Context
Two months after I joined as first EU Senior Product Design Manager, the entire EU Product Design team resigned.
Risks:
- Delivery collapse risk across SupplierXM (French SaaS)
- No local design capability
- Misalignment with US design team
- Enterprise credibility at stake
My Role
- Rebuilt EU design function from scratch
- Owned hiring, onboarding, and performance
- Partnered with PM and Engineering Directors across 3 tribes (7 squads)
- Restored quality, delivery stability, and cross-country alignment
Key Decisions
Optimized for long-term stability over short-term seniority
Hired 2 junior designers + 1 lead instead of 3 seniors to rebuild culture and craft foundations.
Built DesignOps before scaling velocity
Created onboarding framework, research repository, and UI library while hiring.
Treated cross-country misalignment as product risk
Introduced weekly EU–US design reviews (FR/PT/US).
Personally intervened in critical product flows
Led Media Section redesign to remove enterprise performance blockers.
Results
Team rebuilt in 12 months.
Impact
3 designers
Hired & onboarded in 6 months in France
-30%
Designer ramp-up time vs US benchmark
-40%
Duplicated research
Long-term Impact
- Structured onboarding framework still in use
- Shared research repository institutionalized
- Cross-country review rituals embedded
- Stronger autonomy within EU team
Example of supported product: Media Section Redesign
Problem:
Media blocked product page load and degraded enterprise catalog performance.
Approach:
- Moved media to page-wide modal
- Preserved key inline assets
- Aligned feasibility early with PM & Engineering
- Validated through rapid testing
Impact:
-75%
Product Page load by redesigning Media Management
2
Enterprise deals in APAC supported through performance improvements
