Curriculum vitae

Colleagues and friends call me Christian; you can do the same.

Peers describe me as an effective and caring design leader with deep UX, systems architecture, research, product, and business strategy expertise.

A room in a carriage house apartment with large windows. In the room there is a wooden table, a white desk, an office chair, a bookshelf, and a couch. Outside there is snow nestled on a stand of trees visible through the window.
A snowy January morning at my home office space in Portland, Maine.

I value equitable outcomes, sustainability, and inclusion. I embrace complexity and dance with systems. 

I’ve made a career of understanding situations, framing problems, identifying opportunities, and steering organizations to successful outcomes.

"The opposite of complexity is not simplicity. It's reductionism."

—Nora Bateson

My practice centers facilitation and leadership methods rooted in interdisciplinary fields such as strategy, management science, behavioral sciences (as well as “other” intertwingled formal, natural, and social sciences), systems theory, complex systems, design research, human-computer interaction, information architecture, product design, and cybernetics.

I gather context quickly and excel at identifying and wrangling nth-order considerations as well as minute particulars. I’m passionate, opinionated, visionary, and a ready listener, learner, and collaborator.

Abbreviated timeline

Over the years, I've led several high-stakes initiatives and transformations involving technology, enablement, and culture. All are learning experiences I think of fondly. More recently, I transitioned to in-house product design.

This digital résumé summarizes the course of my career thus far.

2022 - 2024

Product and systems design at NuORDER by Lightspeed.

* Role eliminated by corporate restructure (yes, that's two layoffs in a row 😅).

2022

Product and content design at Shopify.

* Role eliminated by corporate restructure.

2019-2022

Design, product, and operations strategy at Anchour.

2016-2019

Led UX and transformation strategy for enterprise and government organizations on behalf of Coria; first as a contractor ('16), then as staff ('17-'19).

  • Product, technology, data governance, and AI readiness strategy.
  • Solution architecture, front-end engineering, and digital accessibility.

2014-2016

Pivoted Brilvan into a design lab called Essvan.

  • Provided product design and software development consulting services to various agencies and product organizations.
  • Designed and developed web software products for construction and materials companies.

2010-2013

Started a small agency (then called Brilvan) to provide web software design and development services focused on web standards and accessibility guidelines.

  • While starting Brilvan, I worked in sales and customer service consulting for Tandy, then TDS. Both roles dealt with network configuration and mobile device management.

2007-2009

Founding designer and full-stack developer at a boutique web software studio called CreativeMeta.

Organizations served

I've partnered with organizations of all sizes, including government, non-government, enterprise, and startup-stage teams. Focus areas have included commerce, civic technology, product, brand, marketing, advertising, data strategy, and more.

Some of the 80+ organizations I've served since 2007 include:

Say hi

Interested in talking shop? Learn more about me or email christian@jacobs.io.