willsykora.com
connect@willsykora.com
(410) 903 – 8685
Will Sykora
PRODUCT & DESIGN
CREDENTIALS
Certified Scrum Master
Scrum Alliance
Certified Scrum Product Owner
Scrum Alliance
SAFe 5 Practitioner
Scaled Agile, Inc.
UX METHODS
Customer Discovery
Product Validation
Heuristic Evaluations
User Interviews
Persona Research
Storyboarding & Flows
Content Strategy
Information Architecture
UI & Interaction Design
Prototyping
Usability Testing
PRODUCT
LEAN & Design Thinking
Process Development
Mission & Vision Definition
Data Analysis
Business/Customer Synthesis
Goal Setting
Timeline & Resource Planning
Risk Mitigation
Backlog Creation/Management
UX+Engineering+QA Leadership
DESIGN
Figma
Sketch
Adobe Creative Cloud
Miro
Jira
Confluence
ANALOG
Pen & Paper / Sharpies
Sticky-notes on Whiteboards
Conversations & Eye Contact
EDUCATION
MPS – Technology Entrepreneurship
University of Maryland | August 2016 – December 2017
MTE Entrepreneur of the Year | Awarded April 2018
BFA – Graphic Design
Salisbury University | August 2005 – May 2009
Outstanding Student Leadership Award | Awarded May 2008
EXPERIENCE
Focused Support – Senior Product Designer
Baltimore, MD | Nov 2018 – Nov 2022 (Contractor) Jun 2023 – Jun 2024 (FTE – TS/SCI)
Lead UX and UI support across multiple Agile teams building COP/TacSit and Inventory Management applications for several Department of Defense clients.
Ventera – Senior UX Designer
Reston, VA (Remote) | Nov 2022 – Jun 2023
Establish, demonstrate and lead projects with a customer first mindset while leveraging data, research, and collaboration to deliver solutions for products & experiences across large scale federal and commercial projects.
Covailnt – Founder
Baltimore, MD | Mar 2018 – Dec 2021
Designed and built Covailnt’s MVP and beta platform from the ground up. Turned a passive waitlist into 420+ active profiles in under 4 months. Responsible for business planning, product development, market strategy, community growth, freelance resource management, and fundraising.
T. Rowe Price – User Experience Designer
Owings Mills, MD | Sept 2014 – Mar 2018
Defined a customer discovery and UX process baseline while re-architecting critical web & digital product experiences for individual investors, advisors and retirement plan participants. Minimized product/ business risk while leading working teams & internal stakeholders to embrace user-centric and Agile best practices.
MICROS eCommerce (Oracle) – Web Designer
Chevy Chase, MD | Jul 2013 – Sept 2014
Designed experiences for clients in the hospitality industry, including websites, booking engines, and online ordering flows.
WESTAT – Graphics Coordinator
Rockville, MD | Feb 2013 – Jul 2013
Managed the design and print production of collateral supporting several large federal agencies.
Graphic Relief, Inc. – Graphic Designer
Hanover, MD | May 2008 – Feb 2013
Designed and produced in-store promotional materials and print advertisements for the Food and Beverage industry.