Hello! ⎯ ¡Hola! ⎯ ¡Ma Cualli Tonalli!
I am Carlos León,
A product designer lead at Broadcom VCF that acquired VMware, I’ve been at VMware for 7 years and have been defining several VMware products, services and initiatives. (Led VMware Source, Partner Connect, Enterprise Search, Take 1, Fund Management, CXPX Superhighways, and collaborated on Cloud U, CPQ, My VMware, VMware Explore & others and several IT for good initiatives with over 550 hours on VMware Foundation).
I strive to find a balance between business requirements, UX research, product design, dev and working closely with cross-functional BU teams to achieve meaningful experiences, systems and strategies to improve the user’s lives.
Prior VMware I have worked on Samsung Research America, IBM, Honda, Citi, Walmart labs, several medical companies as well as various design consultancies.
On my academic background I have a BA @ UNAM on industrial design with merits, MA @ UNAM on Human Factors & Ergonomics, UXMC User Experience Master Certification from NN/g Norman Nielsen Group, at the moment pursuing my 3rd Harvard Specialization already Strategy & Business and have won several prizes like the Prize Braun, Red Dot Design Award, NNGroup Intranet Design award, IDEA, iF design and took several pedagogical courses while I was lecturing at the university for my students at ITESM.
For twenty years, I’ve been quietly revolutionizing how people interact with technology from life saving medical devices to designing banking Citi-Banorte, Walmart e-commerce, Samsung’s Frame TV, to the cloud infrastructure tools I now design at VMware/Broadcom. I try to make complex systems feel surprisingly human.
I’m equally comfortable defining design strategy, crafting designs deliverables, digging into usability metrics with engineers and explaining design ROI to executives, because lasting impact requires speaking everyone’s language.
El camino hasta ahora - The Journey so far
My career has been about solving real problems for real people. At VMware, I took their Partner Connect portal from a 1-star to 5-star experience not by adding features, but by removing frustrations proving that in enterprise software, clarity equals kindness. The same principle guided our NN/g award-winning intranet redesign that helped employees complete tasks 55% faster during the pandemic’s remote work chaos.
Earlier at Samsung, I learned how technology disappears when done right we spent months how people experience art gallery paintings before designing the Frame TV’s art mode. At Walmart México, I helped build their first grocery e-commerce platform that achieved 90% urban coverage by respecting how Mexican families actually shop.
Como trabajo - How I Work
Great design happens at intersections:
🔹 Where user behavior meets business strategy (my Harvard training & strategy books helps here)
🔹 Where engineering constraints spark creative solutions (honed designing NIST, WCAG, FedRAMP, ISO, FDA-regulated medical equipment)
🔹 Where global scale accommodates local quirks (like adapting cloud tools for regional IT teams)
Me apasiona - Why This Work Still Excites Me
After two decades, I still get energized by:
• That magic moment when usability testing reveals an unexpected insight
• The creative alchemy of turning technical constraints into elegant solutions
• Watching a junior designer I mentored present their first major project or solution
Fuera de la pantalla - Beyond the screens
When I’m not wrestling with Figma or user flows:
🏡 You’ll find me in my historic Vallejo home NHRP with 8 rescue dogs (the ultimate usability testers—doing repairs where work is needed)
📚 Buried in sci-fi that imagines better tech futures
🌿 Exploring authentic small towns, experiences and things that nurture the soul
I recharge through chess ♟️, swimming 🏊🏼♂️, running 🏃🏼♂️, tennis 🎾 (the perfect analog counterbalance to pixels), and attempting to improve my 7th language.
Construyendo con significado - Love building something meaningful
If you’re working on:
☁️ Enterprise tools that don’t have to feel clunky
🤖 AI implementations that enhance rather than confuse
🌎 Systems that need to work globally while respecting local contexts
⚡️ Research methodologies or innovation projects
Mas allá del diseño - Beyond Design
My passion for improving lives extends beyond products:
🐕 I've rescue / foster dogs with Amigos de los Perros for 10 years
📚 Volunteered 550+ hours with VMware Foundation / Bright funds focusing on tech education for underserved communities
👩🏽💻 Mentored women in tech through Chicana Latina Foundation and Women Who Code
🏥 Applied my medical design experience to help nonprofits develop low-cost healthcare solutions
...I’d love to connect, because at the end of the day,
technology should serve people not the other way around.
Tlazohcamati miyac, Chikawatika
Gracias, que la fuerza te acompañe.
Thank you, may the force be with you.
