Managing design for expansion across four markets

Client: Taxfix is a B2C fintech platform based in Germany, helping users file their taxes easily

Role: Design Manager (UX & Research Teams)

Project: Global Expansion, 2022

Context: When I joined Taxfix as a freelance design manager, the company had recently closed a $220 million in Series D funding. Right after the funding round, both the business and the design team were going through hyper-growth. I supported business strategy on global expansion of Taxfix and the growth of the design team from 15 to 50 designers.

My Role & Contributions

  • Managing 10 designers under 3 teams: “User research,” “New markets,” and “Incubator” design teams.

  • Supporting the recruitment of designers and design managers

  • Leading global expansion projects across 3 continents and 4 countries (Brazil, Australia, Netherlands, and Switzerland)

  • Curating and facilitating design sprints

  • Increasing design maturity through building toolkits and playbooks, sharing know-how, and evangelizing design teams across the organization.

  • Setting up design team rituals: Design Summit (Show & Tell), Design Spikes (Design Critique), stand-up structures

  • 1-1s with the team members

  • Supporting performance reviews

The Approach & Impact

To deliver tailored concepts for each market’s needs, we worked with local agencies. We also created a playbook on each step of the project after the first country, so that we could replicate the same structure for 3 more countries simultaneously.
4 high-fidelity and user-tested prototypes (one for each country) were delivered in only one quarter, with a separate value proposition matching the market needs. One market is currently in the launch process.

The team

The project was a cross-functional collaboration across multiple teams: strategy team, user research team, incubator design team, and local design agencies in each market.

Pelin is a great design leader, and a fantastic person to work with. During our time at Taxfix, she contributed to building a solid design culture by proposing and leading design rituals across the organisation, managing multiple teams smoothly, and fostering effective collaboration between designers, engineers, and product managers.

Pelin leads with kindness - which is a precious and powerful gift. I’d love to work together again in the future!
— Matteo Remondini, Service & Product Design Consultant

Happy to tell you more about my design management process at Taxfix and share artefacts.

Contact me for more details

Explore Taxfix online

Previous
Previous

Behavioral design leading to 30% decrease in burnout

Next
Next

North Star vision design for Zalando Lounge