Scaling a Global Product and Design Organization
Industry
Design leadership
Client
Accedo
Platforms
Global design organization, operating model, career development
Date
2021 to present
CASE STUDY BRIEF
Capability
Product leadership, organization design, shared judgment, commercial advisory
Leadership level
Director
What I led
Helped scale Accedo's design capability from 3 to 30+ over time, directly led 15+ people across EMEA and LATAM, and built the leadership and delivery systems used across a broader product and design organization.
Why it matters
During this period, reported delivery time improved 40%, client satisfaction 25%, team engagement reached a company high, and the business reported 30% year-over-year growth. These are organization-level results, not solo attribution.
DECISION RECORD
Problem and stakes
A growing global organization needed more leadership capacity and consistent delivery without making the department head the approval point for every decision.
Role and scope
As Sr. Director, Head of Product, Design and Advisory, directly led 15+ people across EMEA and LATAM, influenced a broader 25+ product and design organization, and helped the design capability grow from 3 to 30+ over time.
Key decision and trade-off
Connected OKRs to company strategy, introduced leadership tiers for senior individual contributors, and replaced central approval with explicit standards, critique, mentorship, open debate, and delegated ownership.
Systems and artifacts
Organization model, leadership tiers, OKRs, career ladders, hiring framework, mentorship, critique and decision forums, Reels governance, and a billable advisory offer.
Related content
The leadership constraint
As the organization grew across regions, more work could not mean more decisions routed through one department head. The practical problem was to distribute responsibility while keeping expectations for product judgment, craft, and client delivery clear.
My actual scope
As Sr. Director, Head of Product, Design and Advisory, I directly led more than 15 people across EMEA and LATAM and influenced a broader product and design organization of more than 25. I also helped the design capability grow from 3 to more than 30 over time. Those figures describe different scopes and should not be read as one direct-report count.
How I distributed decisions
I connected OKRs to company strategy, created leadership tiers for senior individual contributors, and made role and quality expectations explicit through career ladders, critique, mentorship, hiring frameworks, open debate, and decision forums. Senior people could own meaningful areas without waiting for my approval.
How I stayed close to delivery
I remained involved in product strategy, pitches, design reviews, and systems work. Reels provided a concrete shared foundation for product patterns, contribution, accessibility, and design-to-engineering handoff. I also developed design advisory into a billable offer rather than treating strategic work as unpaid pre-sales support.
Reported outcomes
During this period, reported delivery time improved 40%, client satisfaction increased 25%, team engagement reached the highest score in company history, and the business reported 30% year-over-year growth. These are organization-level results produced by many teams; my claim is the leadership and operating-system contribution described above.
The leadership principle
The aim was not to remove leadership from decisions. It was to give teams enough context, standards, and authority to make sound decisions at the point of work, with escalation reserved for the choices that genuinely needed it.
