Jon Villalobos

UX Leader & Strategist

St. Thomas, ON

My Leadership & Vision

My philosophy centers on the belief that UX is a critical business lever, not just a service function. I manage teams to focus on measurable outcomes—like revenue growth, reduced complaints, and increased retention—by embedding design thinking deeply into product strategy. I specialize in shifting conversations from feature requests to solving high-impact user problems.

Leadership Pillars

  • Building Scalable Processes I establish clear, lightweight design operations (DesignOps) that accelerate workflow, improve collaboration with engineering, and ensure consistency across platforms. My goal is to maximize design output without sacrificing quality.
  • Mentorship & Team Growth I focus on developing resilient, business-minded designers. I mentor my team to not only be exceptional craftspeople but also powerful advocates who can articulate design decisions in the language of business value.
  • Cross-Functional Impact I translate complex business goals into clear, actionable design roadmaps, acting as the key bridge between Product, Engineering, and Sales to ensure user-centricity drives success across the organization.

Across the projects shown, I’ve demonstrated how UX can drive revenue, build organizational trust, and shape product innovation.

Let's Connect

I'm excited about new opportunities. The best way to reach me is directly through my professional network.

Case Studies

Case Study 1

GM EV Widget — Driving Revenue Through UX

Headline Outcome: Generated $10M in new recurring revenue and secured ongoing enterprise engagement with GM.

Context & Challenge

GM needed to accelerate EV adoption and reduce buyer hesitation. They required a scalable solution to educate customers directly on vehicle detail pages (VDPs).

Role & Scope

UX Manager

Led design strategy, facilitated workshops, and coordinated a cross‑functional team (design, engineering, sales).

Strategic Actions & Leadership

  • Scoped & Led Discovery: Facilitated workshops with Product and Sales to define the MVP feature set and launch strategy.
  • Scaled Existing IP: Directed the adaptation of existing resources into a high-impact, contextual widget for use across multiple VDPs.
  • Cross-Functional Delivery: Managed the design workflow and collaboration with a 5-person engineering team to ensure high-quality delivery within 9 months.

Outcomes & Metrics

  • $10M in new recurring revenue.
  • Widget deployed across all GM EV VDPs.
  • Secured ongoing paid updates and improvements.
Case Study 2

Service Booking Offer CTA Optimization — Turning a Skeptic Into an Advocate

Headline Outcome: +30% CTA engagement, +26% repeat users, −18% complaints.

Context & Challenge

A product owner’s primary CTA had dropped 20% in engagement. He was skeptical that UX could solve the problem.

Role & Scope

UX Manager

Led user research, design improvements, and stakeholder alignment.

Strategic Actions & Leadership

  • Empirical Research: Led targeted usability tests to diagnose the root cause of user confusion and drop-off, shifting the focus from visual design to process clarity.
  • Quick Wins & Long-Term Strategy: Delivered immediate visual fixes while simultaneously advocating for necessary, high-impact backend vendor integration changes.
  • UX Advocacy: Mentored the skeptical Product Owner on outcome-driven design, transforming them into a strong internal UX champion.

Outcomes & Metrics

  • +30% CTA engagement
  • +26% repeat users
  • −18% complaints
  • Product owner became a UX advocate, referring other teams.
Case Study 3

AI‑Enabled Pricing Insights — From Hype to Value

Headline Outcome: Reframed “AI chat” into embedded insights; designs reduced sales resistance and generated strong prospect interest.

Context & Challenge

A product owner wanted to add “AI chat” to match competitors. The risk: building a gimmick that wouldn’t serve users or fit real workflows.

Role & Scope

UX Manager

Partnered with product owner and data division to design AI-driven insights that fit real workflows.

Strategic Actions & Leadership

  • Strategic Reframe: Identified the core user need (pricing efficiency, not conversation) and successfully steered the product vision away from an "AI gimmick" towards embedded intelligence.
  • Cross-Discipline Partnership: Created a new collaboration model with the Data Science division to translate complex algorithms into usable interface components (anomaly detection, recommendation systems).
  • Visionary Prototyping: Delivered a high-fidelity concept prototype that directly addressed sales team concerns, securing buy-in for a scalable, impactful AI feature.

Outcomes & Metrics

  • Concept designs generated strong sales interest.
  • Reduced resistance in competitive deals.
  • Product owner shifted from “AI chat” to championing embedded insights.