Amber Jabeen

Design Director & DesignOps Lead with over 10 years
experience in Product Design Management, Design Systems and DesignOps

About Me

design-thinking-profile

I am an accomplished Design Director with expertise in product design, design program management, design systems, and design operations. Over 10 years, I’ve managed and led design across various roles and spent 5+ years hands-on as a UX designer and design thinking workshop facilitator. My journey includes a transformative year leading design at IBM, where I honed my skills in design thinking workshops, UX design, user research, and collaboration with cross-functional teams.

As the Head of Design at Delivery Hero MENA, talabat, I steer a talented team across Content Design, Design Operations, and 4 Product Tribes, driven by a mission to craft a world-class online delivery experience in the Middle East.

Key accomplishments:

  • Global Rebranding: Spearheaded the rebranding of talabat across 9 markets, amplifying user engagement
  • Strategic Team Growth: Orchestrated a 45% surge in the design team within a year, scaling strategically
  • Cultural Cultivator: Established a culture of design excellence, founding an in-house design studio
  • DesignOps Pioneer: Founded and scaled a dedicated Design System team, growing from a single member to a high-performing team of 7 specialists, developing vision, strategy, competency frameworks, and engagement models
  • Championed the hiring of the organisation’s first UX engineers, integrating crucial skill sets
  • Partnership Architect: Forged robust cross-functional partnerships, reducing friction, and improving collaboration
  • Design System Trailblazer: Drove the strategic rebrand and implementation of a design system, achieving a seamless brand experience
  • Scaling Visionary: Established a vision and strategy for scaling the design system, gaining executive buy-in with a remarkable 98% adoption rate
  • Team Impact: As the Head of Design, significantly leveled up the design team, achieving a 30% impact increase (EOY performance)
  • Spearheaded initiatives that significantly elevated design maturity, focusing on team operations, hiring processes, design visibility, and quarterly showcases
  • Community Builder: Established and leading the DesignOps MENA community in Dubai, UAE, pioneering regular events to unite design, product, tech, and brand professionals

I love to share knowledge by writing on my blog and giving talks about all things design and leadership.

If you’d like to know more, I’d welcome a connect.

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My Skills

Digital Strategy and Design

  • User Research (interviews, focus groups, personas)
  • Business analysis, requirements gathering
  • Design thinking workshop (co-facilitation)
  • Sitemap, information architecture
  • Customer journey mapping, wireframing and prototyping
  • UX/UI design (websites and apps)
  • Wireframe documentation
  • Proficient in Sketch, Invision, Adobe Suite

Design Management and Leadership

  • Research, business/competitor analysis
  • Project brief, timeline
  • Leading a team with diverse skills; designers, managers, sr. managers, researchers and content designers
  • Presenting ideas and designs to stakeholders and staying focussed under pressure
  • Change management
  • Recruiting, building teams and orgs

Testimonials

Contact me

Want to work with me?

Like my work, and interested in working together? Get in touch so we can discuss your requirements.

Phone number:

00971 55 8454926

Social profile:

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