Thomas Tjaja is an Indonesian senior product designer with a computer science background and more than a decade shaping digital products across health tech, e-commerce, and growth-driven startups. The career began as a software engineer in 2010, shifted toward design in 2012 after a stronger pull toward making technology easy to use, intuitive, and genuinely meaningful.

Joined Bukalapak (a 20M-User E-commerce Platform) in 2016 as part of the early design team and later led major initiatives including a full UI refresh, establishment of the design system, and growth-focused product work across multiple squads.

Later moved to Hanno, a UK-based remote design agency, working with international clients and cross-border teams. This broadened the ability to navigate diverse stakeholders, cultures, and product contexts. Key projects included designing a fleet mobility B2B platform in San Francisco and a diabetic-adherence care product in the UK.

Building on that experience, Thomas joined Illume’s UK-based product team, focusing on mental-health and self-development apps. The work spanned growth design, UX, UI, and brand. A key contribution was Grief Works, a therapeutic app supporting people through loss and one of Illume’s strongest market successes.

Relocating to the Netherlands in 2023 to support my wife’s studies, the move continued with a master’s degree at Hyper Island in 2024, where a focus on leadership, team dynamics, and facilitation broadened the design skillset and strengthened the ability to collaborate effectively in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.

Today, the work brings together deep product-design craft, analytical thinking, and a growth-oriented lens to help teams shape products that deliver real impact. Outside core work, Thomas writes about design and leadership, explores AI’s role in UX, and contributes to the community through talks and workshops.