Leadership

How I lead

I focus on making product decisions clearer as teams grow, so quality and speed don’t break at scale.

I lead UX by helping teams make clear, repeatable product decisions as they grow. Teams get sharper on what matters, what to leave alone, and what change will create real customer and business value.

When I joined HSE, UX operated like an internal agency: two designers supporting multiple PMs and teams, overloaded and brought in late. I changed how UX works day to day with Product and Engineering: designers work as part of product teams, take clear responsibility for decisions and quality, and rely on simple, shared ways of deciding together, supported by research where uncertainty is high.

The result was a clear shift in UX maturity from reactive delivery to a consistent way of working, with designers involved early and owning key decisions, alongside measurable gains in digital adoption.

What you can expect from me

• Clearer product decisions: teams align on what to improve, what to leave untouched, and where change creates real customer and business value.
• Deliberate focus: effort matches problem complexity, using proven patterns when the path is known and deeper discovery when uncertainty and risk justify it.
• A way of working that stays clear as teams scale: designers work as part of product teams, start with clear problem framing, use lightweight critique focused on whether choices are clear, justified, and worth building, and set explicit quality gates on the riskiest journeys.
• Quality protection where it matters: visual quality assurance before release. Design, Engineering, and testers validate implementation against approved designs on the riskiest journeys, cutting bug tickets by ~25% and Design has veto power on critical visual issues.
• Clear ownership: designers own outcomes, not just output, with explicit responsibilities and decision boundaries.
• Credibility with Product and Engineering: UX is predictable in scope, timing, and quality, enabling faster decisions and fewer late-stage surprises.

Leadership in practice

The practices I use to keep product choices clear and execution solid as teams grow.

Direction and alignment

• Turn fuzzy goals into clear priorities, decision criteria, and a plan teams can ship.
• Make trade-offs explicit (now, next, later), and keep teams aligned on what “good” looks like.
• Build alignment early with prototypes, narratives, and concrete options, not slides full of buzzwords.

Discovery and decision-making

• Push discovery earlier to reduce late-stage changes and rework.
• Use research and data when it changes the decision, without slowing teams down.
• Align with Product and Data on the signals we track, then use the insights to guide iteration.

Quality and speed

• Run critique focused on clear choices: reasoning, trade-offs, and what we will ship.
• Protect the riskiest journeys with explicit quality gates and visual quality assurance before release, not just functional testing.
• Use the Design System to reduce design debt, align UI standards, and accelerate delivery across teams.

Building and scaling teams

I scaled the UX team at HSE from 2 designers to a 9-person design and research organization (8 designers + 1 UX researcher). The real challenge was not headcount, but changing how UX works with Product and Engineering so teams could ship better work faster.

How I hire

I look for designers who can handle complexity and explain their decisions clearly, especially when trade-offs are real and constraints are tight.

• Ability to solve complex problems: designers can navigate ambiguity, break down complex situations, and choose appropriate approaches instead of defaulting to surface-level solutions.
• Clear articulation of design decisions: designers can explain what they did, why it matters, which trade-offs were made, and what evidence supports the decision.
• Good judgment under constraints: balancing user needs, business goals, and delivery realities without losing clarity or quality.
• Strong partners: effective with Product and Engineering, confident in decisions, and clear under pressure.

How I help people grow

• Structured onboarding focused on the business, users, and the end-to-end journey.
• Regular 1:1s used for coaching, decision review, and expectation setting, with a clear bar for quality, scope, and growth.
• Growth paths tied to skills, scope, and impact, not tenure.

Culture

I aim for a culture with high standards and continuous learning. People can challenge ideas openly, surface risks early, and keep decisions grounded in customer and business impact.

• Psychological safety with accountability: debate decisions honestly, raise risks early, and commit once a direction is set.
• Continuous learning: a team habit of staying current and sharing knowledge through biweekly knowledge-sharing sessions (Fridays), including hands-on sessions on topics like AI, focused on improving day-to-day design work.
• Consistency through shared practices: critique and learning rituals, plus principles and a Design System to reduce ambiguity and friction.

My leadership in one sentence

I build UX organizations that turn complexity into clear product decisions and measurable outcomes.

In practice, that means setting a clear decision bar, aligning teams early on trade-offs, and working in a way where UX is trusted to influence outcomes, not just deliver artifacts.