Brad HighbergerCareer history
Brad Highberger, smiling in a dark blazer and black glasses

OPERATIONS · PRODUCT · CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE · PEOPLE LEADERSHIP

Hi, I’m
Brad Highberger.

I turn complex needs into
clear, practical outcomes.

Across 25+ years in wireless telecommunications, I’ve worked in customer operations, technical support, workforce planning, vendor partnerships, product, and digital experience. I’ve led teams for 18 years, and I’m just as comfortable owning the work myself.

Career history A little about me
25+ years in wireless telecommunications
Operations, product
& customer experience
Practical AI
& continuous learning
18 years of leadership experience

THE PERSON BEHIND THE RÉSUMÉ

Curious by nature.
Grounded in experience.

I connect what customers need, what teams can deliver, and what a business is trying to accomplish.

I began in customer service and technical support. Those early conversations still shape how I lead: listen carefully, understand the problem from every angle, and make the next step clearer for the people doing the work and the people depending on it.

These days, I’m exploring AI-assisted coding, local AI, and workflow automation, alongside the everyday design choices that make technology easier to use.

Follow my career
01 / Align

Give the work a clear direction.

Connect priorities to the customer, the team, and the larger goal so people understand what matters and can make good decisions.

02 / Enable

Create the conditions for action.

Remove avoidable friction, invite candid input, and make it safe to surface risks early so teams can solve problems together.

03 / Steward

Build capability that lasts.

Share credit, take responsibility, develop people, and balance immediate needs with the long-term health of the team and business.

EXPERIENCE

A career built from
the customer up.

Customer service. Technical support. Operations. Workforce planning. Vendor partnerships. Product. Digital experience. Each chapter has given me another perspective on the same question: how can we make this better?

Aug 2025–Nov 2026T-Mobile

Sr. Manager, Digital Content & Merchandising

Led content and merchandising for the UScellular web and app experiences through the transition to T-Mobile.

Led the content and front-end sunset of UScellular purchase flows and prepaid service journeys. Built “Better Together” and “Joining T-Mobile” experiences, with payment, FAQ, and account content supporting the transition. Led a cross functional team through the complete decommissioning of the company’s website and apps and the migration of customers to the acquiring company’s platforms, with major releases delivered without deployment issues.

Jul 2023–Aug 2025UScellular

Sr. Manager, Digital Content & Merchandising

Brought content, analytics, customer feedback, and cross-functional delivery together to improve shopping and self-service experiences, growing digital traffic 38% year over year and reaching a record 7.3 million monthly sessions.

Directed cross-functional releases, including Apple device launches that compressed weeks of cross-functional work into days and made every pre-order window. Digital sales quantity grew 5x across the digital tenure and held at that level.

Apr 2021–Jul 2023UScellular

Sr. Manager, Digital Product Management

Owned the My Account experience for postpaid and prepaid customers across web, iOS, and Android, from roadmap planning through launch and ongoing improvement. Rebuilt it end to end, lifting app store ratings from 1.5 stars to 4. Led a cross-functional team and grew self-service adoption through continuous experimentation, with digital bill payments reaching 72% of all transactions and digital lifecycle transactions reaching all time highs for the company.

Jul 2016–Apr 2021UScellular

Multi-Channel Solutions Manager

Created and ran the enhancement program for UScellular’s frontline billing and CRM systems, owning intake, prioritization, quarterly funding, and UAT to turn frontline pain points into shipped system improvements. Also led the selection and implementation that replaced paper contracts with digital signing and document storage, the most requested frontline improvement of its time, which allowed expansion of a financing program that had been limited to stores, to the phone and web channels for the first time.

Career history

WRITING & IDEAS

Thinking out loud.
Learning as I go.

I write about AI, user experience, and the small observations that change how I think about technology.

FIELD NOTES / 001

Use the tools.
Notice the friction.
Ask what could be better.

Explore my Substack
USER EXPERIENCE · SUBSTACK

Design for the Window People Actually Use

Why the space someone gives an app deserves as much attention as the screen it runs on.

Read the essay AI & EVERYDAY LIFE · ESSAY

I Automated My Life With AI. Then I Got Bored.

Why the goal of AI should be to automate friction, not the things that create discovery, enjoyment, and purpose.

Read the essay AI PRODUCT DESIGN · X

Toward a single persistent AI relationship.

A case for one continuous relationship with an assistant that handles its own tools, memory, and background work.

Read the post

OUTSIDE OF WORK

There’s usually another
idea brewing.

Time with family, a good cup of black coffee, a walk, or a game I can get lost in. Those are some of the things that help me recharge. I enjoy music from the ’90s and early 2000s, trying new technology, and following a question just to see where it leads.

Learning is a constant. Sometimes that means a YouTube deep dive. Sometimes it means building a game. I also make time for books that sharpen how I lead and focus, like The Coaching Habit and Deep Work. And sometimes it means going back to school: I completed my bachelor’s degree in business in 2025.

LET’S STAY IN TOUCH

Always open to
a good conversation.

I’m open to senior individual contributor and leadership roles where customer experience, operations, technology, and practical AI have to work together. If that sounds like your team, let’s talk.

Get in touch