How I build design organisations that ship.
I install the operating cadence, hiring loops, research infrastructure, and creative direction that turn a design function into a force multiplier for the product org.
Hiring loop · 1:1 cadence · design-review rubric · team-bonding model
I build the operating cadence around the team.
I start with the mechanisms that make a design organisation legible: hiring priorities, 1:1s, critique, team rituals, decision paths, and the expectation that design enters product work before the brief is already fixed.
Designers know where judgment is expected, PMs know when to pull design upstream, and leadership can see quality improve without waiting for a launch postmortem.
At CloudBees I inherited Head of Design responsibility, grew the team from 3 → 9 designers, and reset UX as a unifying platform function.
Recruiting loop · research repo · synthesis templates · roadmap checkpoints
I make research a cadence, not an event.
Research ops is infrastructure: recruiting, tooling, synthesis, repository habits, and rituals that keep customer knowledge close enough to shape roadmap choices before teams have committed to a solution.
Research moves from occasional validation into upstream product judgment, and teams can reuse evidence instead of rediscovering the same problems.
At CloudBees I used audit, IA, onboarding, and workflow research to reframe the platform as one product with five product lines.
Brand system · interface tone · visual direction · cross-surface review
I keep brand and product from drifting apart.
Creative direction is not a polish pass. It is the connective tissue between identity, product behavior, interface tone, and the market story a company asks customers to believe.
Product, marketing, and sales surfaces stop telling different stories, and the company can scale expression without losing the signal that made it distinct.
From Hugo Boss and Esprit at Machinas to Exabyte / Mat3ra and Telanto, I have carried art direction into product systems instead of treating them as separate disciplines.
Looking for focused project work instead?
Approach to Work →