My journey
of growth
Bringing a business mindset to design that matters.
Building teams, scaling design, and always learning - my journey is about creating impact, cultivating growth, and making design a strategic force in every organisation I’ve been part of.
Design Manager
TOYOTA CONNECTED EUROPE
2023-2024
About my role
Leading Design at Toyota Motor Europe, I scaled the design team from 5 to 25, achieving a greater strategic influence and faster speed to market. Over the last year, I’ve managed a multidisciplinary design team spread across the UK and various EU countries, shaping UX strategy across Toyota’s European digital ecosystem. From evolving the MyToyota app with a new design system and IA to defining research as a service, I’ve worked across teams to scale design operations, improve collaboration, and measure impact.
This has led to faster design-to-development cycles, increased adoption of the design system, and a stronger culture of experimentation within the design discipline - driving continuous optimisation across digital and in-car multimedia experiences, as well as strategic service design.
What I delivered
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Built a design operations framework
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Secured design budget and led planning for the team
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Sourced and negotiated with suppliers
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Defined OKRs, KPIs, established UX metrics
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Managed SoWs and design roadmap
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Ran showcases for clients & C-level management
Head of Design
SHELL INNOVATION HUB
2021-2023
About my role
As Head of Design at Shell’s innovation hub, I scaled a UK-based design team from 3 to 21, supporting their global investment spanning across the EU, UK, India, and the US. At our peak, we ran 13 products in parallel - each at different stages of the design process, from discovery to MVP and beyond - and I oversaw UX and design across all of them, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and strategic alignment. I built a high-performing, diverse team, attracting top talent and creating an environment where design excellence thrived, while managing the daily operations, budgets, and strategic growth. Beyond execution, I played a key role in expanding the Hub’s influence within Shell, driving new opportunities, and strengthening cross-functional collaboration.
Specialising in decarbonisation projects, my team developed a Design Thinking framework that improved efficiency and consistency across digital products, supporting the delivery of market-leading solutions that generated $20M in business value. I also contributed to Shell’s ‘Design for Sustainability’ approach, ensuring UX played a critical role in advancing the company’s energy transition initiatives.
What I delivered
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Built a strong design community across Hubs
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Adapted Lean Innovation framework within the Hub
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Led Design Discovery Sprints
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Helped with design system collaboration across Shell
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Led 'Design for Sustainability' framework development
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Created a design talent framework for scaling teams
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Worked closely with product & tech teams to launch MVPs in under 3 months
Design Studio Manager
BP
2021
About my role
At BP, I co-led the Design Studio, focusing on nurturing talent and guiding junior designers while delivering fast-paced UX and service design projects to our in-house stakeholders. I helped define the Studio’s vision and mission, shaping a strong team culture. With a Design Operations Manager handling day-to-day logistics, I played a key role in shaping new projects, helping business stakeholders navigate the world of design, and ensuring strategic alignment.
What I delivered
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Design Studio vision & mission
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Planned and set up UX & service design projects
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Mentored and coached junior designers
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Helped the business to understand the value of design
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Worked with external agencies
Product & UX Lead
RIBA
2020-2021
About my role
My time at RIBA was an incredible opportunity to shape and lead UX from the ground up. As both Product and UX Lead, I drove the end-to-end design and product strategy for a brand new online project calculator for architects, aligning it with RIBA’s scope of work. With no dedicated product function, and as a true UX team of one I took a design-led product management approach, ensuring a user-centered vision while navigating a stakeholder landscape deeply rooted in marketing and business.
In this hands-on, fast-paced role, I worked closely with a development agency, bridging design and implementation to deliver the platform in just under 9 months. From running user testing to managing the backlog in Jira, I handled everything from UX research to daily developer collaboration. This experience not only deepened my UX expertise but also gave me valuable, real-world product management experience - an aspect of the role I absolutely loved!
What I delivered
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Defined the vision & UX direction for a new digital tool
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Full ownership of user flows & interface design
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Conducted hands-on user research & testing
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Managed daily sprint planning & backlog refinement
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Worked across stakeholders, developers & leadership
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Ensured smooth delivery within a 9-month timeline
Experience Design Lead
ELECTRONIC ARTS (EA)
2020
About my role
Working as an Experience Lead for EA during the Covid years was an incredibly stimulating and fast-paced project. Collaborating with a global team across the US, Canada, UK, and Denmark, we explored the UX design concept for a second-screen NBA mobile experience. Over three months, I worked alongside a Strategist and a Visual Designer to shape the concept, user experience, and product strategy, leading to a high-stakes pitch to EA’s leadership. With bi-weekly demos but no direct feedback, the process was highly iterative and shrouded in secrecy, fitting for this $2B gaming giant.
What I delivered
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Discovery research (Quant)
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User research & usability testing
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User personas
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User journeys
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Figma prototypes
Principal Design Lead
VIRGIN
2019- 2020
About my role
Leading the redesign of Virgin.com was an intense, fast-paced challenge - delivering a fully rebranded, user-centered website in just three months! As Principal Design Lead, I managed a cross-functional team of five (2 product designers, a brand visual designer, a content strategist, and a researcher). Our mission was to create a seamless, on-brand experience that aligned with Richard Branson’s vision (yes, he was the ultimate decision-maker, even dialling into some of our sprint demos!).
With tight timelines and complex stakeholder dynamics, we worked relentlessly to bring the new brand, new IA, content strategy, and UX to life. Despite the high-pressure environment we successfully completed the redesign before Covid hit (and delayed the launch). Today, Virgin.com serves as the digital mothership for all Virgin brands and hosts personal blogs from the Branson family, reflecting the spirit of the company in a fresh and modern experience.
What I delivered
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Defined design direction & delivery framework
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Shaped content strategy & information architecture
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Oversaw research & usability testing for a fully user-centered design process
User Experience Consultant
VARIOUS AGENCIES AND GOVERNMENT
2012-2019
About my roles
Before stepping into design leadership, I spent several years as a UX Designer and later as a UX Consultant, shaping digital experiences across healthcare, pharma, sports, music, and the public sector.
At Blue Latitude (today Fishawick Health), I worked with top pharma clients for almost 5 years, applying service design methodologies to improve patient and healthcare professional experiences.
Before that, I worked agency-side and had clients from sports, music and telco industries, working on high-impact, digital-first initiatives that demanded agility and creativity.
In the public sector, I contributed to large-scale digital transformations, navigating complex stakeholder environments where agile and waterfall often blurred into one.
These years taught me resilience, adaptability, and the ability to thrive in high-pressure environments, working across varied sectors, methodologies, and organisational cultures. They also shaped my approach to leadership - one that balances strategy, collaboration, and user-centred thinking. Case studies and references are available upon request.
Clients:
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Ministry of Sound
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Manchester City Football Club
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Sunderland Football Club
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London Wasps
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Network Rail
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MHRA (Ministry of Healthcare Regulatory Agency)
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BT
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e-ON
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Pfizer
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Johnson & Johnson
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BMS
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Amgen
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Nuffield Health