Clara Magalhães

Senior UX & Product Design Leader | Strategy Development | Cross-functional Collaboration | Creative Innovation

About me

I’m a multidisciplinary UX and product design leader passionate about bridging technology, business, and human-centered design. My journey started at age 21, co-founding a tech startup in Brazil, leading teams, defining strategy, and delivering products through user-focused innovation.

Today, I lead UX at Collegial in Sweden, shaping digital learning experiences that directly influence business outcomes. My experience spans everything from facilitating 100+ ideation workshops and pioneering award-winning social tech initiatives, to speaking at global platforms like TEDx and Harvard & MIT Brazil Conference.

What sets me apart? I think strategically, act collaboratively, and move fast when needed. I blend big-picture thinking with meticulous execution.

Experience

Collegial

Stockholm, Sweden • Jan 2022 — Today

Collegial is a SAAS Ed-tech company that designs, builds and delivers learning programs and initiatives that are business-driven and action-oriented, in unique cross-company settings.

UX Lead

March 2024 — Today

UX, Strategy & Leadership

Partner closely with C-level executives, product manager, and tech lead to define product vision and drive business growth.
Facilitate strategic sessions and workshops to align leadership goals, user needs, and technical execution.

UX Designer

January 2022 — Today

Product Discovery & User-Centered Design

Expanded customer insights beyond initial limited user base by collaborating closely with the commercial team, significantly enhancing product-market fit.
Established structured processes for product discovery and documentation using Notion, ensuring transparency and collaboration across teams.

Design Ecosystem & Management

Manage the full UX lifecycle from discovery through delivery, reducing time-to-market and fostering rapid, iterative innovation.
Oversee and coordinate all aspects of the design ecosystem, including UX research, design systems, UX writing, design delivery, and workshop facilitation.
Lead UX Writing team of three skilled writers, bridging design and communication, ensuring concise, actionable, and engaging interface copy aligned with user needs and brand voice.
Drive user research initiatives, developing data-driven personas, user journeys, and detailed acceptance criteria, significantly improving usability and product adoption.
Champion a robust, atomic-based design system (235+ components, 180+ styles) implemented across 20+ major product features, boosting consistency, accessibility, and development efficiency.
Adopted analytics tools (Countly, Metabase) into the design process to effectively track and utilize product metrics, continually refining the user experience.

Business Impact & Continuous Innovation

Successfully launched major features through extensive cross-departmental collaboration with commercial, learning and tech teams, substantially improving user satisfaction and engagement.
Implemented a rolling monthly internal challenge structure to enhance product features, gather feedback, and foster a culture of continuous learning and collaboration.
Structured systematic feedback and evaluation processes, significantly enhancing user experience and feature utilization.

Be.Labs

João Pessoa, Brazil • Apr 2018 — Sep 2021

Be.Labs is a pioneering social-tech startup empowering women entrepreneurs through innovative pre-acceleration programs, social impact projects, and gender-focused technology solutions.

Co-Founder & Design Lead

Innovation for Women Entrepreneurs

Co-founded and scaled Be.Labs, creating acceleration tools and techniques that reached over 1,500 individuals.
Mentored 500+ women entrepreneurs, resulting in a 40% improvement in their communication, presentation, business case development, narrative creation, and opportunity identification skills.
Designed end-to-end employee experiences, including onboarding and performance management, resulting in the creation of 15 user manuals and 10 team collaboration toolkits.

Award-Winning Pre-Acceleration Methodology

Led the creation and rollout of a women-focused pre-acceleration methodology, blending Swedish entrepreneurial principles with local Brazilian insights.
Successfully transitioned the program to a fully digital model during the pandemic, achieving a 200% annual profit increase and impacting over 800 women entrepreneurs. 77% of participants pivoted their businesses, with 99% recommending the program. Recognized with Gold (2021) and Bronze (2019) WEPs Brazil awards from UN Women.

UX-Driven Social Impact Innovation

Designed and launched an AI-driven VR solution aimed at combating domestic violence, receiving international acclaim through the IEEE Entrepreneurship Stars Award (2020).

Public Speaking & Thought Leadership

Acted as the main spokesperson for Be.Labs, building an engaged community of over 10,000 followers through impactful social media strategies.
Delivered keynotes and presentations at prestigious global forums, including TEDx (Brazil), Harvard & MIT Brazil Conference (USA), and The Economy of Francesco (Italy), significantly elevating the profile of women-led innovation.

Other projects

Latam Team Leader @ Economy of Francesco

2020

Streamlined the creative thinking process for the Latin America group of Women for Economy.
Successfully presented group findings to Pope Francis in 2020.

Digital Creator @ IEEE WIE

2017 — 2020

Played a crucial role in the Planning Committee for the IEEE WIELeadership Conference.
Boosted event publicity, drawing in 1,500+ annual participants.
Jointly oversaw IEEE WIE ILC social media platforms, driving user engagement.

Ambassador @ Brazil Conference Harvard&MIT

2020

Chosen from 8,000+ candidates for the esteemed Brazil Conference at Harvard & MIT.
Participated in high-level discussions with influential Brazilian leaders.
Multiplied conference knowledge as an Ambassador, facilitating lectures and panel discussions to inspire young Brazilians.

Regional Leader @ IEEE UFCG

2014 — 2018

During my leadership, we won 7+ international and national awards from IEEE.
Increased membership by over 126% through optimized processes.
Launched four affinity groups and a new member onboarding strategy.
Directed social impact projects, benefiting 500+ local community members.
Trained 60+ pre-university educators in STEM applications, increasing student engagement.

Contact

☎️ +46 70 460 08 23

📧 [email protected]

🗺️ Sweden

Education

Behavioural Designer

Hyper Island

Design Futures and Foresight Practitioner

Institute For the Future

Designer of Desirable Futures

Echos Innovation Lab

B.E. Electrical Engineering

Federal University of Campina Grande

Awards & Honors

Gold & Bronze WEPs Brazil, UN Women (2021, 2019)
IEEE Entrepreneurship Stars Award (2020)
Worldwide Under-35 Change-Maker, The Economy of Francesco (2019)
1st Place – Sustainability & Social Responsibility, IEEE Brazil SBC (2017)
Latin America & Brazil Exemplary Student Branch, IEEE Region 9 (2015)

Skills

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