Hi, I’m Helena Seo.

Nice to meet you. I’m a design leader, product strategist, and team operator. My work has always lived at the intersection of people, product, and culture: building teams that can think boldly, move with urgency, and stay deeply connected to the humans they’re designing for.

I believe leadership is less about having all the answers and more about creating the conditions where great people can bloom. That means clear communication, strong principles, room for diverse perspectives, and the psychological safety to be honest, imperfect, and original. The best teams don’t just execute work — they build taste, ownership, courage, trust, and a shared belief.

My own journey — from coming to the U.S. as a first-generation immigrant to leading design through fast company growth — shaped me into a practical, empathetic, and action-oriented leader. I care deeply about craft, but I care just as much about whether the work solves a real customer problem and helps the business move forward.

As emerging technology continues to reshape the design industry, I believe principled critical thinking and design taste matter more than ever. Tools will continue to change — helping designers explore faster, think more broadly, and make with less friction. But the judgment behind the work, the ability to ask the right questions, make thoughtful tradeoffs, uphold quality, and understand what truly matters to people cannot be replaced by a machine. Those human muscles are what separate output from impact.

I’m always excited by the possibility of building things — and people — with intention, care, and optimism.

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Career highlights

VP, Head of Design at DoorDash

Jan 2019—Sep 2025

I built and scaled the Design organization at DoorDash from a team of 9 to 160+ people, spanning all core UX functions — Product Design, Research, Design Systems, Content Design, and Design Operations. The organization supported DoorDash’s three-sided marketplace across Consumer, Merchant, and Dasher experiences, as well as the internal tools that helped power the business.

During my tenure, I introduced and evangelized the concept of the “cupcake product” — a shared framework for balancing craft and velocity that became part of the company-wide product language and was also featured in Fortune. As the team scaled rapidly, I’m especially proud that we maintained a world-class bar for both the products we built and the people we hired.

Director of Consumer Experience Design at Groupon

Dec 2012—Jan 2019

I led a talented multidisciplinary team of 20+ people across Consumer Product Design, Research, and Content Design. Our mission was to create a delightful, seamless end-to-end consumer experience across platforms.

During my tenure, I led the redesign of Groupon’s flagship website, which launched successfully after previous attempts had struggled to land. I’m also proud that the Groupon mobile app ranked among the 25 most-used apps in the U.S. and won first place for the best commerce app in 2015-2016 during my tenure.

Creative Director at Citrix

June 2011—Oct 2012

I returned to my roots in brand design to lead Citrix’s in-house Creative Services team, overseeing the company’s marketing and brand experiences across every major touchpoint. The multidisciplinary team included art directors, senior designers, producers, and project managers.

One of the largest initiatives I art-directed was Citrix Synergy 2012, the company’s flagship annual event at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. The experience brought together thousands of IT professionals, CIOs, and cloud technology leaders, and gave our team the opportunity to translate the Citrix brand into a large-scale, immersive environment.

Lead Designer for Homepage and Merchandising at eBay

Feb 2010—June 2011

I transitioned from running my own design studio to joining an in-house team in tech, where I worked hands-on across several of eBay’s most critical buyer experiences. My scope included the homepage, category landing pages, advertising, merchandising, and global holiday campaigns. I also mentored internal designers and managed contractors and external agency partners.

One of my favorite moments at eBay was receiving a peer award for cross-functional collaboration. It reinforced something I have carried with me throughout my career: the best work often comes from “mind-melding” with people who bring different expertise, perspectives, and ways of thinking, but share the same mission.

Founder & CEO at Helena Seo Design

Jan 2001—Feb 2010

I founded and ran an independent design studio specializing in brand strategy, marketing design, and product design. The studio worked with a diverse range of clients—from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies—across industries including retail, financial services, and technology.

As founder and creative lead, I was responsible for every aspect of the business, from building client relationships, negotiating budgets, and managing schedules to assembling cross-functional teams, partnering with vendors, shaping creative strategy, and overseeing design execution.

The studio’s work was known for a minimalist, contemporary aesthetic balanced by a tactile, human touch. Our projects received numerous design awards and were featured in publications including Print Magazine, HOW Magazine, LogoLounge Volumes II and V, Really Good Packaging Explained, 1000 Graphic Elements, 1000 Retail Graphics, The Best Business Card Design, and many others.

Here is a selection of photographs from some of my favorite projects. I was especially drawn to these projects because they came at the earliest stages of brand building, when there was the greatest opportunity for creative freedom, original thinking, and the chance to shape a brand from the ground up.