Hi, I'm Sara Telfer.

I'm a product designer with 10+ years of experience, and I drive strategic outcomes. I own end-to-end design and bring deep experience in product strategy, product management and research.

I thrive in the messy space where ambiguous business needs meet complex problem spaces, and I have a track record of turning that ambiguity into products that exceed our goals. I've launched multiple 0-1 products and designed trusted experiences powered by GenAI and ML.

Showcased Projects

AI Agent for Invoice Submissions

Design Lead, Tesorio

0→1 Product GenAI Design for Trust Automation Workflows

Manual Accounts Receivable work is time-consuming and error-prone. I designed a unified dashboard, agent manager, and automation workflows powered by GenAI to streamline the process and reduce manual effort.

Outcome

Successfully launched beta with 11 customers (exceeding goal of 3) and achieved 90% fully automated rate.

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AI Agent for Invoice Submissions Dashboard

Review Submission & Global Design Pattern

Design Lead, Tesorio

Systems Thinking Design Library Cross-Team Collaboration

While working on the AI Agent for Invoice Submissions project, I needed to design a workflow for users to review submissions for approval and to resolve issues. Our platform lacked an efficient way to handle action workflows in context. Rather than solving for this single use-case, I saw an opportunity to establish a scalable pattern. As I approached the needs for this particular project, I collaborated across teams to design a global component that would serve diverse needs across the platform.

Outcome

Immediately after release, our company's other product team successfully adopted this new global pattern for their complex workflow.

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Review Submissions & Global Design Pattern

Profile Page Evolution

Design Lead, Xinova

Member Networks User Profile Improved Experience

I redesigned Xinova's member profile system to balance competing needs: creating compelling "storefronts" for innovators while capturing the structured expertise data our matching algorithms required to connect the right expert with the right opportunity.

Outcome

Achieved 2-3x increases in critical profile completion rates (patents, education, publications, experience) while 50% of members defined interest areas for matching. This data foundation enabled Xinova to algorithmically connect innovators with relevant opportunities.

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Xinova User Profile Page

Call Center Tools

Design Lead, WDS

Enterprise Tools IA Visual Redesign Improved Experience

Redesigned enterprise call center support tools through embedded user research, solving critical information architecture and workflow problems that hindered agent efficiency during live customer calls.

Outcome

Improved call handling metrics, reduced operational costs, and established WDS's first modern design system—increasing both internal efficiency and external sales.

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Call center tooling redesign

Simplifying Complexity — Adding Future Invoices to the Forecast

Design Lead, Tesorio

FinTech Simplifying Complexity

Taking a complex need and creating a simplified experience within Tesorio's Accounts Receivable Forecast product. I designed functionality to supplement the forecast — which had been limited to invoices already billed and within Tesorio — with manually entered projections of invoices they expected to bill in the future.

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Sorting through the complexity of adding future invoices to the forecast