Sarah Alpern

Current

Principal Interaction Designer at LinkedIn

Past

Manager, Interaction Design at eBay
Senior Interaction Designer at eBay
Interaction Designer at eBay

Client Account Manager at Shareholder.com
Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley
Producer at Walt Disney Internet Group

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3 more...

Education

Carnegie Mellon University
UCLA
Saint Francis High School

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Recommended

2 people have recommended Sarah

Connections

431 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

My Company

Sarah Alpern’s Summary

Interaction designer and HCI specialist with a proven track record of creating usable and desirable product designs, which meet user needs and business goals.

Experience leading cross functional teams and working closely with business partners to strategize new and innovative concepts from idea generation through launch.

Focus on good design process, new ways of visualizing and presenting information, the intersection of user and business goals, and engaging product design.

Sarah Alpern’s Experience

Principal Interaction Designer

LinkedIn

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

December 2007 — Present (2 years 1 month)

Here's a blog post about my recent work on Search at LinkedIn.
http://blog.linkedin.com/2008/12/02/optimizing-your-linkedin-search-experience/
Manager, Interaction Design

eBay

(Public Company; ebay; Internet industry)

June 2007 — December 2007 (7 months)

Focusing on the design of the next generation Finding platform for eBay’s shopping experience, including search and browsing, home page, merchandising, classification, and landing pages. Responsibilities include direct and indirect people management, business engagement, product strategy, resource planning, team building, creating and designing experiences from concept through site launch, and recruiting new talent.
Senior Interaction Designer

eBay

(Public Company; ebay; Internet industry)

September 2006 — June 2007 (10 months)

Lead the User Experience team for Merchandising.

Worked with a cross functional team to create a strategy for introducing relevant, personalized recommendations to buyers throughout their shopping experience. Conducted research and design explorations including competitive analysis, participatory design, interaction audit, persona mapping, and metrics analysis. Delivered a recommendation framework and comprehensive roadmap.

Designed and launched engaging merchandising placements which remind users of previous activity, showcase good deals, and provide interesting alternatives to navigate the shopping experience.
Interaction Designer

eBay

(Public Company; ebay; Internet industry)

September 2004 — September 2006 (2 years 1 month)

Created user centered designs which met business goals and community needs for the shipping products across eBay.

Collaborated with a cross functional team to identify product goals and conceptualize design solutions to seller and buyer pain points, including specifying a shipping cost, providing combined shipping pricing in advance of purchase, finding items with reasonable, quick shipping options, and international trade.

Presented research and strategy ideas to executives and assisted the team in internal evangelization to increase the visibility of user pain points and design/ technology opportunities to improve the experience.
Client Account Manager

Shareholder.com

(Internet industry)

November 2002 — August 2003 (10 months)

Updated investor relations websites and coordinated webcats, conference calls, press releases, website redesigns, and mail fulfillment for 55 clients, including The Dial Corporation, Hewlet Packard, and Gateway.
Financial Advisor

Morgan Stanley

(Public Company; Financial Services industry)

September 2001 — June 2002 (10 months)

Worked primarily with individual investors to develop comprehensive financial plans based on risk tolerance, asset allocation, and long term investing principles.

Series 7, 66, 31, and Life Insurance licensed.
Producer

Walt Disney Internet Group

(Public Company; Internet industry)

October 1999 — March 2001 (1 year 6 months)

Developed product requirements for the Movies, TV, Celebrities, and Fashion & Style content areas of GO.com, Disney's entertainment-focused portal.

Sarah Alpern’s Education

Carnegie Mellon University

Masters Degree in Human Computer Interaction , HCI , 2003 — 2004

Courses include: HCI Methods, Interaction Design, Communication Design, Prototyping, Physical Computing, Web Design, Educational Technology, Capstone Project
UCLA

BS , Cognitive Science, Specializations in Computing and Business , September 1995 — September 1999
Saint Francis High School

HS , 1991 — 1995