Yenny Otero

Design Engineer · London · Fluent: ES, EN, IT, NO · Product · AI

I design products,then I build them.

I combine design, code and behavioural insight to create digital products and services that are useful, inclusive and human. From banks to dance communities, I take ideas from complex systems to real products.

Blue and pink line drawing of the London skyline across the Thames, with St Paul's and a bridge behind, and a woman working at a laptop under a tree in the foreground.
Selected work

Four projects: a dance learning platform I built and run myself, a bank’s app, a hospital pathway that became a national standard, and an award-winning hearing-aid companion.

  1. 01Bachata ConnectFounder and design engineer
  2. 02TSB BankHead of Design, CX and Innovation
  3. 03Oslo University HospitalLead service designer, Designit
  4. 04Amplifon companionLead product designer, SapientRazorfish
Built in code

Opening the bonnet on my recent products: what I built, how, and what it means. My public code is on GitHub, and I’m happy to walk through the rest live.

bachata-connect · what I built

The wristband that identifies you at the event.

I built a bespoke NFC check-in for Bachata Week Cádiz, where 400 dancers from 45+ countries arrive every year. Tapping the wristband opens a live pass that staff can check at a glance, so hundreds of people get in without anyone reviewing a bracelet or a tap.

The pass can’t be copied. Its colour, ring angle, glow and pattern are all calculated from the server clock, so every real pass shows exactly the same frame at the same moment. A screenshot or recording falls out of step within a second.

  • ✓every real pass in sync with the server clock
  • ✓screenshots and recordings fall out of step in a second
  • ✓344 guests checked in over two afternoons
TypeScriptReactNext.jsSupabase + RLSStripe ConnectWeb PushClaude APIPlaywrightVitestPythonFigma

How I work: 2,100 commits since May in small pull requests, CI with typecheck, unit and end-to-end tests, and new features behind flags until they’re ready. The main repository is private while it holds participant data. The design system is public: the code and a live demo. I am happy to walk through the main codebase live.

About
Yenny Otero smiling at her desk, with the London skyline through the window behind her.

I’m a designer who builds. I started as a developer at Opera Software, where I was employee 63 and worked on browsers for the Nintendo Wii and DS. I moved into design, then spent a decade in financial services leading customer experience. AI made shipping fast, so I went back to building.

Bachata Connect, the platform I built and run, is used at live festivals. I work in small pull requests with tests and CI, and the design system is public.

I care most about products where behaviour matters more than features: money, health and community. I have just finished an Executive MBA at Warwick Business School on why people avoid dealing with their money. I speak Spanish, English, Italian and Norwegian.

I’m looking for a small, ambitious team that wants someone who can design the thing and ship it.

  • 2023 – nowNeon Lighthouse, co-founder and design engineer. AI product studio.
  • 2025 – nowBachata Connect, founder and design engineer. The platform for Bachata Week Cádiz, which I founded in 2014.
  • 2023 – 2026Vanquis Bank, Head of Customer Experience, then Senior Manager, Customer Experience.
  • 2018 – 2023TSB Bank, Head of Design, Customer Experience and Innovation.
  • 2017 – 2018SapientRazorfish, Lead Product Designer. Amplifon companion app.
  • 2013 – 2017Designit, Oslo. Lead product and service designer, four direct reports.
  • 2002 – 2013Opera Software, Oslo, Tokyo and Beijing. Developer, then interaction and UX designer.

Keynote at CX Circle by Contentsquare, About banks and other dinosaurs: watch the talk → read the article →

Contact

Looking for someone who can design it and ship it?