Raúl Yslas
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Raúl Yslas

For more than 20 years, I’ve worked with some of the world’s biggest brands on complex creative projects—from conception to solutions that make a difference for their business and users.

Airbnb, American Express, Audi, Burger King, Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, Nike, Paramount, Procter & Gamble, Sanofi, Sony, Starbucks, Uber, United Nations, WWF

01/03

Sanofi

Building complex AI systems for the teams advancing biopharma.

Leading AI implementation and digital transformation across R&D, aligning multidisciplinary teams from product strategy through delivery.

Role
Global UX and GenAI design leadership across enterprise R&D.
02/03

Iterel

Designing the definitive way to build products with AI.

I designed a multi-model harness that brings specialized AI systems into one collaborative product workspace—making complex agentic workflows easier to coordinate, understand, and use.

Role
Product vision, multi-model systems, experience architecture, and hands-on delivery.
03/03

Cogniself

Advancing the frontier of behavioral sciences with AI.

I conceived an AI-enabled platform that turns validated psychological models into understandable, evidence-aware insight—without outsourcing interpretation or judgment to the system.

Role
Product vision, research direction, experience strategy, and AI product development.

A broad practice, focused on moving complex work forward.

Problem framing

I identify gaps, patterns, and opportunities, then use design to help teams focus on the problems worth solving.

Team alignment

I bring experts, product teams, engineers, and stakeholders together around business goals and a clear, shared direction.

Human expertise

I design solutions that build on people’s expertise, extending what they can do while keeping judgment and control in their hands—so they can focus where they make the greatest difference.

Practical delivery

I adapt to the team, constraints, and stage of the work to turn direction into something real, testable, and valuable.

20+ years of compounding experience across disciplines.

Scroll from the work I lead today to the experiences it was built on.

Artificial intelligence · Core practice

Setting AI product direction and designing systems that augment expert judgment—aligning product, design, engineering, and domain teams around useful, responsible adoption.

  • AI product strategy
  • Responsible adoption
  • Cross-functional alignment
Product + design · Core practice

Leading product direction from ambiguous problem to shipped system—connecting user needs, business priorities, and technical realities across the team.

  • Product strategy
  • Experience direction
  • End-to-end delivery
Leadership + collaboration · Core practice

Building and directing multidisciplinary teams, operating models, and decision-making practices that help complex work succeed and scale.

  • Team leadership
  • Talent development
  • Design operations
Independent product practice · Core practice

Advising founders and product teams from product discovery through working proof—staying close to strategy, team alignment, making, and delivery.

  • Product discovery
  • Team alignment
  • Venture building
Teaching + mentoring · Supporting practice

Helping people grow through clear methods, useful critique, psychological safety, and learning through practice.

  • Mentoring
  • Facilitation
  • Critique
Branding + advertising · Supporting practice

Leading strategy into memorable ideas and coherent brand systems through narrative, cultural awareness, and disciplined creative direction.

  • Creative leadership
  • Brand strategy
  • Campaign systems
Music · Foundational practice

Producing and performing internationally taught me to shape attention over time, respond to audiences, collaborate under pressure, and finish the work.

  • Composition
  • Live performance
  • Audience awareness
Photography · Side practice

A side practice that keeps observation, framing, timing, and visual judgment sharp.

  • Observation
  • Visual judgement
  • Storytelling
2022—Present

Sanofi

Global CX / UX Design Lead · GenAI / R&D

Leading experience and GenAI product design across global R&D—setting direction, aligning product, research, engineering, and domain experts, and building the conditions for teams to deliver.

  • Design leadership
  • AI product strategy
  • Cross-functional alignment
  • Design operations
2006—2012 / 2017—Present · Parallel practice

Independent practice

Product and UX design consultant

Leading product direction with founders and teams—turning difficult questions into shared decisions, useful products, and working proof.

  • Product strategy
  • Team alignment
  • Product discovery
  • Working prototypes
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Scroll or drag the disc freely through the years. Use the arrow buttons or, when focused, the up and down arrow keys to jump between career milestones. Scroll outside the disc to continue down the page. The timeline loops from 2026 back to 2000 and forward to 2026 again.
2026
2022—Present

Sanofi

Global CX / UX Design Lead · GenAI / R&D

Leading experience and GenAI product design across global R&D—setting direction, aligning product, research, engineering, and domain experts, and building the conditions for teams to deliver.

  • Design leadership
  • AI product strategy
  • Cross-functional alignment
  • Design operations
2006—2012 / 2017—Present · Parallel practice

Independent practice

Product and UX design consultant

Leading product direction with founders and teams—turning difficult questions into shared decisions, useful products, and working proof.

  • Product strategy
  • Team alignment
  • Product discovery
  • Working prototypes
2018—2020

Miami Ad School

Professor

Taught and mentored emerging creatives through a structured, research-informed practice—building confidence, sharper critique, and stronger decision-making.

  • Mentoring
  • Facilitation
  • Critique
  • Creative methods
2013—2016

Impactadora

Co-founder & Creative Director

Co-founded and led a design and innovation consultancy—setting direction, shaping the team and practice, and helping organisations turn human and business needs into stronger products.

  • Team leadership
  • Product strategy
  • Research direction
  • Business development
2013—2014

Flock Isobar

Creative Art Director

Directed multidisciplinary brand and campaign work—aligning strategy, ideas, and execution for clients including Nike, Coca-Cola, Burger King, and Domino’s.

  • Creative leadership
  • Team direction
  • Brand strategy
  • Campaign systems
2012—2012

McCann

Art Director

Directed integrated campaign execution for global brands including Chevrolet and Coca-Cola across television, print, and outdoor media.

  • Creative direction
  • Cross-channel delivery
  • Brand systems
  • Art direction
2000—2012

Music

Producer & live performer

Produced electronic music for independent labels and performed in more than 20 countries—an early education in audience, cross-cultural communication, creative production, and finishing the work.

  • Music production
  • Live performance
  • Audience experience
  • Creative discipline

The short version.

What do you do, exactly?

I lead product design where intelligence changes how work gets done or decisions get made. I define its role, shape how people interact with it, and turn that direction into something teams can test and build.

Do you lead or make?

Both, for a reason. I set the direction and align the team, then stay close to the critical flows and prototypes. Making is how I expose assumptions early—not an attempt to be every design discipline.

What kind of opportunity are you open to?

Senior product design and design leadership roles, plus selected freelance engagements where the hard part is defining how an intelligent product should work for people.

Raúl Yslas