Design leader shaping how people experience AI and complex systems.

Hello! I'm Ayka.

I'm a product leader and creative mentor with 12+ years of experience making complex technology feel human. From conversational AI for robotics to enterprise HR and payroll workflows, I design products that build trust between people and the systems they rely on. I lead cross-functional teams, mentor emerging designers, and prototype in code. Building Swurl, a mentorship platform for creatives.

Currently open to Product Design and UX Design Manager roles at AI and technology companies. Also available for consulting and design facilitation.

How I work

I design at the intersection of AI and human needs — starting with research and ending with polished, shippable products. At Hanson Robotics, I designed conversational interfaces for AI-powered robots where no interaction patterns existed yet, collaborating directly with AI researchers to invent new design conventions.

At Paychex, I redesigned enterprise workflows for thousands of administrators, championed accessibility standards. I prototype in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React — not just to test ideas, but to build shared understanding with engineers. I bring a multilingual perspective (English, Russian, French) and experience leading distributed teams across the US, Europe, and Asia.

Case Studies

Swurl - Building a Mentorship Platform From Zero to Launch

Founded and designed Swurl — a platform connecting senior creatives with emerging talent through authentic mentorship. Led product strategy, user research with 30+ users, branding, and interactive prototyping to validate product-market fit and secure early adopter commitments.

Workshop Facilitation

Redesigning Enterprise Payroll for Thousands of Managers

Led the redesign of a complex time card approval system at Paychex, transforming a confusing legacy workflow into an intuitive interface. Conducted usability testing, presented design rationale to senior stakeholders, and collaborated with engineering to ship improvements that reduced user friction.

Usability testing

Cross-functional Collaboration

Stakeholder Influence

Leading an Enterprise Expense Platform Redesign

Drove the redesign of Paychex's expense management system, simplifying complex financial workflows for administrators handling approvals, policies, and reporting. Led research, rapid prototyping, and cross-functional collaboration with product and engineering to ship a solution that measurably reduced user friction.

Design Strategy

Rapid Prototyping

Facilitating Strategic Roadmapping at DTCC

Co-facilitated a product roadmapping workshop for DTCC's product management team in New York, guiding them through structured exercises to break out of conventional thinking and reimagine their 2026 strategy. Coached teams on translating technical roadmaps into compelling narratives — the kind of storytelling that gets stakeholder buy-in.

What my coworkers say

I've had the privilege of working with Aya for over a year and a half. One of Aya's stand-out qualities is her ability to "think differently". Challenging the status quo with an eye towards improving experience to better meet user needs is a regular activity. I'm so encouraged and thankful to have her on the team to help us challenge our assumptions and re-evaluate the way we envision experiences to better serve customer needs while still meeting the business goals.

Job Daiello

Senior UX Design Manager for Platform Design,
Design Systems, and UX Strategy

Aya is a brilliant designer and creative individual. She has an innate ability to bring people together and motivate teams to serve users in the most innovative ways possible. Aya has a never ending stream of thought-provoking and solution-oriented ideas to benefit users. Collaborating and problem solving with Aya is always fun, energetic and productive; she is a crucial part of our team, solving extremely complex design problems and having knowledge of all aspects of product design and development.

Ann Everett

User Experience Researcher Driving UX strategy with actionable user-centered insights