Growing Klarna Design to 100+ in 7 countries.
2019 — 2022I joined Klarna in 2019 as a design leader, where I grew the Product Design team to 100+ people across 7 countries. I also co-led UX Research, Writing, and Design Operations. I reported directly to the executive team. Important highlights in the role included establishing new design strategy for Klarna and navigating the organization through significant changes.
I started by building the Berlin design hub, where I implemented a pilot hiring process and successfully recruited 5 designers in 6 months, 30+ people in 2 years. My role then expanded globally, I took charge of product design operations, introducing career growth frameworks and operational best practices on a global scale.
Another major milestone was launching Klarna’s first bank account products with our founding team in Germany, Sweden and the US. This initiative resulted in €Million in consumer deposits and introduced a user-centric personal banking product, revolutionized the approach to savings and integrated key elements into our broader design system.
Key contributions — Org Design, Design Ops, Product Design Leadership
I have built interview guidelines for both individual contributor (IC) and leadership hires to ensure equittable and consistent hiring practices.
I’ve designed and refined Klarna’s career frameworks for product design in collaboration with my leadership team, ensuring diverse career paths for our team.
We build an interview training program with our talent and leadership team for our hiring committee.
As a team lead, I established rituals to ensure collaboration, quality, and efficiency in our design work. A crucial practice is our design critiques, supported by a detailed playbook, guidelines, and templates, facilitating effective reviews across the organization.
Outcome.
From 40 to 110+ in Product Design across 7 countries. Grew members in UX Research, UX Writing and Design Ops.
Triple org growth in 2 years.
Increase women’s representation.
From 36% to 51% overall, 26% to 39% in leadership, became the first at Klarna.
Continuously optimized design operations.
Reduce the time to hire by 75% without compromising quality in the process, takes 10% faster company’s average.
My leadership scores were 97-100% for 2 years — 20% above company avg — and my team’s engagement scores were one of the highest across different product orgs within Klarna.
Leadership and engagement.
Team I work closest with during this growth phase:
Ricardo Esteves — Senior Manager, Product Design
Alyssa Vincent-Hill — Head of UX Research
Dilara Neutze — Director of Product Design
Ana Andrei — Design Recruitment Lead
Josefine Edsbrand — Head of Design Ops