Product Design Lead · 15 years · since 2008
DMYTRO · NIKOLAIENKO
000 / 100
Product Design Lead
Fintech · Crypto · Web3
Bulgaria · Remote · EU/US
Open to projects · on request

DMYTRO NIKOLAIENKO. I build products that move money.

15 years experience 7+ banks shipped 300+ projects shipped 4 banking awards
SCROLL · OR DON'T
Currency.comRaiffeisenForte BankSpace BankPathCryptoPockidMastercardVisa ConsultingConcordXGO Currency.comRaiffeisenForte BankSpace BankPathCryptoPockidMastercardVisa ConsultingConcordXGO
Dmytro Nikolaienko, Product Design Lead
Available · on request
Behind the screens

Dmytro
Nikolaienko.

Based in Bulgaria. Started designing in 2008, broke into fintech in 2015 and never looked back. The way I work is closer to product engineering than to "graphic design" — I draw, but I also script, audit, build design systems, and ship plugins to make the team around me move faster.

When I'm not architecting flows for banks I run UX Hero — a Ukrainian-language community for advanced product designers, two flagship courses, and a YouTube channel where I dissect real fintech files in public.

Based inBulgaria · remote
Years in product15+ · since 2008
SpecialtyFintech · Crypto · DeFi
LanguagesEN · UA · RU
Get in touch Download résumé · PDF
001 / About

Designer. Architect.
Operator.

Fifteen years inside fintech and crypto. A decade leading product design for banks and exchanges that move real money — Currency.com, Raiffeisen, Forte (Kazakhstan), Space Bank, PathCrypto, Pockid. I don't draw screens. I architect the system that lets a 50-person product team ship a regulated banking app without breaking the design language.

0
Years in product
since 2008
0
Banks shipped
incl. Neo Banks
0
Projects shipped
since 2008
0
Banking awards
for clients
002 / Process

How I actually
work.

01

Map

Customer journey end-to-end — every step, every dead end, every regulatory edge case. Most fintech teams skip this and burn three months on screens compliance kills in week three.

Days 1–2
02

Architect

Token system (W3C DTCG), component contracts, Figma Variables wired to Code Connect. The system the next designer can extend without rewriting it.

Days 3–4
03

Build

Ship the highest-leverage flow first. AI design ops scripts kill the rest of the boilerplate. Engineers get specs they can copy-paste into code, not interpret.

Days 5–6
04

Hand-off

Annotated specs, recorded walk-through, working prototype. Your team moves on. I stay available for a 30-day window in case anything cracks.

Day 7+
003 / Selected work

Six projects.
Same obsession.

004 / Stack & expertise

Tools, not
Religion.

Domains

Fintech Crypto / DeFi Web3 wallets Banking apps B2B treasury Back-office & ops Real-estate analytics Customer-success SaaS

Craft

Product strategy Design systems Architecture sprints Figma · Variables · Code Connect Framer Webflow UX research & testing Eye-tracking studies Tokenisation (W3C DTCG) AI design ops
005 / Operating principles

How I actually
work.

Product Architecture before pixels. Mood boards before user flows is how teams ship Dribbble UI and miss release dates. I start with the journey — every step, every dead end, every regulatory edge case — then translate it into a system the engineers can build and the next designer can extend. Most fintech teams burn months designing screens that compliance kills in week three. I prevent that conversation.

006 / Voices

What people
actually say.

"He doesn't draw screens — he architects the system. We shipped a regulated banking app on time because compliance, engineering and design were aligned by week one."
Product Director Forte Bank · Kazakhstan
"Dmytro is the rare designer who reads the contract before the brief. Every flow he ships has thought through three failure modes you'd never notice until launch week."
CTO PathCrypto · Chicago
"Eye-tracking surfaced friction points we'd been arguing about for months. Two weeks later we had a redesign nobody could talk down — because the data did."
UX Lead Raiffeisen · CEE

Verbatim from review calls and post-engagement notes. Names redacted on request — happy to put you in touch with references on a call.

007 / Recognition

Awards & signals.

2022
4× Banking Awards · Forte client
Lead Designer · Forte.kz
2024
PathCrypto · 0→1 launch in U.S. wealth management
Senior PD · led 2 UI designers
2020
Raiffeisen · eye-tracking-driven UX optimisation
Senior PD · CEE · remote
Ongoing
Speaker · mentor · author of 2 design courses
UX Hero community · 14k+ followers on LinkedIn
008 / Press & presence

In public.

YT · Channel
Weekly

UX Hero — live audits, plugin builds, AI design ops

Weekly long-form. I dissect real fintech files in front of a camera and ship plugins live.

YouTube ↗
TG · Community
🇺🇦 UA

UX Hero · Ukrainian-language community for senior PD

Behind-the-scenes notes, scripts I never publish, paid-cohort drops first.

Telegram ↗
LinkedIn
14k+ followers

Long-form thinking on product architecture & AI design ops

Posts targeted at fintech founders and CTOs. Provocations, audits, methodology.

LinkedIn ↗
Course
Flagship

Design System + AI · 7-day cohort + lifetime self-paced

Token architecture, Figma Variables ↔ Code Connect, AI design ops scripts. Real fintech case studies.

Curriculum ↗
Course
Mobile

Mobile Design — fintech & banking, advanced

Wireframing, interactions, hi-fi for mobile-first banking products. Built around real cases.

Curriculum ↗
Plugin
Free

Code Runner — Figma plugin for shipping design ops at speed

Live Figma-API REPL with DS helpers. Free on Figma Community.

Figma Community ↗
009 / Beyond product

I teach what
I ship.

Founder · UX Hero

Mentoring senior designers into product architects.

UX Hero is the community and educational arm I run alongside client work. Two flagship courses (Design System + AI and Mobile Design), live audits, and a Telegram community focused on advanced fintech / crypto design.

02Flagship courses
14k+LinkedIn followers
YTUX Hero channel
uxhero.design →

Channels

Where I publish in public.

Long-form thinking on product architecture, AI design ops, design systems for fintech. Live audits, plugin builds, and behind-the-scenes of the courses.

YouTube · UX Hero Telegram · @ux_hero LinkedIn · 14k Telegram personal · @theuxhero
LinkedIn →   Telegram →
Hiring · consulting · sprints

Let's
build
something
worth ↘

Email · dmitry.nikolaienko1@gmail.com Telegram → @theuxhero LinkedIn DM
Email
dmitry.nikolaienko1@gmail.com
Phone

+380 93 373 8888

Based in

Bulgaria · remote

Engagement

On request · let's talk