Head of Design, Nourish (team of 8 designers + 1 UX researcher) • 2024–present

Defining Design at Nourish Care

The Challenge

When I joined Nourish, Product had just pivoted to an empowered triad model (PM + Design + Engineering), with design positioned as a late-stage blocker. With only two other designers and both siloed outside triads, PMs were running discovery independently and engineering building directly from Miro sketches. Our design patterns lacked consistency and standards necessary for health/social care users who face heavy admin strain, regulatory needs, and accessibility requirements.

My Role

I head design across our core web platform and eight supporting products (including mobile native apps), reporting to the CPO and participating in fortnightly SLT key initiative reviews. The team has grown from two designers to eight designers + one UXR, with two more designers in hiring at the time of writing (March 2026). My focus is establishing sustainable ways of working that serve both our care sector users and triad delivery pace.

How we’re moving:
  • Team & design ops rhythm: Nurturing a thriving design sub-culture, through balanced weekly ceremonies and knowledge share across various seniorities. Clearer guidance and discovery frameworks, and ongoing component governance which helps design scale without becoming a bottleneck.
  • Pulse design system: Establishing our design principles and guidelines, including for care sector constraints (compliance, accessibility, high-stress workflows), with living documentation. It governs how we approach forms, data displays, and trust-building patterns specific to care delivery, ensuring consistency across our growing product suite while enabling faster, higher-quality handoffs.
  • Responsible AI: Encouraging exploration and efficiency through tools like Figma MCP and prompt engineering training, always UX-led rather than “prototype first.”
  • Sector cadence: Research and customer workshops, ongoing touchpoints and feedback loops. Lightweight testing protocols that surface clinician/carer realities (high admin load, neurodivergence, regulatory compliance) early in discovery.

Early Impact

Designers are increasingly seen as triad partners rather than service providers, and are able to leverage this to advocate for user needs. Engineers are now referencing specific components with built-in logics and accessibility requirements. Testing is becoming shared triad rhythm, not design-only responsibility. The team feels more equipped to handle both pace and craft as we continue to grow.

Ongoing Focus

  • Balancing act: Expanding product portfolio, AI acceleration vs human insight, deep research vs delivery speed, team autonomy vs consistency.
  • Next priorities: Formalising engineering collaboration patterns, scaling across more complex care workflows, and documenting what good looks like as the team expands again.