Leadership
As a senior leader in a fast-paced, high pressure company, I scaled and shaped a multi-disciplinary team that played a strategic role in driving product quality and cross-functional process improvements.
This narrative reflects how I built a culture of craft, research maturity, and influence — embedding design and research as trusted partners in company-wide decision-making.
Pinhome is an Indonesian proptech with 500+ employees and millions monthly visits.
From 2020–2025, I managed a 20+ team (design, research, writing, illustration) that supported nearly every product (apps, internal tools, white-label) for users from property seekers and owners to agents, developers, and service providers. I partnered with the CTO/CMO and Heads of Product/Engineering, keeping a flat structure that empowered senior ICs and kept feedback loops fast.
Scaling the Design Org
As the team expanded, I focused on building an environment where people could grow, collaborate effectively, and deliver at a high level. To achieve this, I introduced structural clarity and people-focused practices across four key areas:
Bar Raising Design Craft Quality
I shaped a design culture that balanced creativity, discipline, and cross-functional alignment — combining high-quality execution with strong product thinking. I focused on embedding values of high-quality craft, timely delivery, clear storytelling, and user-grounded innovation into the team’s everyday work.
To achieve this, I:
Introduced a tailored discovery design process with timeline guidance, fidelity standards, and alignment rituals with cross-functional partners.
Invested to Design & Illustration Systems, unifying design language and accelerating delivery.
Established layered review rituals (critiques, peer feedback, 1:1 check-ins) to build taste, strengthen judgment, and foster coaching.
Enabling Impactful Research
Research function is strategic key lever to elevate the team's values. I embedded it more meaningfully across the product development cycle. The goal was to shift research from a reactive service to a proactive, capability that enabled better decisions and stronger alignment within and across teams.
To operationalize this, I pushed the team to co-create a Research Playbook, which included when & how to involve researchers, how to join & listen in research sessions, and how to make insights more visible and actionable.
We also published a quarterly Research Newsletter to break myths ("research is slow") and share impact stories. The newsletter contained easily digestible insights and voice recordings.
As Pinhome matured, I helped elevate Design from contributor to strategic partner, aligning more closely with business strategy and shaping outcomes beyond screens.
I co-led the property seeker experience project, reframing it as a service journey requiring orchestration across digital and operational touchpoints — improving inquiry-to-intention conversion by 3.5×, and making telesales process 3× faster.
I also embedded Design into cross-functional planning rituals, ensuring designers had a voice in prioritization. Internally, I empowered ICs to run their own rituals, QA cycles, and co-creation sessions, strengthening our role as thought partners.
This positioned Design & Research as an embedded, trusted voice across the organization, driving both vision and execution.
Looking to strengthen, scale, or better manage your design team?
Let’s talk about your challenges and opportunities — and explore how I can help move your organization forward.