Design Operations London 2026

Building and Transforming Design from Startups to Scale-ups 

How do you set up design for success in a fast-moving startup? And how do you scale it as the company grows? Over the past four years, Rachel has tackled both challenges: bootstrapping design as the first hire at an early-stage startup and leading design transformation at a scale-up, all informed by playbooks from Chrome and Search. 

This talk is packed with practical examples and insights on:

• Choosing and implementing component libraries for velocity and quality
• Strategies for establishing a culture of great cross-functional collaboration from day one
• Adapting design systems and processes as the company scales - without slowing down
• Defining and executing a design vision to successfully drive organisational change
• The do’s and don’ts of hiring: from making the first design hire to rapidly scaling a team

The real takeaway? Great design isn’t just about pixels - it’s about collaboration, speed, and setting up the right foundations so anyone in any role can work together to build great products at any stage.