I make sense of complex domains, and help teams ship inspired, simple and scalable solutions
personio / hr tech / 2023–2026
Rebuilding Personio’s core product functionality with a new quality bar
- 44% → 71% CSAT
- Between Jan 2024 and May 2025
- 31% → 38% win-rate
- Against competitors
veyor / logistics / 2021
A new product for loading docks: From insight to product market fit
- 4,692
- Bookings in the first month
- First enterprise client
- Signed after the pilot
Who I am
A design leader who has actually shipped the work
- Accounting
- HR
- Logistics
- Data analytics
Ex-startup founder with 15+ years of experience designing and leading teams inside B2B start-ups and scale-ups across Europe, USA and Australia.
MSc in Human-Computer Interaction with deep expertise in information architecture, product and systems thinking.
working together
Three ways you can bring me in
Depending on what's missing: team leadership, hands-on IC for a critical project, or a second opinion.
- 01
As Advisor or Bar Raiser
on-demand or set cadence→An expert to raise the quality of what ships and other product design decisions
- 02
As High-impact IC
hours per week or month→A hands-on individual contributor to drive high-stakes work across the line
- 03
As Interim Leader
1–3 days/week→An experienced manager to set direction and look after the team while you hire
How I think about quality
I care about what ships, not just what's designed. Simple solutions are the hardest to get to and almost always worth the extra thinking.
How I make decisions
I think in options and trade-offs, not yes or no. I ask why a lot, and focus on the hard problems before the easy wins.
How I partner and collaborate
You bring the domain reality. I challenge assumptions and bring an outside perspective. Direct feedback, both ways. That's what makes the work better and the team stronger.
HOW I LEAD
Good leadership isn't about having all the answers
It's about asking better questions, building the right conditions for good work to happen, and knowing when to stop deliberating and start shipping.
Read more about my leadership approach →“Elena is able to go deep in the weeds and think at a high level, which means she's able to contribute so much to the team and, ultimately, to the customers.”
“We released to market on time with a lot of positive feedback around experience. I'd highly recommend Elena for any design leadership role.”
“Elena continuously seeks to improve the process, deliverables, and ways of working as a team. Given her positive attitude and inspirational leadership, she is a great person to work with and look up to.”
“Elena's ability to challenge both the team and her peers has helped shape EO into a culture where constructive feedback and challenges are welcomed.”
“Elena is very good at switching between an IC role and a management role. It was great to see how she raised the standards of design and our aspirations towards UX.”
“Her ability to take several steps back, question our roadmap and priorities, and suggest alternatives has proven invaluable.”
“Her pushes to think differently about a topic have often helped us deliver much better experiences to customers significantly sooner.”
“Elena is an absolutely superb manager and designer. I've personally benefited hugely from her mentorship and guidance.”
“I worked with Elena for almost two years, and I can say she's one of the best managers I ever had... continually encouraging me to go beyond my limits.”
let's talk
Tell me what you need,
I'll tell you if I can help
I'm selective about who I work with. So are good people.