Blake Engel’s Post

Job update: I’ve joined Pinterest! I’ll be going back to my marketplace roots to lead and grow a new team called Shoppers. It’s a big part of making Pinterest be the visual inspiration platform where people come to search, save, and shop the best ideas in the world for all of life’s moments. The Pinterest team knocked my socks off with their high craft, ambition, and leadership style. I am honored to be working with Mira, Erika, Jasmine, Ophelia, Steven, Jason (again!), Camden (again!!), Matt (again!!!), Lise, Daniel, Xiang and so many more. Pinterest puts so much goodness into the world, through things like Body Type Ranges, trend reports, teen safety, in addition to just being a positive corner of the internet. I can’t wait to be a part of that. If you haven’t caught up with what Pinterest is up to in a while, check out our updates: https://lnkd.in/g5C36pmd I want to add that the job market is rough out there right now. If you’re reading this and you’re in the middle of a job search or considering leaving your role, I’m happy to help with advice or a portfolio dry run. My DMs are open. Onward!

In a sea of posts with news about layoffs and offers of supportive advice, I have a rare happy job update. I’ve joined Dropbox to lead design across a few teams within Core Design! I’ve always respected the design culture and leadership at Dropbox. Having seen so many friends leapfrog in their career while at Dropbox — Chad, Kate, Sam, Sarah , Stanley, Sally, Jenna, Margaux, Chloe, Lindsay, Jian, Adam, Liz, Ivan, and so many more — I knew I wanted a piece of that magic for myself. Second, it was clear to me that design can have outsized impact here. Well-designed collaboration tools are more valuable than ever, and now I can help redefine how people work for the next 10+ years as new technologies shift our culture. Third, Dropbox is a virtual first culture so everybody is working from… wherever! The company has invested in shifting their renowned office culture to permanent working from home. But there’s still plenty of opportunity to come together in person for the things that matter: creativity, bonding, and fast-paced collaboration. This brings me to my next big update. My family and I have moved to Portland, Oregon! After spending 21 years of my life in San Francisco, it was time for a change of environment. Portland will be an ideal place for me and Jess to raise our family, which now includes our 5-year-old girl 👧 and 3-year-old boy 👦. Portland is full of other families, it has all the city amenities we love plus excellent schools and all the nature that we crave. So if you want to visit Portland, hit me up. If you use Dropbox and have ideas, hit me up. And regardless whether you live in San Francisco or anywhere else across the world, I will hit you up — because meeting up IRL is still awesome! If you’re reading this far in this long post, chances are it’s because you are among the very many people who have helped form me as a designer and as a leader. Thank you for the chances you took on me, the lessons you taught me, the feedback you gave me, the risks we took together… so far! Lastly, job searches are tough these days, even when you have the luxury of choice. Count me among the many people who are glad to offer help. Please reach out if you want a pep talk, some actionable advice, or just an ear. Catch you online, in person, or in a shared Dropbox folder! — Blake #newjob #dropbox #design #itjustworks #remotework #virtualfirst

There is only a handful of truly amazing jobs at this very senior leader level. If you are in that echelon, I'd argue that this may be the very best next move for you. Not only because the job cool in the present tense, but it's the best way to keep growing as a leader and practitioner. Come work with me. I'd be glad to answer any questions.

It's Webby time! And the DoorDash app for Dashers is nominated for Best User Experience. If you're the voting type, you should check out our app as well as the competition. They're all awesome, but only one (ours!) lets you earn money, and complete an insanely long list of tasks that require real-world coordination and logistics. Voting ends Thursday, May 6. Go team!

Come design with me on the Dasher design team here at DoorDash! You may know dashers as the people who pick up and drop off your dinner. But did you know those same people use the Dasher app to do grocery shopping, pick up prescriptions, manage their money, and navigate the real world? Come help us create future-forward solutions for fascinating use cases and fascinating people. Here are all the open design roles that work on Dasher products: Product Designer: https://lnkd.in/gZccwUy UX Researcher: https://lnkd.in/gGXF7H6 UX Content Strategist: https://lnkd.in/gKJ43T8 #productdesign #uxdesign #hiringdesigners

This is the most recent installment in a series of design leadership interviews at DoorDash, and my first Medium article! I couldn't think of a better topic than my colleague Cameron Wu. Swoon alert: Cameron is one of the most inspiring design leaders I've worked with. He's principled, creative, business savvy, and beloved by his team. Here's one quote that stood out to me: "I’ve worked with phenomenal designers throughout my career who had a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, most of which came from lesser-known companies. Great work happens everywhere. I think what makes designers successful is developing the right set of traits: having a growth mindset, embracing collaboration, becoming a good storyteller." Oh yeah, and he's hiring! A link to his job posting is at the end of his article. #leadership #design #hiring #productdesign #uxdesign #doordash

Today I'm joining DoorDash as the Head of Dasher Design! During my time at Uber I loved applying the human values of product design to multi-sided marketplaces, and am excited to continue practicing it for the US market leader in local delivery. Plus I'm excited to work again with Jason, Gerardo, Gina, Albert and for the first time with the illustrious Helena Seo, Ashmita Vishwanathan, Jaydev Ajit Kumar, Sam Lind, and countless more. Go for it! (Oh, and we are hiring designers, design technologists, UX researchers, content strategists, product managers/leads, and so much more. I'd love to work with you here!)

Uber Freight is doing some of the most exciting product design work I’ve ever seen in my career. And now we are also doing it in Chicago. Do you know a great product designer who should join our team? https://lnkd.in/gifMABn

Want to meet some cool designers, and some really cool ones from Uber? Look no further than our Open House on February 5, and the star-studded lineup of Racine Davis, Joey Isaacson, Ryan Koziel, Zhen Zeng and more. See you there.