Shey Cobley — Co-Founder
The problem was never output. It was judgment. I've spent 25 years at exec and board level across the UK, Europe, US, India and APAC building global design organisations, scaling teams to 250+, and leading experience within £1bn transformation programmes. And that's the one conviction every role reinforced: the teams that shape the next wave of innovation aren't the fastest ones. They're the ones that decide well; responsibly, deliberately, and with genuine craft behind the thinking. That's the thesis I test at every level. When that judgment has been applied well, the outcomes have been material. The design studio I led at BP delivered $21.4m in cost savings and efficiency gains, 309 projects across the business at 10x the speed of external agencies annually. At TCS I led the experience stream on multiple £1bn programmes, built a 250+ person global organisation and grew revenue year on year through disciplined commercial leadership. These aren't design metrics, they are business outcomes that happened because experience strategy was taken seriously. In an AI-accelerated world, the gap is widening fast. Screens appear in seconds. Concepts multiply. Shipping is frictionless. But output was never the hard part. Judgment is. And right now, most organisations — and most designers — are being set up to skip it. I bring this conviction into senior leadership and board advisory roles, helping organisations where digital experience is a strategic lever that isn't yet being fully used. My grounding in operating model design, global team scaling and P&L accountability means the guidance I give is anchored in commercial reality, not theory. I also test and apply this thinking through ventures of my own — mentorship infrastructure through The Loops, responsible design practice through Responsible.School, designer training across SE Asia through SWCH/ON, and keeping human understanding central to full-stack development through humanintheloop. The work looks different depending on where you find me. The mission is the same: in the age of AI, output is easy. Judgment is earned. I'm here to build it.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Digital Transformation Executive with expertise in User Experience and Design Innovation.
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Experience: 19 yrs 1 mo
Skills
- Design Leadership
- Experience Design
- Design Innovation
- Digital Strategy
- Customer Experience Transformation
- User Experience Design
Career Highlights
- Led global design teams delivering significant cost savings.
- Pioneered innovative design practices in large-scale transformations.
- Expert in integrating experience design with agile methodologies.
Work Experience
WongDoody
Experience & Design Advisor (7 mos)
The Loops
Co-Founder (9 mos)
bp
Global Director - Head of Design Studios (4 yrs 1 mo)
Tata Consultancy Services
Global Head of Studio-as-a-Service, TCS Interactive (1 yr 1 mo)
Head of Studio - UK, TCS Interactive (2 yrs 2 mos)
WongDoody
CX Director (5 mos)
Critical Mass
Senior Director of User Experience (1 yr 4 mos)
Director of User Experience (10 mos)
Associate Director of User Experience (1 yr 1 mo)
Optimal Experience @ PwC Australia
Senior User Experience Consultant (2 mos)
Optimal Experience
Senior User Experience Consultant (3 yrs 10 mos)
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia
Digital Manager (7 mos)
Oxford City Council
Digital Manager (3 yrs)
Education
Master of Business Administration - MBA at Henley Business School
Level 7 Diploma at Chartered Management Institute
Certificate at Royal College of Art - Executive Education
MA at Oxford Brookes University
BA(Hons) at Oxford Brookes University
