Valerie Paur
😺

Valerie Paur

Freelance Product Designer in United Kingdom, She/Her

Available now for work

2 years ago

About

I’m a product designer with over 10 years of experience working across various industries, managing design teams and overseeing the full product design cycle from research > development.

I have experience working from small, remote start ups to large corporations across different countries.

🐣 I’m a mom of two boys
🕺🏻 I’ve recently started freelancing so that I can have greater control over my schedule.
🪴I love gardening, fashion illustration and learning

Speaking

2023

An interview I gave about my decade of experience in design, and how I found myself in my current position

Writing

2023

My experience leading user research to shipping out changes we found would improve the Sainsbury's customer experience

2021

A piece I wrote about how I found going from IC to design manager

Features

2022

An interview I gave about being a minority women working in tech

Work Experience

2023 — Now
Full time parent at NA

Focused on full time parenting my two baby boys

2023 — Now
Remote

I have started freelancing as a product designer - I'm well practised across the product design cycle from research to final handoff.

2022 — 2022
Maternity Leave at Pickatale

Had my son in June 2022

2021 — 2022
Lead Product Designer at Pickatale
Remote

Pickatale is an ed tech start up based in Oslo, Norway but their team is primarily remote. I worked as a lead product designer where my focus was to: Hire and manage the design team, carry out research projects, lead the rebranding project of Pickatale, and see through the rebranding of our ed tech software. I was laid off in October 2022 while on maternity leave from Pickatale.

2019 — 2021
Lead Product Designer at Sainsbury's
London, UK

Worked initially as an IC designer, but was promoted to Design Manager one month after joining. My focus was: managing a design team of 5, ensuring my team felt they were growing in their own skillset, leading research and design projects across Sainsbury's in-store experience.

2017 — 2019
Senior UX Designer at Fourth
London, UK

I worked heavily in user research and testing products for the hospitality market. I spent a lot of my time user shadowing in hotels, restaurants, and spas. Fourth is one of the leading producers of hospitality software.

2015 — 2017
Senior UI Designer at RedEye
London, UK

RedEye was a CRO agency, so my focus was creating various versions of client sites for testing in our usability lab. I worked on products for eSure, Travis Perkins, M&S, MoneySuperMarket, and many other large brand names.

2014 — 2015
Digital Designer at Jordan Media
Tunbridge Wells, UK

I worked as a digital designer creating gift card marketing materials for our clients: New Look, Marks & Spencer, ASDA and many other large retailers.

2012 — 2014
Junior UI Designer at Cygnus Ltd
Tonbridge, UK

I worked as a junior UI designer creating marketing materials and microsites

2011 — 2012
Contract Graphic Designer at Focus News
Hickory, NC

I worked as a contracting junior designer on a part time basis designing the layout of the local newspaper

Education

2007 — 2011
Bachelor of Studio Art at University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Wilmington, NC, USA
2010 — 2010
Exchange Program at Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Quito, Ecuador

I spent 6 months abroad in Quito learning Spanish and studying pre-Colombian art history.