Strategic Design Leadership.
More power to empower.
Build design teams that
ship products at scale
I partner with founders, executives, and product leaders to establish design as a strategic function—whether you need an interim design leader, strategic guidance for your existing team, or help building design capability from the ground up.
When Organizations Bring Me In
You're at an inflection point. Your product is gaining traction, but design is becoming a bottleneck. Your team is talented but lacks direction. You're hiring your first design leader and need someone who's been there before. You're scaling quickly and need design systems and processes that won't break as you grow.
I've built and led design teams through acquisition (Crunchyroll's $1.2B exit), rapid scaling (Kraken's trading platform), and cutting-edge product development (Shield AI's autonomy platform). I know what works at different stages and can help you avoid the expensive mistakes most companies make.
What Design Leadership Looks Like
Fractional Design Leadership
Step in as your interim Head of Design or Design Director while you search for a permanent hire, restructure your team, or navigate a critical product phase.
What this solves:
- •You need senior design leadership but aren't ready for a full-time hire
- •Your design leader left and you need continuity during the search
- •You're launching a strategic initiative that needs dedicated design leadership
- •Your team needs mentorship and process while you build out the function
How it works: I typically engage 2-3 days per week, attending key meetings, making strategic decisions, mentoring your team, and establishing processes that outlast my engagement. Engagements run 3-6 months with clear success metrics defined upfront.
Design Strategy & Advisory
Strategic guidance for organizations with existing design teams who need an outside perspective on major decisions, roadmap planning, or organizational challenges.
What this solves:
- •You're deciding whether to build or buy (design systems, tools, capabilities)
- •Your design team and product team aren't aligned on priorities
- •You're entering a new market or launching a new product line
- •You need an objective assessment of your design org's effectiveness
How it works: Monthly or quarterly strategic sessions with your leadership team, plus ad-hoc access for critical decisions. I bring frameworks from companies like Kraken, Crunchyroll, and Federato to help you make better decisions faster.
Team Building & Hiring
Get the right people in the right roles with a hiring process that actually assesses what matters.
What this solves:
- •You're hiring your first design leader and don't know what "great" looks like
- •Your design hiring process lets too many wrong people through
- •You're not sure how to structure your design team as you scale
- •You need to build specialized capabilities (design systems, research, AI/ML product design)
How it works: I help you define the role, create the job description, review portfolios, conduct interviews, and make the final decision. For team structure, I assess your current state and design an org structure that supports your product roadmap.
Design Operations & Systems
Establish the infrastructure that lets design teams move fast without breaking things.
What this solves:
- •Designers are reinventing the wheel on every project
- •Design and engineering handoffs are painful and error-prone
- •You have no single source of truth for design decisions
- •Your design team's velocity doesn't match engineering's pace
How it works: I audit your current design processes, tools, and systems, then build the infrastructure you need—design systems in Figma, documentation, component libraries, design-to-code workflows, and team processes that scale.
Solution Highlights
Fractional Design Leadership
Step in as your interim Head of Design or Design Director while you search for a permanent hire, restructure your team, or navigate a critical product phase.
Design Strategy & Advisory
Strategic guidance for organizations with existing design teams who need an outside perspective on major decisions, roadmap planning, or organizational challenges.
Team Building & Hiring
Get the right people in the right roles with a hiring process that actually assesses what matters.
Design Operations & Systems
Establish the infrastructure that lets design teams move fast without breaking things.
Why Organizations Choose to Work With Me
I've Done the Work.
I'm not a consultant who stopped designing ten years ago. I currently lead design at Shield AI for one of the most complex products in autonomy. I've shipped products across consumer, enterprise, and defense. I know what works because I'm still doing it.
Strategy Meets Execution.
I don't just provide recommendations and leave. I help you implement them. Whether it's building your design system, hiring your team, or establishing your design process, I stay engaged until it's working.
Cross-Functional by Default.
Great design leadership requires working effectively with product, engineering, and business stakeholders. I've spent twenty years building these relationships and know how to make design a valued partner, not just a service function.
Domain Expertise That Matters.
I've designed products for crypto trading ($200B volume), machine learning underwriting platforms, autonomous robotics systems, and streaming platforms with millions of users. I understand complex technical products and can translate that complexity into intuitive experiences.
How We'd Work Together
Week 1: Discovery
Deep dive into your product, team, processes, and challenges. I conduct stakeholder interviews, review your product and design artifacts, and assess your current state.
Week 2: Strategy
Present findings and recommendations with clear priorities and success metrics. We align on scope, timeline, and how success will be measured.
Weeks 3+: Execution
I embed with your team, making decisions, shipping work, establishing processes, and building capability. Regular check-ins ensure we're on track and adjust as needed.
Transition
Whether I'm interim leadership or advisory, I plan for a clean handoff from day one. Documentation, knowledge transfer, and sustainability are built into every engagement.
Common Engagement Models
Interim Design Leadership
Duration: 3-6 months
Commitment: 2-3 days/week
Best for: Organizations between hires or navigating major transitions
Strategic Advisory
Duration: 6-12 months
Commitment: 1-2 days/month plus ad-hoc access
Best for: Organizations with design teams who need strategic guidance
Project-Based
Duration: 2-4 months
Commitment: Varies by project
Best for: Specific initiatives like design system creation, hiring, or organizational design
Recent Leadership Engagements
Shield AI
2025 - Present
Role: Director of Product Design
Timeline: 2025 - Present
Platform: Web application/SDK/CLI Tools
Built design team and established UX strategy for Hivemind autonomy platform, creating developer-focused interfaces for complex AI systems across simulation, testing, and deployment.
Kraken — Director of Product Design
Led design team for institutional trading platform handling $200B in volume. Increased profile creation 24% through strategic UX improvements while maintaining 100% on-time delivery.
Federato — Head of Product Design
Established design function from scratch for ML underwriting platform. Created comprehensive design system reducing implementation time from 6+ months to 8 weeks.
Crunchyroll — Director of Product Design
Built and led 10-person creative team through rapid growth and $1.2B acquisition by Sony. Established design processes and systems that scaled across mobile, web, and living room platforms.
Let's Talk About Your Design Challenge.
Whether you're hiring your first designer, scaling an existing team, or navigating a complex product challenge, I can help you build design capability that drives business outcomes.
Schedule a ConsultationFrequently Asked Questions
Fractional leadership means I'm actually making decisions and leading your team, not just providing recommendations. I attend your meetings, make hiring decisions, set priorities, and am accountable for outcomes—just like a full-time leader would be.
Both. Early-stage companies typically need help establishing design as a function. Growth-stage companies need help scaling. Established companies often need specialized expertise or interim leadership during transitions.
That's common. We start with a discovery phase where I assess your situation and recommend the right approach. Sometimes what you think you need isn't actually the core problem.
Yes. I often serve as interim leadership while simultaneously running the search process for a permanent hire. I can define the role, interview candidates, and help onboard your new leader.
For early-stage startups, I'm open to equity as part of the compensation structure for longer-term advisory relationships. For fractional leadership or project work, I typically work on a day-rate or monthly retainer.
I've designed products across fintech/crypto, insurance/underwriting, streaming media, developer tools, and autonomous systems. I'm particularly strong with complex technical products that require making sophisticated capabilities accessible to users.
Depending on current commitments, typically 2-4 weeks. For urgent situations, I can sometimes begin with an initial assessment sooner.