What I focus on as a design leader
Design leadership goes beyond the immediate product. It’s about the systems, teams, and culture that make great products possible. Over 15+ years I’ve built my leadership around four areas:
• Driving product coherence at scale
• Shaping strategy through design vision
• Embedding discovery into product decisions
• Building and scaling design teams
My arc
Built deep research craft at a fast-growing startup (Prezi) ● Founded and scaled a 16-person UX team from scratch (Emarsys) ● Scaled design influence across a mature B2B product org (Trustpilot) ● Shaped product strategy as design lead at a startup (Krisp) ● Driving cross-portfolio experience coherence (Canonical)
Driving product coherence at scale
When multiple teams build independently, products fragment. I bring coherence by aligning teams around the user’s journey, turning fragmented experiences into unified products, and making cross-team alignment a strategic driver of growth.
• Key story: Aligning teams through an IA redesign @Trustpilot
• Build a horizontal framework with AI @Canonical
• Making a complex portfolio feel simple @Canonical
• From UI kit to design system team @Emarsys
• Some further thoughts on product design
Shaping strategy through design vision
Design is a powerful tool for prediction, it lets us show, not just tell, compelling stories about the future. I use vision prototypes and storytelling to align leadership, redirect product strategy, and give teams a shared picture of where we’re heading.
• Key story: Shaping product strategy through design vision @Krisp
• Some further thoughts on prototypes
Embedding discovery into product decisions
Great products come from understanding, not assumptions. I build the practices and team habits that make research and discovery an integrated part of how product decisions get made, and not a phase that happens before the “real work.”
• Raising org maturity through product work @Krisp
• A data-driven approach to design strategy @Trustpilot
• A UX process for transparent collaboration @Emarsys
• Some further thoughts on product discovery and user research
Building and scaling design teams
A strong design team is a key driver of business success. I build teams that not only deliver exceptional work, but multiply the impact of everyone they collaborate with, through clear growth frameworks, embedded practices, and deliberate org design.
• Key story: Designing a UX team @Emarsys
• Building a user research team @Trustpilot
• Four leadership modes for a troubled launch @Trustpilot
• Growing teams with experience stories @Emarsys
• Some further thoughts on people management, org design, coaching, and hiring
Foundations: Building craft depth
Early in my career as a UX researcher at Prezi, I built the deep discovery and research expertise that became foundational to my later leadership work. Good decisions come from understanding people, experiments and collaborative decisions, these drive how I approach and solve problems.
Learn, Teach, Organize @Everywhere