Eighteen years. Each jump forced me to learn a new domain fast enough to lead design in it.

My best work is usually not the next screen. It is making the real problem visible enough that a team can stop debating and build.

Domains

Drones · Banking · Games · Edtech

Yaniv Sela UX Team Lead · Playtika Lecturer in UX at HIT & Reichman University

A deliberate jump.

Before games: drones over refineries, a bank portal for 10,000+ employees, an edtech studio with 100+ clients. Every few years I challenge myself with a new sector and choose to be the least experienced person in the room.

01 A designer’s journey

I started by building the UI and interactions myself: HTML, CSS, and ActionScript in Flash. Being close to the build is still how I grow. I learn a skill by doing the work, then I can lead it.

Bank Hapoalim

Before anyone touched the portal, I led the research: 13 interviews, a 752-person survey, and card sorting. Support tickets dropped 34%.

02 Then I started leading

Airobotics · 2016

I led product design for one of the first modular drone operations: live missions, a video library, and data collection.

Playscape

I managed five designers and built the design function while the same team was delivering work for 100+ clients.

After Playscape I went freelance.

Copilot.cx

I mapped a Figma library to Ant Design, mentored two juniors, and stepped back once the practice ran.

Augury

I turned a data-retrieval brief into two modes: investigation and scanning.

Telefire

An industrial fire-safety platform. The screens are a detector report and a day and night schedule.

Percepto

An FAA rule was about to block the US business. I built one flow that shipped and cleared it.

1v1.LOL

The game had millions of players and no business model. I led UX for the core features, including Champions, and introduced monetization.

03 Now I lead the system

Bingo Blitz

Today I lead six designers. I understand the need, frame it, try the fix on my own work, then turn it into a standard the team uses.

I still implement. The tools changed: Cursor, Claude, Figma into code. Same instinct as HTML, CSS, and ActionScript. Get close to the build so I can lead it.

The team rebuilt the design system in Figma, then in code on GitHub, so developers and product partners build from it too, not only UX.

I used to measure my contribution by what I shipped. Now I measure it by what keeps running without me.

Let's Talk

yanisela@gmail.com