Rebuilding Under Organizational Collapse

Salsify · Senior Product Design Manager · 2022–2024

Context

Two months after I joined as first EU Senior Product Design Manager, the entire EU Product Design team resigned.


Risks:

  • Delivery collapse risk across SupplierXM (French SaaS)
  • No local design capability
  • Misalignment with US design team
  • Enterprise credibility at stake

My Role

  • Rebuilt EU design function from scratch
  • Owned hiring, onboarding, and performance
  • Partnered with PM and Engineering Directors across 3 tribes (7 squads)
  • Restored quality, delivery stability, and cross-country alignment

Key Decisions

Optimized for long-term stability over short-term seniority

Hired 2 junior designers + 1 lead instead of 3 seniors to rebuild culture and craft foundations.

EU design team structure
EU design team structure

Built structural DesignOps foundations before scaling delivery velocity

Created onboarding framework, research repository, and UI library while hiring.

Onboarding framework
90-day onboarding framework: structured ramp-up from product immersion (Week 1) to full squad ownership (Month 3)
Research repository structure
Research repository structure in Jira: atomic research model connecting observations, insights, and recommendations to product roadmap
Workshop step-by-step guides paired with ready-to-use Figjam board templates (e.g., Crazy 8s)
Discovery toolkit: facilitation guides paired with ready-to-use Figjam templates (e.g., Crazy 8s)

Treated cross-country misalignment as product risk

Introduced weekly EU–US design reviews (FR/PT/US).

Design review template
Design review template standardizing project presentations across EU-US weekly critique sessions

Personally intervened in critical product flows

Led Media Section redesign to remove enterprise performance blockers.

Results

Team rebuilt in 12 months.

Impact

3 designers
Hired & onboarded in 6 months in France
-30%
Designer ramp-up time vs US benchmark
-40%
Duplicated research

Long-term Impact

  • Structured onboarding framework still in use
  • Shared research repository institutionalized
  • Cross-country review rituals embedded
  • Stronger autonomy within EU team

Example of supported product: Media Section Redesign

Problem:

Media blocked product page load and degraded enterprise catalog performance.


Approach:

  • Moved media to page-wide modal
  • Preserved key inline assets
  • Aligned feasibility early with PM & Engineering
  • Validated through rapid testing

Impact:

-75%
Product Page load by redesigning Media Management
2
Enterprise deals in APAC supported through performance improvements
Media section redesign modal view
Full-page modal for media management replacing embedded section, preserving usability while eliminating performance bottleneck