Leading Design at Sofar Sounds
At Sofar Sounds, I helped evolve the design function from its early stages into a high-performing team, deeply integrated within the business. I focused on scaling DesignOps, driving strategic initiatives, and leading designers to create exceptional user experiences across the platform. By fostering a design-led culture, defining the UX vision, and embedding design thinking into the company's processes, I ensured design aligned with business objectives and set the foundation for future growth. My experience in team leadership and process development has prepared me to shape product direction and build high-impact teams.
Design Leadership & Team Growth
As Lead Designer, I scaled a team from 1 to 5 designers, managing the growth of 7 individuals over time. I developed a UX competency framework to support structured progression and skill development across both technical and soft skills. This included creating regular critique sessions, retrospectives, and strategic workshops to encourage a culture of collaboration and continuous innovation. I mentored team members, providing tailored career development opportunities to support their individual growth.
In addition to team management, I defined a clear hiring and recruitment strategy, drafted job descriptions, screened candidates, and collaborated with recruiters to ensure we found the right talent. I also established a comprehensive onboarding program with structured learning paths to help new team members integrate quickly and effectively.
To align design efforts with company goals, I defined the UX mission, vision, and values, ensuring that design became a strategic function within the company. I also designed the job openings and role details pages on our careers site, helping attract top talent and position the company as a design-led organization.
Design Operations & Strategic Vision
A key responsibility was establishing DesignOps to drive efficiency, alignment, and scalability within the design process. I introduced a series of processes to ensure the design was seamlessly integrated into product development and optimized for long-term success.
I developed a UX roadmap that aligned closely with business goals, ensuring our design efforts directly supported strategic objectives. I implemented structured project kickoffs, briefs, and sprint planning to streamline workflows, alongside defining design principles and guidelines that standardized work across teams. I also prioritized embedding UX research and usability testing into the decision-making process, ensuring that design decisions were data-driven.
Additionally, I fostered closer collaboration between design, product, and engineering teams to ensure cross-functional alignment. This operational foundation empowered the design team to maintain high standards and work efficiently in a fast-paced, agile environment.
Key Projects & Business Impact
Alongside scaling the team and embedding design within the business, I led and contributed to several high-impact projects that delivered measurable success:
Redesigning the Admin Platform – Led the overhaul of the event planning, artist review, and venue review tools, streamlining workflows and boosting efficiency for Sofar's internal teams.
Customer-Facing Enhancements – Redesigned the blog, artist and host application pages, and the ‘How It Works’ page, improving user clarity and conversion rates.
Building a Scalable Design System – Created Maestro, Sofar’s first comprehensive design system, validated through the blog redesign, which introduced reusable components, reduced inconsistencies, and sped up development.
PPC Journey Optimization – Led improvements to city landing pages and event pages, driving a 13% increase in conversion rate and a 41% increase in activation rate.
Each of these initiatives played a crucial role in enhancing the user experience, whether for customers or internal teams while reinforcing the strategic value of UX within Sofar’s overall business objectives.
Managing Team Tooling & Software
As the design team grew, I managed the evaluation, implementation, and oversight of design and research tools to ensure the team had the best software and hardware for efficiency:
Design & Prototyping Tools – Transitioned from Sketch & Zeplin to Figma for improved real-time collaboration. Built and maintained the design system across multiple platforms, including Sketch, Zeplin, Figma, and InVision, ensuring consistency.
UX Research & Testing Infrastructure – Utilized Dovetail as a research repository for insights, and worked with UserTesting.com and recruitment agencies to source participants. Established a fully-equipped research lab, managing all procurement, including furniture, devices, and live-streaming setups for remote stakeholder observation.
Software Licensing & Budget Management – Managed software licenses and optimized team budgets, balancing cost-effectiveness with access to top-tier tools. Coordinated with IT and finance teams to ensure compliance and onboarding.
This structured approach to tooling and research infrastructure enhanced collaboration, streamlined workflows, and increased the visibility of UX insights across the organization.
Building a Design-Led Culture
A key contribution was positioning UX as a strategic function within Sofar Sounds by advocating for user-centred design and ensuring it was integral to product development:
Cross-Functional Design Reviews – Established regular reviews with product and engineering teams to ensure design alignment.
Workshops & Design Thinking – Led sessions to align teams on key challenges, fostering collaboration.
Data-Driven Decision Making – Introduced research insights and usability metrics to guide design choices.
Advocating for UX Impact – Secured investment in UX initiatives by demonstrating design’s contribution to business outcomes.
By embedding UX at the core of the business, I helped shift the perception of design from a support function to a key driver of product success.
Team Development & Leadership
In addition to managing day-to-day operations, I focused on nurturing and developing my team, ensuring each designer had the support, mentorship, and career growth opportunities to thrive. I successfully managed a blend of full-time employees and contractors, optimizing the team structure to meet business needs and project demands. I placed a strong emphasis on regular performance reviews and mentorship sessions, providing ongoing feedback to help team members grow both technically and professionally. By implementing clear development paths and facilitating career progression, I ensured the team stayed motivated and aligned with both personal and business objectives. Balancing resource allocation effectively across team growth, tools, and research, I helped the team maximize their potential, contributing to Sofar’s long-term success while positioning design as a core strategic function within the business.
