My Expertise:
As the International Head of Experience Design, I was the sole driver, strategist, and lead responsible for realising this initiative from concept through to funded reality and execution.
My core expertise demonstrated included:Executive Sponsorship: Successfully creating and securing multi-stage funding for aed significant efficiency gains and cultural impact in the first five months:
- Executive Sponsorship: Successfully creating and securing multi-stage funding for a data-backed business case.
- Strategic Alignment: Integrating the Design System as one of the six core OKR streams for the International Design team.
- Need Quantification: Using data and synthesis (400+ insights) to quantify the cost of design inconsistency and secure key sponsors (GM of Product, GM of Delivery, Head of Engineering).
- Team Mobilisation: Securing resources, building, and mentoring the dedicated Design System team.
The challenge:
The large delivery organisation was plagued by inefficiency due to low design maturity and a lack of consistency. Developers were routinely building components from scratch, and designers lacked a unified vision, resulting in inconsistent user experiences and bloated development time. The business needed to drastically reduce technical debt and establish a scalable foundation to support ambitious international growth.
The Approach:
My approach focused on gathering evidence and securing top-level commitment before mobilising a dedicated team for high-impact, measurable delivery.
Data-Driven Validation:
I conducted a deep-dive assessment across the International delivery team, synthesising over 400 insights. This research quantified the wasted time on bespoke component creation and successfully transformed the Design System's perception from an aesthetic tool to a crucial business asset among executives.
Strategic Mobilisation:
After securing funding, I built and empowered the dedicated team, fostering high ownership. I drove internal advocacy by presenting the data-backed business case at the Tech Town Hall and running Global showcases, ensuring the value proposition was transparent and championed across the wider technology team.
Focused Delivery:
The team prioritised a high-impact foundational release to deliver immediate, measurable value for an in-flight product.
The Outcome:
The design system delivered significant efficiency gains and cultural impact in the first five months.
The project successfully delivered on its goals, significantly advancing the organisation's design maturity under my leadership.
Developer Efficiency
80% reduction in workflow time for integrating core components (from 1 hour down to 2 minutes for simple components).
Quantified Savings
1000+ developer hours saved within the first two months of the foundational component release.
Product Delivery
Immediate implementation on the new API developer portal reduced the design phase by 30% and guaranteed brand consistency.
Process & Culture
Successfully designed and built an analytics dashboard to monitor and prove the ROI to the organisation. The project was recognised with an internal tech award
What people said:
"I collaborated with Emma on the the Group Design System Analytics tool. She articulated and presented all the options for the Analytics capture to enable us to make an informed decision. I have also observed Emma’s great leadership skills. She has great vision for Design in International as evident with her advocating analytics, effectively communicating design’s North Star vision and basically taking design to its next level of maturity, to name a few. She’s instrumental in bringing this vision to fruition with the Global Design System now in the process of adoption in International. She has very good presentation skills and very clear with her communications. During International Showcase sessions, whenever Emma presents updates related to Design, I can sense her passion and pride for her team’s work. It’s a delight to see and know their team’s progress."
Rebecca Abriam,
Principal Engineer in International
"Emma's leadership of the UX team has shown exceptional results. The Design System has matured significantly under your guidance, particularly in the future road map and promoting the design system across the platform that the development team has found invaluable. Your collaborative approach has fostered strong relationships across teams, and your ability to translate complex UX concepts into clear actionable items has been particularly impressive. The team collaborates well under your guidance".
Jason Zhou,
Senior UI developer, PEXA
"Implementing the design system has been a game-changer in bringing consistency, efficiency, and scalability to our design process. The structure and clarity it provides enables everyone to work more efficiently and effectively."
Ben, Product Manager, PEXA
