Nejat Ozalp, Senior Product Designer
About me

Hello there! I’m a product designer based in Amsterdam.

For over a decade, I’ve helped teams turn complex problems into products people rely on, from global B2B platforms to SaaS used around the world. I lead discovery, shape design strategy and use research and data to balance user needs with business goals. My engineering background keeps every design grounded in what can actually be built.

Portrait of Nejat Özalp

Now

Senior product designer at iChoosr for global B2B and B2C platforms. I shape design strategy, lead discovery, facilitate workshops, dive into data, stay hands-on with design and mentor younger designers.

Curious about

How AI, automation, genetic algorithms and self-improving systems can keep making interfaces and user experiences better, learning from how people actually use a product.

My story

I’ve always had one foot in engineering and one in the web. Since high school, I’ve been building websites for local businesses in Flash, Joomla and WordPress, and I kept at it all the way through my mechanical engineering degree.

After university, I worked as a mechanical engineer in production lines and then as a risk engineer specialised in fire prevention, running risk audits on industrial facilities.

The web side never went away. Alongside my engineering job, I taught myself UX design through online courses, books and hands-on projects, and in 2015 I quit to become a freelance designer.

That engineering background still shapes how I work. I break complex problems down into systems and flows, spot risks and edge cases early, and speak the same language as developers. It helps me design products that are easy to use and realistic to build.

Outside work

  • Playing guitar Learning new songs and experimenting with sounds. Music is where I can lose track of time.
  • Doodling Just pen, paper and no brief. It’s how I unwind, and it keeps my creativity alive between projects.
  • Learning about science and nature Fascinated by the universe, the laws of physics, nature and new discoveries
  • Teaching UX/UI As a volunteer at ReDI School of Digital Transformation

My career so far

  1. iChoosr Senior product designer 2023 – now

    Designed a partner platform from zero to one through continuous discovery and testing, and defined how AI fits into our design workflow to ideate and prototype faster. Reduced operational effort and time-on-task, led a new scalable design system to replace the separate styles of 15+ platforms, and mentored designers as they grew in their roles.

  2. Heineken Product designer, Global B2B E-commerce 2022 – 2023

    Improved conversion, order value and load times on B2B platforms used across APAC and Africa, and reduced order cancellations by preventing accidental orders.

  3. Keepnet Labs Lead UX-UI designer 2018 – 2022

    Led design for a cybersecurity SaaS as it grew from MVP to a global company. Built and lead the design team, and shaped several products, some of them with pending patents.

  4. Freelance UX-UI and web designer 2016 – 2022

    A wide range of projects, from a quick-commerce grocery delivery app designed from scratch to corporate websites, plus UX and market research for startups.

Skills

  • Design Strategy
  • Product Discovery
  • Design Systems
  • Usability Testing
  • Mentoring
  • User-centric Design
  • Analytics & Insights
  • Behaviour Design
  • Wireframing & Prototyping
  • Visual Design
  • Agile
  • AI-supported design
  • Front-end development

Training & certification

  • Certificate: Human Computer Interaction Human Computer Interaction Alan Dix · Interaction Design Foundation
  • Certificate: Become a Senior UX Design Strategist Become a Senior UX Design Strategist Mariano Goren · Udemy
  • Certificate: Gamification & Behavioral Design: The Octalysis Framework Gamification & Behavioral Design: The Octalysis Framework Yu-kai Chou · Udemy