Open To Work
Celeste Côté
Ottawa,Canada
Summary
Product Manager with 10+ years of experience delivering user-centred digital services, leading cross-functional teams, and managing product lifecycles from discovery through to iteration. Skilled in roadmap development, agile delivery, stakeholder alignment, service design, product design, user research integration. Known for driving meaningful outcomes through alignment across disciplines, systems thinking and collaborative leadership, and driving adoption of enterprise design and content standards across platforms.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Product Design Lead, Employment Insurance
Service Canada
02.2024 - Current
- Oversee all UI and content designers across 12 product teams, ensuring consistency and adherence to standards
- Established a unified Figma-based design system adopted by 6 product teams, improving UI consistency and accelerating delivery
- Co-lead the UI design & Content design craft guilds, strengthening critique practices and cross-team collaboration
- Mentor designers in accessible, bilingual, human-centred design aligned with Government of Canada standards
- Implement and evolve design processes to balance user needs, business needs, and technical constraints
- Collaborate with UX research, POs/PMs and developers to ensure client and employee insights informed product decisions
Product Manager, Extended Canada.ca Design System
Service Canada
07.2022 - 01.2024
- Led the design of new app-focused components aligned with Canada.ca branding and modern interaction patterns, creating a modern, user-centred library for prototypes and usability testing
- Drove the merger of two federal design systems by facilitating cross-team design reviews and alignment activities
- Established a scalable community engagement model to evolve the enterprise design system based on user needs and feedback from adopters
Product Manager, Service Canada Labs
Service Canada
11.2021 - 02.2023
- Rescued a stalled project by securing authority to operate that had been delayed for 8 months—completed in 8 weeks by aligning legal, privacy, and security stakeholders
- Defined the value proposition for Service Canada Labs and operationalised a full product development lifecycle for prototypes featured on the platform
- Managed iterative releases of the Service Canada Labs website, enabling public participation in usability testing and gathering early insights on in-progress digital services
- Led cross-functional teams in agile delivery and ensured alignment with user needs and Service Canada priorities
Senior Web Strategist, Office of the Deputy Minister for the COVID-19 Response
Privy Council Office
11.2017 - 06.2021
- Established a centralised approach to COVID-19 web content across departments, enabling timely and accurate updates during the crisis
- Led the COVID-19 Digital Analytics Working Group, aligning data collection and reporting across government
- Piloted qualitative user feedback collection to shape content strategy during the pandemic—informing high-impact content such as vaccine information
- Increased collaboration between federal, provincial, and territorial partners to deliver information faster during a period of urgent public need
- Introduced real-time communication across government by launching a Slack workspace for GC web/UX practitioners that grew to over 900 members, replacing slow hierarchical communication with a fast, network-based model
- Advocated for data-driven, inclusive communication, promoting features such as live interpretation of Prime Minister press conferences to increase accessibility
Web Team Lead + Product Manager, PM & Visual Communications
Privy Council Office
11.2017 - 05.2020
- Managed the design and daily operations of the Prime Minister’s website
- Led design and launch of the Deputy Prime Minister’s website, ensuring alignment with user-centred and accessibility standards
Senior Communications Specialist
Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC)
02.2017 - 09.2017
- Analyzed audience engagement data to refine content strategy and increase user engagement
Digital Media Communications Officer
Public Service Alliance of Canada
07.2014 - 06.2015
- Curated and sent a weekly newsletter to 66,000 subscribers
- Led website and social content improvements, strengthening brand presence and engagement
- Delivered a full-day social media workshop, receiving highly positive feedback
Web Communications Specialist
uOttawa Office of Campus Sustainability
09.2013 - 02.2014
- Redesigned website navigation and produced wireframes for a new Drupal 7 website.
- Completed a ROT content analysis, reducing pages from 116 to 56 to streamline user experience.
Communications & Marketing Associate
Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-operative
01.2013 - 05.2013
- Rebuilt early-stage non-profit’s online presence, sourced a logo and launched a new Wordpress website.
Education
B.Soc.Sc. - International Studies and Modern Languages
University of Ottawa
01.2008
Skills
- Product & UX Design: Interaction design, prototyping, usability testing, content design, service design
- Leadership: Team leadership, design operations, mentoring, stakeholder management, facilitation
- Systems & Strategy: Design systems, information architecture, content strategy, agile delivery
- Tools: Figma, Miro, Jira, ADO, GitLab, Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics, AEM, Drupal, Wordpress, Trello, Slack, Teams, Zoom
Certification
- Scrum Master Certified — International Scrum Institute
- Usability Testing — Nielsen Norman Group
- Product Owner Bootcamp — Berteig
- Psychology for Digital Behaviour Change — AlterSpark
- Accessibility Standards for Customer Service — C-ODE
- Transitioning to Product Management — LinkedIn
- Creating Psychological Safety for Diverse Teams — LinkedIn
Awards
ADM Innovation Award — Employment Insurance Benefits Estimator (2024), Platinum Award of Communications Excellence — COVID-19 Response (2021), Tyson Murray Kind Spirit Award (2003)
Timeline
Product Design Lead, Employment Insurance
Service Canada
02.2024 - Current
Product Manager, Extended Canada.ca Design System
Service Canada
07.2022 - 01.2024
Product Manager, Service Canada Labs
Service Canada
11.2021 - 02.2023
Senior Web Strategist, Office of the Deputy Minister for the COVID-19 Response
Privy Council Office
11.2017 - 06.2021
Web Team Lead + Product Manager, PM & Visual Communications
Privy Council Office
11.2017 - 05.2020
Senior Communications Specialist
Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC)
02.2017 - 09.2017
Digital Media Communications Officer
Public Service Alliance of Canada
07.2014 - 06.2015
Web Communications Specialist
uOttawa Office of Campus Sustainability
09.2013 - 02.2014
Communications & Marketing Associate
Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-operative
01.2013 - 05.2013
B.Soc.Sc. - International Studies and Modern Languages
University of Ottawa