My co-founder says everything is research. She's right.

HOW I GOT HERE

I started as an architect, moved into user research, and found my way into product design — then into leading the teams that do it. Each shift felt less like a pivot and more like a natural next question. The work kept asking more of me, and I kept saying yes.

The longest chapter so far: six years at Signifyd, where I joined as the company's first product designer and left as Director of Product, Design and Experience — with a 10-person cross-discipline team across the US and UK, three flagship product launches, and a unified design system shared with marketing that changed how the product was sold. Before Signifyd, enterprise design at Adobe and Citrix, including a patent for a conversational UI innovation.

Today I'm CXO and co-founder at Factorial Biomechanics — making biomechanics analysis accessible to a global audience, with 2,600+ users across 108 countries — and co-founder of Factorial Computer Vision. Alongside that, I work with companies to help them deliver better product experiences.

WHERE I STAND

I'm not worried about AI replacing designers. Rather, I’m paying attention to something harder to measure: whether the companies building it have the moral clarity to use it well.

Pope Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published on May 25, 2026, put it plainly — AI is not a morally neutral tool. What matters is not only how it's used, but how it's designed. The Pope’s beautiful framing resonates with me deeply. It's the same question I ask about every product I work on: who does this serve, and at whose expense?

I keep humans in the loop — not as a methodology, but as a conviction.

Design is always a decision about people. AI amplifies that responsibility rather than removing it. The designers and leaders who understand that will build things worth building. The ones who don't will build fast and cause harm slowly.

I'm always learning, always listening. As my co-founder Naimar says: “everything is research!” I’ll approach a new challenge knowing I don’t have all the answers — only that I'll be relentless about finding them. This posture has served me across architecture, research, product design, and co-founding.

CREDENTIALS

13+ years

software development career

M.A.

design management, SCAD

6+ years

people management

M.Arch

architecture, UPR

2 patents

conversational UI, display screen GUI

English + Spanish

native bilingual

Award

design for experience, enterprise 2014

Co-founder

Factorial Biomechanics, Factorial (Computer) Vision

Mariana herself, standing on grass holding a tall horse's lead rope, with trees and a wooden fence in the background.