accountability for teams executing work in production. Managing and coaching leaders, individual contributors, senior, and principal designers, as well as managers, to foster growth and development across the design organization. Leading internal group and individual mentorship programs for emerging cross-functional product leaders, enhancing professional development opportunities within the organization. Partnering with Product and Engineering leadership on planning and capacity management to align with strategic priorities and maximize team effectiveness. Co-founder of Black by Design, an internal community group aimed at building a network for Black designers both internally and externally. This initiative also establishes a pipeline for emerging talent and builds stronger talent brand connections across the industry.
Design Manager · Zendesk Sell
2014-2017
Drove customer success, satisfaction, and retention for over 7,000 customers by launching industry-leading experiences for enterprise sales teams on web and mobile. Partnered with the CEO and CPO to develop concept proposals for prospective clients, resulting in multiple $1M+ Annual Recurring Revenue deals. Scaled and managed the design team from 1 to 5 designers following the company’s relocation to Silicon Valley, building a strong talent brand and pipeline to attract and recruit top designers. Collaborated closely with the development team in Poland to create a design system that significantly accelerated development speed and efficiency. Partnered with the marketing team to build and execute an effective go-to-market strategy aligned with product launches. Engaged with stakeholders across sales, customer success, and product management to develop a product roadmap that met both customer and business objectives.
Selected work
