Curriculum Vitae Hayden Chambers

Leadership highlights

Built and led multi-disciplinary UX teams, including managers
Defined design strategy and levelling frameworks for multiple Design functions
Introduced design systems, governance models and cross-product standards in engineering-first organisations
Scaled hiring and talent development processes for rapidly growing design and front-end organisations (100 → 250+)
Deep practitioner experience across UX, UI, branding and front-end engineering, enabling credible leadership in technical environments

Current

Apr 2023 - Present
Canonical — Interim UX Director, Enterprise

Lead an EMEA-based team of 12 designers and design managers, setting UX strategy for Canonical’s enterprise products, including the Ubuntu operating system.
Responsibilities & impact:
- Defined and evolved Canonical's design leveling framework for UX, User Research and Visual Design, improving clarity of expectations, promotions and hiring across the organisation
- Guided personal OKRs and professional development for the team, with a focus on technical fluency, systems thinking and cross-product collaboration
- Acted as manager of managers, mentoring design leaders and establishing good practices for design management in an engineering-driven culture
- Led hiring for all design roles, shaping a team mix that balances deep technical understanding with strong product and interaction design skills
- Worked closely with senior stakeholders including the VP of Product and the Chief of Staff to ensure design quality, influence roadmap priorities, and embed user-centred thinking into planning, resourcing and cross-functional decision-making

Previous Experience

Apr 2018 - April 2023
Zartis — Head of UX (primary employer)

Established and led the UX practice for a rapidly scaling engineering consultancy, defining delivery frameworks, elevating design maturity, and supporting both internal teams and enterprise clients through complex product challenges.
Responsibilities & Impact:
- Led hiring for all design and front-end roles, supporting company growth from 100 to 250 staff and shaping the competency across multiple teams
- Built Zartis’ UX practice from the ground up, creating UX frameworks, processes and quality standards used across all consulting engagements
- Expanded the company’s bottom line by introducing and growing UX service offerings, increasing strategic involvement in client accounts
- Directed UX strategy and delivery for key clients, including EcoOnline and Effective Software, providing hands-on leadership
2021 - 2023
EcoOnline — Strategic Design Lead (via Zartis)

Led UX strategy for a fast-growing merger & acquisition company operating across multiple product lines, strengthening design maturity and aligning design with product and engineering functions.
Key Contributions:
- Ran high-performance workshops and training programmes, lifting design capability and cross-team collaboration
- Defined and delivered UX projects directly tied to Product OKRs, ensuring measurable alignment with business goals
- Implemented and extended the design language across the product suite
- Developed tooling and processes to enable non-design teams to effectively utilise the design system
- Led UX and UI design across the platform, shaping product experience and consolidating fragmented workflows
- Acted as a bridge between design and engineering teams, improving communication and delivery efficiency
2018 - 2021
Effective Software — Strategic Design Lead (via Zartis)

Led UX and product modernisation for an enterprise health & safety platform, balancing legacy technology constraints with forward-looking design improvements. The company was later acquired.
Key Contributions:
- Defined UX direction for a multi-platform enterprise product, improving usability and reducing design debt across the system
- Oversaw implementation and extension of new UI components as part of a broader rebrand and platform uplift
- Assessed front-end technologies to support upcoming product iterations
- Designed and delivered key UX improvements for complex workflows, strengthening product competitiveness
- Established white-labelling and configuration patterns to support customer customisation at scale
2014 – 2018
ETFmatic — Front-end & UX Lead

Held end-to-end responsibility for brand, UX and front-end implementation at a fintech startup that grew to become one of Europe’s most downloaded robo-advisor apps. Worked as a hands-on designer and front-end developer in a small team shipping continuously. The company was later acquired.
Key Contributions:
- Designed and implemented the product’s web and mobile user interfaces, balancing usability, performance and regulatory requirements
- Built and maintained 10,000+ lines of production JavaScript
- Created and evolved the brand identity and visual system across product and marketing touchpoints
- Developed core UX flows for onboarding, investment setup and portfolio views
- Explored emerging front-end frameworks to support rapid product evolution
- Worked closely with founders and engineers in a fast-paced environment, contributing to rapid iteration and early product-market fit

Early career

2000 - 2014
Spent over a decade as a hands-on designer and front-end developer in agencies, startups and as a freelance. Delivered complete design solutions for clients in multiple verticals. Built a broad technical foundation and brand systems experience which continues to inform how I lead and coach design and engineering teams today.

Hayden Chambers

Personal details

Skills

Teaching

Education

Leadership highlights

Current

Previous Experience

Early career