Alex Skougarevskaya — Head of Design
I help global tech companies scale product design teams, systems, and experiences that delight millions of users. With 15+ years in digital design—spanning advertising, e-commerce, SaaS, and platform ecosystems—I specialise in turning complex problems into elegant, scalable experiences that customers love. Over my career, I’ve led high-performing teams at two of the world’s most recognised tech companies: 8 years at Atlassian building and scaling design systems, and now Head of Design for Ecosystem & Discovery at Canva, where I guide product design across apps, APIs, and partnerships that expand our global creative platform. I’m passionate about: • Systems thinking – designing frameworks and processes that accelerate quality and innovation. • Team building – growing design organisations that are empowered, collaborative, and deeply connected to customer value. • Execution excellence – bridging design and development to deliver impact fast without compromising craft. I believe great design leadership is equal parts vision, empathy, and the ability to make tough decisions with clarity. My approach blends strategic foresight with hands-on pragmatism, ensuring both the product and the people shaping it can thrive. Outside of work, I’m a proud mum of three, living in Newtown, Sydney with my husband and our Cavoodle, Frida. Life is busy, joyful, and full of the same curiosity and care I bring to my work. Specialties: Product design leadership, design systems, ecosystem design, team scaling, cross-functional collaboration, platform strategy, SaaS, design operations, creative problem-solving.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS design leader with extensive experience in product design and ecosystem development.
Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Experience: 20 yrs 11 mos
Skills
- Design Leadership
- Product Design
- User Experience (ux)
- Business Strategy
- Ui/ux Website Design
- Brand Strategy
Career Highlights
- Led design strategy for Canva's critical ecosystems.
- Successfully launched Canva Connect APIs for third-party integrations.
- Built high-performing design teams across multiple regions.
Work Experience
Canva
Head of Design, Content & Discovery, Canva (11 mos)
Head of Design, Ecosystem (1 yr 6 mos)
Atlassian
Senior Experience Design Manager, Jira Software (1 yr 2 mos)
Head of Design - Agile (interim) (7 mos)
Experience Design Manager, Jira as it Scales (1 yr 5 mos)
Senior Design Manager, Confluence (1 yr 1 mo)
Design Manager, Atlassian Design System, Platform (1 yr 9 mos)
Design Team Lead, Atlassian Design Guidelines (9 mos)
Senior Designer, Atlassian Design Guidelines (2 yrs 2 mos)
Australian Web Industry Association (AWIA)
Board Member (4 yrs 2 mos)
Design System meetup
Design System Meetup (2 yrs)
Career Break
Full-time parenting (10 mos)
Boomworks
Senior Visual Designer (1 yr 10 mos)
RedBalloon
Full-time parenting (11 mos)
Senior Web Designer (4 yrs 5 mos)
Lowe Hunt
Freelance Interactive Designer (1 mo)
Back Creative
Interactive Designer (6 mos)
George Patterson Y&R
Interactive Designer (6 mos)
Wunderman
Interactive Designer (1 yr)
Gruden
Freelance Web Designer (0 mo)
British Council
Online Brand Manager - East Asia (1 yr)
Web Designer (2 yrs)
Fox Television Studios
Freelance Graphic Design (0 mo)
Education
BA Design at UNSW
Advertising at AWARD School
Exchange at The Glasgow School of Art
BA Visual Communication at The Glasgow School of Art
