18 years of building design teams that ship, change programs that stick, and experiences that click.
Saved $27M through culture change at a 33,000-person bank. Scaled a B2B platform from 400K to 4M users. Taught 1,000+ students across three institutions. Prosci Certified. Executive MBA. LinkedIn Top Voice since 2024.
Start here
Building a design team?
See how I built and led a 9-person team across 6 countries.
Driving org transformation?
See how we changed meeting culture for 33,000 employees at the best bank in the world.
Hiring for a senior role?
18 years across design, leadership, teaching, and transformation.
Designer navigating a transition?
I coach experienced designers through The Backdoor.
Not sure where to start? See the problems I solve →
Selected Work
Driving $27M+ in productivity gains by redesigning organizational behavior systems
Transformed meeting culture across 26,000+ employees by embedding behavioral change into workflows, tools, and leadership systems. Shifted meetings from a productivity issue to a system-level behavior design problem.
Scaling ARR from $4.5M to $13M by redesigning activation and trust
Redesigned onboarding, search, and core product surfaces to shift from feature-first to value-first experience. Aligned product, behavior, and brand into a compounding growth system.
Increasing conversion by 71% by restructuring a misaligned product experience
Identified that poor navigation reflected a deeper structural issue in how users understood the product. Challenged existing design direction and redesigned the experience around user mental models.
Helping 50+ experienced designers land roles in 4-12 weeks through trust, not applications
Built and launched The Backdoor, an 8-week coaching program that replaces cold applications with warm conversations. Clients achieve 20-30% outreach response rates. Designed 8 AI-powered coaching tools to support the process.
The Journey
Nine chapters. One thread.
Every chapter looks different on the surface. Designer, lecturer, transformation coach, startup leader, founder. But the thread is always the same: find the problem nobody wants to own, build the thing that doesn't exist yet, and leave the system better than I found it. Each pivot wasn't a restart. It was compounding.
What People Say
From bosses, team members, and colleagues.
"Bar none the best UX/product/design person I've ever worked with. Activation and conversion rates improved 3-4x. He's the best personnel leader and coach I've ever known. A WEAPON."
"Smart, thoughtful approach to work. Great at coaching and motivating his staff. Effective across Product, Design, Growth, Marketing or Sales teams. A secret weapon to any high growth team."
"The most versatile and dedicated person I've had the pleasure of working with. His impact extended far beyond his direct responsibilities. He elevated those around him."
"Uniquely a strategist as well as an executor. Can grasp strategic goals and directions, yet be very grounded in tactical execution and delivery. A mature thinker who pushes boundaries."
"Exceptional as a designer and exceptional as a design leader. It was a privilege to be mentored by Joseph. He taught me how to think, not just how to design."
"The best coach, mentor, and leader I've ever had. He actually listens when you talk and brings out your thoughts in a way that makes it super clear and obvious to you."
"Very independent with a strong understanding of the end-to-end design process. Extremely good critical thinker and will be an asset for every organisation."
"A walking UX/Product Knowledge Base. Great at breaking down complex concepts and connecting them to the broader picture. You definitely want someone like Joseph on your team."
"A natural and excellent mentor and leader. Despite not being our manager, he always provided guidance, advice, and a listening ear. The team's source of encouragement and strength."
Explore
More about how I work.
How I design
I design systems, not screens. Eight principles from 18 years of building things across banks, startups, government, and education.
Read moreHow I lead
I build teams that deliver results. When you invest in people with intention, they surprise you with what they can do. I don't choose between people and performance.
Read moreWhat I solve
Enterprise culture change. Complex product architecture. The kind of problems where nobody knows where to start. Design thinking, change management, and systems that turn messy problems into clear next steps.
Read moreHow I coach
I work with experienced designers who've hit a wall in their career search. Through The Backdoor, they land senior roles in 4-12 weeks using warm conversations instead of cold applications. 50+ designers coached.
Read moreHow I teach
1,000+ students across NTU, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and CuriousCore. School Teaching Award. 4.96/5.0 mean teaching score. I teach design thinking, career strategy, and how to see problems differently.
Read moreHow I play
Side projects, experiments, and things I build for fun. From AI-powered coaching tools to design challenges. Even as a design leader, I believe the only way to master the medium is to keep building.
See projectsLet's build something together.
Whether you're scaling a startup, transforming an enterprise, or building a design team, I'd love to hear about it.