Starting in October, I step into SCHUMACHER's management team as Executive Director, alongside leading the UX & Strategy Unit.
This is the next step in a strategy we have been building for a while: anchoring user experience design at the management level, not in a satellite department. It means I can shape the strategic direction of our projects with a sharper focus on user centricity and innovation — and signal to clients that design now sits where the business decisions happen.
What I find most exciting is what this means for how we work with clients. We are no longer a design service provider handing over deliverables on brief — we are an innovation partner: working alongside our customers to shape strategy, taking shared accountability for outcomes, and staying involved until the change actually lands in the business. A design service provider executes against a brief; an innovation partner co-creates the brief and shares accountability for whether the change works in the real world.
I am proud of what I have been able to build together with my team over the past few years and very much looking forward to continuing on this path — with inspiring clients, exciting projects, and ever new challenges. This is the same kind of work I have been doubling down on in my innovation and design coaching practice, now with a permanent home in the agency's leadership.
Thank you, Michael and Verena, for the trust.
Read next:
- An award honoring the transformation we are going through — the German Digital Award win this journey started with
- Optimistic About the State of the Design Scene — the belief this move reflects
- The role of designers is changing rapidly in the AI era — why anchoring design at the management level matters now
- Antifragile by Design — the leadership lens that shaped this move
- Why I'll never get tired of facilitating innovation — what cross-functional teams can ship in 48 hours
FAQ
What does an Executive Director at a design agency actually do?
An Executive Director at a design agency sits on the management team and helps shape the agency's strategic direction, not just deliver projects. The role typically combines business leadership with deep design expertise — usually with direct responsibility for a practice area (like UX or strategy), a seat at the table on commercial and creative decisions, and a senior counterpart role to clients on strategic questions. It is the difference between running the work and running the agency alongside the work.
Why does design leadership belong at the management level?
When design only sits in delivery teams or as a service function, it tends to get treated as decoration on someone else's strategy. Putting design leadership on the management team means user centricity, innovation, and brand experience get weighed into the same decisions as finance, operations, and sales. It also signals to clients that design is a strategic partner, not a vendor — which changes the kind of work the agency gets invited to do in the first place.
What is the difference between a design service provider and an innovation partner?
A design service provider executes against a brief — they deliver artefacts the client has already scoped. An innovation partner works alongside the client to shape the strategy itself, takes shared accountability for the business outcome, and stays involved until the change actually lands in the organisation. The first model is transactional: hand over the brief, receive the deliverables. The second is a long-term collaboration where the agency has skin in the game and is measured on impact, not output.
How does anchoring UX in management change the day-to-day work?
It shifts the UX team's mandate from "make this thing usable" to "help us decide what to make in the first place." UX leaders with management-level access can flag commercial risks early, redirect budgets toward higher-leverage opportunities, and frame design decisions in business terms the rest of the leadership team can act on. It is the difference between UX as a service you buy and UX as a strategic function that shapes what the company builds, ships, and measures.