Leading product strategy across teams and markets

I started at Moonpig in 2022 as a Design Manager, leading design across Browse, Search, Attach and Digital Gifting.

Working closely with Product leadership, I helped shape the direction for the area and align teams around opportunities to improve how customers discover and choose products.

This was an important shift in my role: from leading design within individual product teams at Coolblue to thinking across the wider customer journey and helping teams work towards a shared direction.

Later, I was promoted to Senior Product Design Manager and took ownership of the whole funnel, from Search through to checkout. Together with the Director of Product, I worked on a strategy to improve conversion across the site.

We focused on the basics first, including improving page performance. Later, another important improvement was refining the search results and suggestions.

When the organisational structure changed, I became the Senior Product Design Manager for the Post Purchase tribe. I led four designers across the bottom of the funnel, fulfilment and our Design System.

I led cross-team work focused on improving the delivery experience, using customer feedback to identify where product and communications could work together more effectively. I also created a strategy to improve post-purchase communications, partnering with CRM and creating a design system for those communications.

When a strategically important product challenge needed dedicated design leadership, I moved from manager to hands-on Lead Designer.

I led the exploration of how My Account could evolve from a transactional utility into a more valuable part of the customer relationship, redesigning the entire space. One experiment we launched replaced the standard Account icon with a Sign in call to action for logged-out users, encouraging them to sign in earlier in the journey.

Product strategy is strongest when it is created with the team, not handed down to them. When people understand the direction and have helped shape it, they can make better decisions and execute with greater ownership.

I also learned that leadership is a privilege, not a title. You can build conviction around an idea, create momentum and bring people with you through trust and clarity, regardless of your formal position.