Global Relay

A growing company with a design team that hadn't scaled with it.

Global Relay provides archiving, compliance surveillance, and secure communication tools to regulated financial institutions. The products are complex, the regulatory requirements are strict, and the users are professionals who depend on these tools daily.

When I joined, the design team was 15 people split across London and Vancouver. There was no consistent process, no design system to speak of, no career framework, and no clear connection between design work and business strategy. The team was capable but under-structured, working in silos with limited influence on product direction.

Structure the team, embed the process, then scale.

I started with the fundamentals. I introduced a hybrid team model: designers report into a centralised design function for career development, standards, and community, but are embedded in product teams for day-to-day work. This broke down the silos and gave designers real proximity to product decisions while keeping the design org cohesive.

I embedded user-centred design into the software development lifecycle so it became part of how the company builds products, not an optional extra. I introduced a Figma governance model using structured card templates that capture who created a design, who signs it off, the context, and which business requirements it addresses. This brought clarity and accountability to design decisions across a multi-site organisation.

I created dual career paths: a people management track and a project leadership track. Designers can now grow into either direction without one being seen as more senior than the other. I rewrote every job description and rebuilt the hiring process to attract the right people at every level.

I established a dedicated design system team from zero, building a new design system from scratch that improved on what existed before. I created an accessibility group and upskilled a designer to lead it, embedding accessibility into the design process rather than treating it as an afterthought. I'm now evaluating how AI can be integrated into our workflows to increase the team's impact.

Through all of this, I built a culture of shared ownership. Everyone can contribute, everyone is heard. The result is a team that people don't want to leave: only three designers have moved on since I joined, and all three left because they relocated to a different country.

A design organisation that operates at scale.

The team has grown from 15 to 76 people across London, Vancouver, and New York. But the numbers are the least interesting part. What changed is how design operates: it's now embedded in the product development process, has clear governance, a design system that scales, an accessibility practice, and career paths that retain talent.

I work directly with the CEO in daily meetings to shape product strategy and improve strategic products. Design has moved from a service function to a strategic partner, with genuine influence on what gets built and how. I was also awarded a US patent as co-inventor on a gesture-based system for searching electronic records, a direct result of the innovation culture within the team.