Leonidas Pekka Kambiselis

Email: [email protected] Languages: Finnish, Greek, English Working experience: 10+ years Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leofin Phone: +30 6948218219

Introduction My colleagues describe me as a multitalented UX Designer and Team Leader. I have worked among others for Nokia, Microsoft, Panasonic, Huawei, Tieto, Wärtsilä, Telefonica, Vodafone and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. My specialisation is in User-centered design (UCD) and User-driven development (UDD) which I have studied in Aalto Universi- ty and later been further trained at Nokia’s R&D centre in Finland.

With a 6+ years of working experience as a Project Owner I can see the big picture and propose appropriate solutions. Depending on the nature of the project my tasks include pitching for an idea, negotiating with mid-level managers, searching for suitable partners, leading design teams, and keeping an eye on deliverables and budget.

The industries I have worked for have been FinTech, Automotive, Healthcare, IT and SaaS where projects typically last between 3 and 24 moths. The teams I have participated on have been awarded multiple times in international competitions in Germany and the Unit- ed States.

Before becoming a Project Owner I worked for years as a Lead UX/UI designer for Accen- ture and founded my own startup. As of today I have delivered 100+ projects and my long-term goal is to share this collected knowledge through a series of seminars.

Experience Consultant / Head of UX, Covve Athens 2019-2020

Product ownership on mobile apps redesign. Covve is a 16 people tech-startup with a 2M€ funding from National Bank of Greece, Deutsche Telecom and private investors. Worked closely with the CEO and CTO on Service Design, Design Strategy, monitoring software-analytics and arranging UX design workshops. Project managed partners in Poland and supervised the marketing content production for the US market.

Lead UX Designer / Product Owner, Nordea Bank Abp Helsinki 2017-2018

Responsible for User Experience Design for several mobile apps. Nordea is a Nordic fi- nancial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki. Grew the user base from 100 000 to 300 000 users in 1 year, for the Siirto & Wallet apps using UX design techniques such as Cognitive Biases and Design Canvases. Helped to establish a Design System. Was trained in Cyber Security and GDPR regulations. Lead user-interviews. De- signed interfaces for realtime mobile payments for the Nordics, and the European Instant Payment service.

Lead UX Designer, Gelato Oslo 2017

Responsible for Gelato’s e-platform redesign. Gelato is based in Norway but operates globally providing services using the “sharing economy” concept for the printing industry. Shaped the platform on its current stage. Designed over 1 000 new UI’s within 6 months. Kept up-to-date on UX/UI best practices and trends by monitoring competition and rele- vant products, to identify opportunities for innovation. Shared best practices internally to promote a culture of excellence in design and customer-centricity.

Chief Executive Officer, Pixelhero Ltd - Finland/Estonia 2011-2018

Founder of the company and responsible for new business generation. Established a sub- contractors network in Finland, Estonia and Greece for the production of marketing mater- ial for European clients. In 2014 the company focused on mobile apps design and started collaborating with Harman International using Microsoft technologies. Interviewed and hired designers, developers and sales people.

Consultant, Tieto - Finland 2017

As part of Tieto I participated in concepting and redesign phases of Automatia’s Ottonet banking system. The software controls the daily operations of approximately 1,800 ATM’s in Finland and is used by Nordea, Danske Bank, and OP financial group. Helped man- agement to prioritise design changes as well as to envision more optimised user-work- flows, based on user-interviews and data-analytics which my team collected. According to client feedback the project was highly successful.

Lead Designer, Huawei Finland/China 2016-2017

Brainstorming and concepting of Huawei’s next generation mobile applications to be re- leased in 2019. Worked at Huawei’s R&D centres in Tampere and Helsinki in close co-op- eration with Harman international’s developers in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Recruited suitable designers and project managed their work. Main deliverables were a 3D acceler- ated mobile operating system and its 6 core applications. According to project feedback the deliverables were of top-quality.

Project Manager, Cisco Networks - Finland 2017

Advertising campaign for Cisco. In charge of overall budget and timeline. Produced a set of cinema-graph videos, managed actors, photographers, and arranged green-screen equipment availability in Tallinn to meet the project budget. Presented the final outcome to the Head of Nordic Marketing at Cisco Networks. According to client the material sur- passed all expectations.

Consultant, Softability – Finland 2017

Worked on a VR/AR concept related to coal mining and how specialised personal can be trained under hard conditions under different work-scenarios. My team did an an analysis on overall usability of the 3D interface utilising Microsoft HoloLens hardware, and pro- duced a set of software prototypes.

Design Consultant, Verto Analytics – Finland 2016

Innovation on the user-experience of Verto Analytics core offering the MONITOR software as an effort to gain new revenue streams for the company. Created a concept that would serve new prospects focusing on upcoming features of the software. Organised several strategic design workshops, aligning the vision of the company stakeholders with that of the design team. The web-based analytics platform is used by Facebook, Google, Uber, and Electronic Arts. According to client feedback the project outcomes were extremely useful for the product development team.

Consultant, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – Kenya / Finland 2016

The project led by M4ID Helsinki was focused on innovating new approaches for the de- sign of a labour ward in low resource settings in Africa. Worked in a team of 20 in- ternational designers. The project gained significant press coverage in Scandinavia.

Lead Designer, Microsoft Mobile Devices - Finland 2013 - 2015

Creation of several mobile applications for the Windows Mobile platform. Worked onsite at Microsoft design studio in Espoo. Defined the UX principles and presented the outcomes to the project shareholders on weekly meetings. Assisted on conducting usability tests and supervised the interface design process, in a team of 40 international designers. Re- ported to Head of Design and several Product Owners. The mobile applications had be- tween 2 and 8 million active users whose behaviour was partly tracked with the use of software-analytics. Won an IF design award in Germany and an IDEA finalist recognition in USA for the Lumia Creative Studio application.

Design Consultant, Volkswagen Group - Germany / Helsinki 2015

Design work for Volkswagen Group working as part of Futurice service design team. Ideation on Internet of things, vehicle telematics, and cloud services utilisation. Conceptu- al animations and visualisations which were presented in Germany to the R&D team. Ac- cording to client feedback to project shareholders were very pleased with the end results.

Design Consultant, Wärtsilä - Norway / Finland 2010 - 2011

Was hired by Wärtsilä Marine Solutions to assist on designing the user-interface of a PCS system used on modern vessels. The comprehensive system uses several control devices, indicators and modules which control the vessel. Co- operated with the clients team in Norway to create the software prototype, getting feedback from captains on real use sce- narios. The client feedback was extremely positive and the project has gained significant press coverage globally. The project also won a Red Dot Design Award in Germany.

Team Lead, Fjord - Finland 2008 - 2009

Fjord is a service design company part of Accenture. Worked in the Nokia team focusing on concepting, branding, graphic design, and visual components creation for several mo- bile apps. Later worked as a PM managing a compact team of four designers. Communi- cated the creative process and ideas to project shareholders on weekly meetings. Dele- gated tasks to freelancers when needed, interviewed prospect employees, and played an active role on client side meetings.

Senior Designer, Sanoma Interactive - Finland 2006 - 2010

In late 2007 Sanoma Interactive was one of the key-subcontractor’s of the Nokia Research Centre. Worked onsite and from abroad for an international team consisting of copywrit- ers, developers and sales people creating a broad range of POS (Point Of Sales) ap- plications which were mobile applications running a special ROM, and which were placed on Nokia’s and Vodafone’s shops worldwide promoting the end-devices. Devices such as the legendary Nokia N95 and other Symbian devices such as the E71, 5800, N8 and oth- ers. Won a national award for most innovative e-learning application.

Lecturer, Metropolia - Finland 2006 - 2007

Gave lectures in the department of 3D-visualisation providing seminars on interactive pre- sentation techniques. Engaged in the broader scholarly and professional communities. Had a permanent position as a lecturer before moving back to commercial projects.

Senior Designer, Various clients - Finland / Greece 2003 - 2006

In early 2003 mobile phones were able to run 3D graphics in pre-rendered format and later in real-time format. Around that time Nokia released the N-Gage a device, for which some companies started producing game titles. Although the mobile games market didn’t took off yet I had the chance to design some early 3D mobile games for several startup com- panies in Finland and to meet likeminded young professionals.

Junior designer, Foundation of the Hellenic World – Greece 2002

Did my colleague final year practice period at the Foundation of the Hellenic World in Athens, the only institution of its kind in Greece as a junior 3D artist for VR (Virtual Reality) installations and educational content.

Education HnD Business Development - Teeside University College, Prague, 2013 - 2014 (Cour- ses included: business development, project management, financial planning, business concepts, competitors analysis, financial planning etc.)

Master of Arts, Medialab - Aalto University, 2003 - 2006 (Courses included: design man- agement, design thinking, visual communication, systems of representation etc.) Bachelor of Arts - Middlesex University College, Athens, 2000 - 2003 (Courses included: graphic design, art direction, media production etc.)

Skills Product design, Service Design, User-Experience Design, User Analysis, Design Work- shops, Project Planning, Team Building, Project Management, Team Leading, Business Development, Operations Management.

Awards Best Mobile Payments Initiative 2018 - Paytech Awards, Nordea PAYTECH AWARDS UK recognise excellence and innovation in the use of IT in the finance and payment industry worldwide, and the people who make it happen.

IF Design Award 2016 - Creative Studio team, Microsoft The iF DESIGN AWARD welcomes over 5,000 submissions from 70 countries every year.

IDEA Finalist 2015 - Creative Studio team, Microsoft Awarded by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). The International Design Excellence Awards or IDEA® is a premier international design competition, which recog- nises and promotes design excellence across a wide array of industries and disciplines conducted annually.

Red Dot Award, Best of the Best 2014 - Marine Solutions team, Wärtsilä The competition emphasises time lasting design and aesthetic form. Awarded by the De- sign Zentrum Nordhein Westfaled in Essen, Germany.

References “Leo is an exceptionally talented and super organised. He takes pleasure working inde- pendently on site, and is a joy to work with in-house.— Mikko Anttilainen, User Experi- ence Specialist at Solibri

“Ridiculously professional' is the first phrase that comes to my mind when think about Leonidas. During working at Microsoft he showcased that he isn't only a good Service Designer but also very efficient, listens & understands client's needs and at the same time provides his suggestions how to make things better. — Henri Molin, Manager of Con- sumer Engagement at Microsoft

"Leonidas managed the design in several projects and has showed himself to be a very competent leader, patient, inspiring and passionate about his work. It was a pleasure to work with Leonidas and I’ll be glad to work with him again.” — Jane Vita, Lead Service Designer at Digitalist Group

"Leonidas is truly a great professional service designer who can see the whole picture, understand customer’s needs and at the end come up with a really nice solution. I hope to work with him again in the future projects.” — Samuli Rajala, Project Manager at Mirum Agency

"I found Leonidas a great partner to work with: ready to do everything to help us succeed and get good results, and really competent in his area of expertise. I can recommend him without hesitation.”— Paajanen Eija, Product Marketing Manager at F-Secure

"I worked with Leonidas at Microsoft. He's very detailed, gets going very quickly and is a pleasure to work with. I would gladly work with him in the future, without hesitation.” — Shahil Soni, Product Designer at Microsoft