Katherine
Kusuda
Builder of people & products
I’m a design leader with over a decade of experience working on and managing cross-functional teams. My career spans a range of design disciplines for both B2B and B2C organizations.
My focus is building user-centric products and experiences that make a positive impact and help companies scale.
Leadership highlights
Remote, hybrid, & in-office
management of teams made up of
product & visual designers
People-first leader
with experience building & growing
cross-functional teams
Product leader
big-picture partner for
Product and Engineering
Saas, B2B & B2C
both domestic & international
Agile methodologies
with leadership training in
large-scale scrum
JIRA, Confluence, AHA!, Notion
+ many other project management tools
Product strategy
with over 8 years of product & project management experience
Workshop creator & facilitator
for both onsite & remote sessions
Stakeholder management
including c-suite, internal, & external teams
Design Skill set
Product design
UX, UI, & interaction
Visual design
digital & print
Branding design
both creating & growing brands
Adobe Creative Suite & Figma
+ many other design tools
Design management
including design systems, kits, documentation, & ENG handoffs
User-focused
user testing, user interviews,
& accessibility
Web, mobile apps, & embedded systems
Android, iOS, mobile & tablet
Cross-team collaborator
especially with other designers, product management & ENG
Presentation skills & design
PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides
Management Testimonials
I feel very lucky to have had the privilege of working with Katherine. She is an inspiring design leader as well as an attentive and empathetic design manager.
Katherine has played a critical role in developing our company’s product vision by leading our strategy discovery workshops and effectively communicating and coordinating with all relevant stakeholders. She possesses exceptional interpersonal skills and […] is taking the time to understand her direct reports and their unique strengths and weaknesses, as well as empowers them to succeed in their roles and pursue their interests.
– Tamara R. –
With her ambitious attitude, work ethic, dedication and passion for effective user-centered design, Katherine […] is a natural-born leader. She excelled in her ability to recognize problems and challenges within the organization (and our own department) and face them head-on, with poise and grace. She thinks critically and effectively to find creative solutions to the toughest issues.
She is an excellent communicator, both intra and interdepartmentally and has built strong relationships with people at all levels of the organization, as well as, with our airline clients.
Katherine consistently prioritized the needs and personal goals of her designers over her own. Her sense of compassion, empathy and selfless devotion toward the benefit of her designers, each day, is unrivaled.
– Renee P. –
I’m convinced I will never have a manager as attentive and understanding as Katherine Kusuda. Since I first met her, I’ve been blown away by her professional grace and confidence in the face of all the challenges we’ve had at Safran Passenger Innovations.
With her at the lead, we turned those challenges into successes without burning out anyone on the team, and I really appreciate that she has the business acumen to manage her staff’s workload wisely while still holding consideration for the health of her employees at a priority.
A team that feels cared for will always strive for success, and she’s built and maintained a team that’s close knit and always delivering on time.
– Zara S. –