Customer Experience Strategy
Designing the Foundation for Scale: UX Strategy & Execution at a global Fintech
Company
Global B2B/2C Fintech
Role
Head of Product Design
Timeframe
9 Months/1 Year
Scope
To accelerate the company’s digital transformation, I led a strategic initiative to unify fragmented in-house and partner experiences into a scalable, modular platform. The initiative laid the groundwork for self-serve onboarding, global compliance, and multi-segment scalability—redefining how the business served fintech clients, from startups to enterprises.
My focus was on building the design team, aligning stakeholders around a shared CX roadmap, and establishing the foundations for long-term delivery.
Leadership
Grew & mentored a design team from 1 to 4 designers.
Championed a design system to cut design/dev time 50–70%.
Led executive alignment around a multi-year CX roadmap prioritised by RICE.
Introduced Object-Oriented UX to accommodate scale and compliance across global segments
Design Quality
Drove consistency across all touchpoints through a scalable partner product integration strategy.
Meeting supplier requirements- Compliance, access controls, accessibility standards.
Process
Realised process efficiencies through systematized templates and reusable patterns
Established x-functional squads to drive delivery maturity and shared ownership across design, product, and engineering.
Strategy
Established a UX roadmap in conjunction with product & tech leaders.
Defined modular design principles with product partners to ensure scalability and future extensibility.
Led design system implementation with tech.
Led partner rebrand integration strategy in collaboration with product and tech.
Process
Led a team of designers, embedded across different x-functional squads.
Established x-functional cadences & process to drive alignment & delivery.
Research & Design
Introduced AI-powered thematic analysis to accelerate insight generation from survey and transcript data.
Oversaw feature definition, sequencing, and prioritisation across cross-functional teams.
Laying the Groundwork: Collaborating with an Agency
Problem
At the outset, the product experience was fragmented across internal and partner tools, with limited alignment around customer needs, competitive positioning, or a scalable feature set. We needed to quickly map the current state, surface pain points, and create a foundation for a customer-centric roadmap.
Strategy & Approach
To accelerate discovery and ensure cross-functional alignment, I engaged an external agency to help document and assess the existing experience. Their brief was to provide broad strategic inputs—without slowing momentum or overlapping with future product design and delivery work.
Execution
The agency delivered foundational artefacts—including a current-state journey map, competitor insights, and a draft roadmap based on as-is workflows. I reviewed and synthesised their work, then led the transition into a future-focused strategy. This included developing a new prioritised roadmap, defining net-new platform functionality, designing the information architecture, and establishing a reusable design system. I also grew the product design team and embedded delivery rituals to enable long-term execution.
Results
Strategic foundations were laid in under 8 weeks, accelerating time to roadmap alignment.
The agency’s outputs were successfully absorbed into the long-term CX strategy.
My roadmap replaced the draft with a more actionable, prioritised plan.
I transitioned the initiative from discovery to delivery, growing the team and driving execution readiness.
Roadmap Strategy & Prioritisation
Problem
The agency delivered a preliminary roadmap based on early discovery work, but it lacked alignment with business goals and practical delivery realities. It didn’t reflect internal priorities, resource constraints, or strategic sequencing.
Strategy & Approach
I developed a new roadmap using a value–effort model. Value scores reflected alignment with OKRs, revenue potential, and user impact; effort was based on scope clarity and technical complexity. I aligned scoring collaboratively with leaders across client-facing, compliance, and ops teams.
Execution
Using the value–effort model, I mapped out a prioritised roadmap that balanced strategic goals with delivery capacity. High-impact, low-complexity initiatives were fast-tracked, while longer-term bets were phased. I facilitated alignment sessions with business leaders to pressure-test assumptions and secure buy-in.
Results
A shared roadmap with clear rationale, accepted across product and business teams
Prioritisation model used as a framework for ongoing planning
Enabled focused delivery on key themes (e.g., onboarding, experimentation, partner integration)
Unlocked faster progress by avoiding unclear, high-risk initiatives early on
Developing a thriving team
Problem
The design function lacked capacity and strategic alignment. As demand grew across multiple tracks—Design quality, new product development, partner tools—it became clear the existing team couldn’t support roadmap delivery.
Strategy and Approach
My focus was on building a team with the right mix of skills and domain focus, embedded into cross-functional squads. I defined role scopes based on roadmap themes and introduced lightweight rituals to improve velocity and consistency.
Execution
Hired 3 product designers to support onboarding, platform foundations, and partner workflows.
Defined clear areas of ownership tied to product goals.
Established rituals including design critique, async review, and QA checkpoints.
Embedded designers within squads alongside PMs and engineers.
Results
Scaled the team to 4 staff, with a mix of design and research skills to support the business.
Reduced bottlenecks and improved roadmap coverage.
Embedded design earlier in the planning cycle.
Increased delivery maturity across product teams.
Design System & UX Architecture
Problem
With a growing roadmap and a complex product ecosystem spanning in-house and partner tools, we needed a UX architecture that could scale—one that supported consistency, reduced duplication, and allowed for configurable workflows across diverse client types. At the same time, the team lacked a comprehensive design system to ensure speed and visual consistency in delivery.
Strategy and Approach
I introduced an Object-Oriented UX model to create a scalable design foundation, organising the platform around key entities and their actions. This guided our navigation, templates, and permission structures. I then delegated design system execution to a senior designer, providing strategic direction while they implemented components, tokens, and documentation aligned with the object model.
Execution
Defined and modelled key objects, actions, and metadata across core workflows.
Created reusable UX templates tied to object types, reducing repeated design decisions.
Supported implementation of a modular design system: components, states, spacing, accessibility, and documentation.
Aligned system work with product and engineering for consistency and handoff clarity.
Results
Reduced design and development time by ~60% through reuse and clarity.
Enabled consistent UX across teams and partner/in-house product surfaces.
Supported complex permissioned workflows and future self-serve customisation.
Reduced time-to-contribution for new hires through structured templates and documentation.
Partner Product Integration Strategy
Problem
The platform combined internally developed tools with third-party partner products—resulting in fragmented user journeys, inconsistent UI, and increased servicing due to unclear boundaries and inconsistent branding.
Strategy & Approach
I defined a two-track integration model to standardise partner product delivery:
Marketplace-style linking for lighter integrations
Embedded configuration for deeply integrated partners
We introduced UI guardrails, templated navigation patterns, and a configuration file structure to support flexible delivery.
Execution
Defined and modelled key objects, actions, and metadata across core workflows.
Created reusable UX templates tied to object types, reducing repeated design decisions.
Supported implementation of a modular design system: components, states, spacing, accessibility, and documentation.
Aligned system work with product and engineering for consistency and handoff clarity.
Results
Reduced integration complexity and onboarding time for new partners
Delivered a more unified experience across in-house and third-party tools
Increased UX consistency and lowered support overhead from partner confusion
Established a repeatable model for future partner scaling
To serve a diverse client base—from agile startups to compliance-heavy enterprises—I prioritised platform-level configurability. Working closely with product and engineering, I identified key areas for customisation, including roles, workflows, and compliance settings. We implemented a flexible configuration model that allowed clients to self-manage feature behaviours without custom development. This reduced internal servicing, increased platform adaptability, and laid the groundwork for scalable enterprise feature differentiation.
Strategic Outcomes
This work delivered impact at multiple levels:
Business: Reduced onboarding time by 40%, enabling faster revenue recognition across segments. Improved product fit through configurable workflows and access controls.
Process: Design and dev cycles reduced by 60–70% via reusable templates and system alignment. Partner integrations became repeatable and consistent.
Organisation: Scaled design team from 1 to 5, established cross-functional rituals, and elevated design into strategic planning cycles.
Reflections
This initiative reinforced the importance of designing not just products, but the systems, teams, and structures that enable others to execute at scale. Framing the strategy around three clear pillars—Scalable, Consolidated, Customisable—proved essential for aligning stakeholders and grounding decisions across functions. One key learning was the value of co-creating strategy internally; while the agency helped accelerate early discovery, the initial roadmap lacked the nuance of internal alignment. Taking ownership of the prioritisation process helped bridge that gap. I also learned that hiring ahead of need—while the roadmap was still in motion—was critical to execution readiness. Delegating the design system to a senior designer created space for focus and growth, while allowing me to remain strategically focused. Perhaps most importantly, investing early in an object-based UX model and information architecture paid long-term dividends in consistency, scalability, and delivery velocity. This experience deepened my conviction that lasting impact in product design comes from shaping the conditions for others to thrive.