Paula Alonso Ishihara

Senior Product / UX Designer with 10+ years of experience designing and shipping digital products across fintech, SaaS, and consumer platforms. Extensive experience working with Europe-based teams and startups. Strong focus on problem framing, end-to-end ownership, and pragmatic product decision-making.

Senior Product Designer at ChitChat (2024-06 – 2026-03)

Designed and shipped end-to-end product experiences across mobile and brand touchpoints. Worked closely with Product and Engineering on core app flows, while also shaping visual identity and physical artifacts to ensure a cohesive product experience.

• Designed and shipped end-to-end product experiences across mobile (Android & iOS on a shared codebase) and brand touchpoints. Worked closely with Product and Engineering on core app flows, while also shaping visual identity and physical artifacts to ensure a cohesive product experience.
• Contributed to product discovery, iteration and delivery in a high-ambiguity environment, as the team assessed product–market fit and made the decision to sunset the product.

Senior UX Designer at Saber.tech (Lottoland) (2022-02 – 2024-12)

Designed native mobile experiences for Lottoland on iOS and Android, focusing on transactional flows, onboarding, and retention. Owned end-to-end UX for key mobile features, balancing user needs, regulatory requirements, and business goals.

• Designed native mobile experiences for Lottoland on iOS and Android, focusing on transactional flows, onboarding, and retention.
• Owned end-to-end UX for key mobile features, balancing user needs, regulatory requirements, and business goals.
• Collaborated closely with PMs, engineers, and stakeholders to improve usability and consistency across platforms.

Lead Content Designer at Monks (2020-11 – 2022-02)

Lead Content Designer within the Growth Enablement & Training team, responsible for information architecture, content design, and quality of a global internal platform used by growth and sales teams. Led and managed a team of designers, providing direction, reviews, and design standards.

• Lead Content Designer within the Growth Enablement & Training team, responsible for information architecture, content design, and quality of a global internal platform used by growth and sales teams.
• Led and managed a team of designers, providing direction, reviews, and design standards.
• Designed scalable content systems and go-to-market materials used by growth and sales teams worldwide, ensuring clarity, usability, and brand alignment.

UX Designer at Zazu Africa (2019-05 – 2020-10)

Led the UX design of a digital wallet for users in Zambia, enabling everyday financial transactions and improved money management. Designed end-to-end onboarding flows and user experiences for physical and virtual debit card launches.

• Led the UX design of a digital wallet for users in Zambia, enabling everyday financial transactions and improved money management.
• Designed end-to-end onboarding flows and user experiences for physical and virtual debit card launches.
• Worked closely with founders, product managers, and engineers to translate complex financial processes into intuitive customer-facing flows.
• Established a foundational design system and supported product marketing through digital and physical assets.

UX Designer at Spark Digital (Intive) (2018-07 – 2019-07)

Designed mobile-first onboarding experiences for Purdue Global online college and optimized in-app experiences for The Wall Street Journal.

• Designed mobile-first onboarding experiences for Purdue Global online college, focusing on program selection and enrollment flows.
• Created interactive prototypes and optimized in-app subscription flows and mobile advertising experiences for The Wall Street Journal.
• Collaborated with product owners and designers to deliver production-ready solutions.

UX Designer at Making Sense (2016-06 – 2018-07)

Led end-to-end UX design for the modernization of a dairy management platform from desktop to cloud-based web and mobile solutions.

• Led end-to-end UX design for the modernization of a dairy management platform from desktop to cloud-based web and mobile solutions.
• Conducted discovery, stakeholder interviews, user research, and information architecture redesign.
• Contributed to measurable improvements in usability and productivity.

UX Designer at POSSIBLE (Wunderman Thompson) (2015-08 – 2016-06)

Worked with enterprise clients including Siemens and Deutsche Bank on information architecture, interaction design, and design systems.

• Worked with enterprise clients including Siemens and Deutsche Bank on information architecture, interaction design, and design systems.
• Produced wireframes, user flows, and conceptual designs for web and mobile products and pitch proposals.

Associate Degree in Accessibility & Usability – Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN)

BA in Graphic Design – ISEC