fintech
Building a digital bank from scratch
Whether you need someone embedded in your team, a structured diagnostic, or a framework your design leaders can follow. Here is how I work:
You need senior design leadership but you are not ready to hire full-time.
I embed within your team, typically one to three days per week and act as your Head of Design: defining how your team works, building the systems that make quality consistent, developing your designers, and making sure design has a seat at the table when it matters.
This is not advisory. I do the work alongside your team.
Who this is for:
Series A and B product companies, fintechs, and scale-ups with a design team but no design leader. Companies transitioning from agency-led to in-house design. Teams where design quality is inconsistent and nobody is sure why.
What you get:
A functioning design culture. A team that ships with more confidence and less rework. A system that works when I am not in the room.
Engagement:
Minimum three months on a day rate: 1, 2 or 3 days per week.
Day rate: €650
Fixed monthly retainers available on request.
A focused three-day engagement that gives you a clear picture of where your design practice is strong, where it is fragile, and exactly what to fix first.
Most teams know something is not working. They do not always know where to start. The audit gives you that starting point, with a concrete set of prioritised recommendations, not a 40-slide deck of things you already knew.
What is covered:
Team structure and roles.
Ways of working and design process.
Design system maturity.
Handoff quality and cross-functional relationships.
Leadership capability and growth gaps.
Who this is for:
Product leaders, CPOs, or CTOs who want an honest external view of their design practice before making structural decisions. New Heads of Design who want to understand what they have inherited.
Investment:
€2,500. Fixed scope, fixed price.
Delivered remotely or in person in Lisbon.
For designers who have stepped into leadership and are figuring it out as they go.
I run half-day workshops, delivered remotely, that give mid-level and senior designers a practical operating system for their first leadership role.
Not theory. Not inspiration. The specific frameworks, habits, and tools I built during 25 years of leading design teams in complex environments.
Topics include:
The first 90 days as a design leader. Running design reviews that actually improve work.
Building a team culture from scratch. How to talk to engineering, product, and the CFO. Developing your designers without micromanaging them.
I also work with individual designers one-to-one for focused coaching engagements, typically six sessions over three months.
Who this is for:
Senior designers stepping into their first leadership role.
Design leads who have been in the role for six to eighteen months and feel like they are still improvising.
Design teams whose company has invested in leadership development.
Workshop investment: €150–200 per person.
Coaching: from €250 per session.
A selection of testimonials to see how I’ve helped designers and design teams reach their full potential.
“Oliver is a force multiplier who elevates everyone around him.”
Greta
Head of Design Operations
Josh
Head of Product Design
Cath
Editor, Senior Copywriter and Head of Content
Diane
Senior researcher
