Brian Saunders

Credo

When you work on a lot of different things with a lot of different people, it sharpens your own ideas about what's really important. I believe that your true values are reflected in the things you actually do every day, so these are habits and beliefs that I've discovered are important to me because I actually do them.

Recognition

• 1997, John L. Sipley Elementary School (Woodridge, IL)

  Best Short Story for The Penguin Who Loved Macaroni and Cheese

  I wrote a short story titled The Penguin Who Loved Macaroni and Cheese, which was selected to be adapted for the stage and performed for the entire school by a touring theater group—an honor which to this day gives me as much pride as any other.

  I do want to note that some liberties were taken in the stage adaption that did not align with my artistic vision.

Experience

• 2022–Present (Remote)

  Principal Product Designer at Paylocity

  At the end of 2022 I became Paylocity's first Principal Product Designer out of over 30 designers org-wide. My responsibilities include: Working on major product and feature initiatives, providing strategic direction, mentoring the team, strengthening our design team through sharing and upskilling, creating team resources, collaborating across, down, and up (executive-level management of expectations, education, and pitching ideas). One of the most important things I do is keep a pulse on our team culture and work to keep spirits high.

• 2021–2022 (Remote)

  Product Design Lead at Paylocity

  Paylocity's design career architecture evolved to include roles above senior designer, and I was made a Product Design Lead. My responsibilities were to lead team critiques, give strategic and creative direction, collaborate across the org, and mentor the team. Our managers at the time were thought of as just “people managers” so the strategic responsibility fell to Product Design Leads.

• 2016–2020 (Remote)

  Senior Product Designer at Paylocity

  The first half of my time at Paylocity shaped me into the effective design leader that I am today. I worked on a lot of projects in complex domains and helped scale Paylocity's Community product from 20k MAU to over 1M MAU during the pandemic.

• 2014–2016 (Chicago, IL)

  Interaction Designer at Vokal

  Vokal is a boutique digital agency in Chicago that specialized in multi-platform design solutions, particularly involving native mobile apps. I got to work on a lot of different projects, but was also at the forefront of the design systems boom because most of my projects involved creating UI systems that could scale to multiple platforms.

• 2011–2014 (Elmhurst, IL)

  User Experience Designer at Maddock Douglas

  I cut my teeth working at an “innovation agency” (oh, 2013). Got to work on fascinating projects with inspiring storytellers. At MD I was able to do a little of everything and find my níche, while learning from some of the best in the business at selling a vision with storytelling.

Education

• Dekalb, IL

  BFA, Visual Communications at Northern Illinois University