Backstage (Web)

Role/Overview
I've been the Director of Product Design at Backstage since January 2020 after spending 7 years as Lead Product Designer. These days I spend most of my time doing user and market research, helping to develop a product vision and roadmap, reviewing designs created by my team, and ensuring every product or feature we launch is of high quality and provides real value to our users and the business.
Product
Backstage is the go-to platform for hundreds of thousands of established and aspiring actors, models, voiceover artists, content creators, and other performers to find work and grow their careers. It's also where thousands of directors, producers, and other creators come to find and hire that talent for their projects, such as films, TV shows, theater productions, commercials, social media ads, etc. My work consists of dozens of products launched over the past 12 years that have helped transform Backstage from a simple online trade publication to the preeminent casting platform in the industry, growing the user base 5x and company valuation 40x.
Cover photo for Backstage web work
Users
As mentioned above, we have two primary user groups, who we generally refer to as "talent" and "employers". We've also recently launched tools for talent agents, the third user group. At the end of the day, what all these users want is one thing: success. That means talent getting hired, employers casting their project so they can start filming or production, and everyone growing their careers and hopefully making some money. To get there can be a long process of job applications, communication,  profile optimization, applicant review, interviews, auditions, and negotiations. Our users rely on the features and tools we've built to make this process easier, more seamless, and solve problems that no other casting platform has.
Various screenshots from the Backstage web platform