Mar 2023 – Present · 3 yrs 1 mo · Berlin, Germany · Hybrid

Jun 2021 – Dec 2022 · 1 yr 6 mos

• As the director of Design & UX, I scaled the Homedays design team to a fully-fledged organization that delivers customer-centric design throughout all product areas and builds consistent customer experiences that contribute to business goals.
• Growing impact and responsibilities called for an expansion of the team structure. To enable sustainable growth while continuously increasing design quality, we established collaborative design units under my leadership. A creative studio responsible for our visual identity, brand, and marketing assets, a UX research team focused on providing customer insights to the product organization and assisting all product squads in research and usability testing, and a team of UX designers embedded in product squads delivering digital user experience solutions.
• Based on an assessment of our UX maturity, according to the Nielsen Norman model of UX maturity, we established a scalable user-centered design process across all product squads aligned with our SCRUM process. Raising our UX maturity to include systematic UX methodology across the product organization.
• With the newly established UX research team, we could contribute key customer insights for the new realtor model employed by Homeday, leading to increased customer satisfaction and improved conversion rates in broker orders.
• Findings from customer research done by any department at Homeday were documented centrally in the research database built by my team, preventing duplicate research efforts and making research results more widely accessible.

Jul 2019 – Jun 2021 · 1 yr 11 mos

• Brought on as the first dedicated design manager, I took over responsibility for setting up UX design practices aligned with agile development and established product management routines. In partnership with product management and engineering leadership. We established a principle of equitable partnership with each discipline contributing differently but equally important.
• With a relatively small team, I also played my part in the hands-on design. I led the design of an onsite property valuation tool to create more trustworthy valuations for sellers and increase broker order conversion rates as well as process adoption by realtor agents.
• To further enhance consistency, efficiency, and usability, we established a design system built in design assets as well as frontend code. Which led to quicker design iterations as well as improved development speeds.

Sep 2018 – Jul 2020 · 1 yr 10 mos · Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland

• Member of the organizing committee for Europe's largest UX Barcamp, connecting the international UX community.
• Resigned to focus on my family after the birth of our second child.

May 2016 – Jun 2019 · 3 yrs 1 mo

• Promotion to Creative Director after just two months, taking over responsibilities for the design team. Established a full-fledged UX practice in alignment with agile development practices. Hired and managed UX/UI designers.
• Led design for a major relaunch of the web experience serving millions of members, increasing user engagement and user-generated content.
• Expanded the design team to include dedicated UX design capacity for native iOS and Android experiences.
• Member of the strategic leadership round responsible for concepts for spin-offs in different market segments like dating.
• Led design for the spin-off lebensfreunde.de catering to the established user group, including design thinking workshops and design sprints.

Mar 2016 – Apr 2016 · 1 mo

• Joined the leading social media platform for reconnecting classmates in the DACH region as a UX designer responsible for the web experience of members.

Feb 2014 – Feb 2016 · 2 yrs · Berlin, Deutschland

• I joined explonauten.net as a leading UX Designer responsible for diverse clients like the Berliner Fernsehturm, Star FM radio station, and start-ups like Greta & Starks, Quobyte, and Lockbox. My responsibilities stretched from stakeholder management, project management, and UX/UI design to front-end implementation. As the first UX designer, I established early UX practices in the agency's portfolio.

Feb 2012 – Feb 2014 · 2 yrs

• I was offered the opportunity to join ORTEC Medical as the leading UX Designer for the Berliner Forschungsplattform Gesundheit (health intelligence platform), a joint venture with Charité and Vivantes, two of the largest German healthcare providers. 

In my role, I was responsible for the user experience of medical practitioners in clinics and clinic trial centers.

May 2008 – Jan 2012 · 3 yrs 8 mos

• Built websites, and marketing solutions, designed corporate identities and corporate communication for SMEs and agency clients in various industries including the commercial real estate sector.

Feb 2007 – Apr 2008 · 1 yr 2 mos · Berlin

• Hired after a successful freelance collaboration, I was employed as an Art Director responsible for web design, corporate identities, and corporate communication for the commercial real estate sector, including large-scale property developers like Hines, BEOS, and Vivico Real Estate.

Feb 2005 – Jan 2007 · 1 yr 11 mos · Berlin, Germany

• Built websites, and marketing solutions, designed corporate identities and corporate communication for SMEs and agency clients in various industries.

Dec 2001 – Jan 2005 · 3 yrs 1 mo · Berlin, Germany

• Co-founder and CEO of a Berlin-based design agency focused on designing corporate identities, marketing, and web design solutions for SMEs.