Hey, I'm Linda,
and I make complicated things work.
Currently, Associate Creative Director at Publicis Sapient. Working in the gap between business ambition and shipped product while based in sunny Dubai ☼
Where I've built
Led a $45M national super-app transformation; 20+ designers, 107% revenue target hit.
The work
Associate Creative Director and Head of Design across a portfolio of national transformation programmes. Led and scaled distributed design teams across multiple product streams, set the design operating model, and embedded data-informed design — A/B testing, personalisation, customer impact metrics — as the default across all client engagements. Clients have included Omantel, NEOM, and Ezdihar Group.
What moved
- 107% of revenue target achieved on the CX platform
- Authored the Partner Onboarding Framework, adopted as the platform standard
- Delivery consistency +20% across MENA programs
- Most Impactful Social Innovation; UAE Innovates 2024 Award
- Clients: Omantel · NEOM · Ezdihar Group
Rebuilt end-to-end insurance journeys; won the UAE Insurance Authority Digital Transformation Award 2020.
The work
Designed and shipped AXA Gulf's full digital experience; quote to claim; and built the design system adopted group-wide across the GCC. Ran quarterly alignment with international teams to maintain consistency at scale.
What moved
- Car insurance quote time cut from 3m11s to 2m20s (−27%)
- Funnel exits reduced by 21%
- Yacht insurance: 4× upstream conversion + 2K+ additional leads
- +450% app downloads during pandemic features launch
- Mobile design guidelines adopted group-wide across MENA
Set Apple's Arabic design standard for the region; played a key creative role in the Dubai flagship store launch.
The work
Managed Apple's GCC regional account; localising creative assets, leading Design QA processes, and running quarterly workshops in Cupertino and London. Authored the first Arabic typography spec for Apple's production pipeline.
What moved
- Authored Apple's first Arabic typography specification; still the regional standard
- +52% traffic to the Arabic site via the Eid campaign
- Key creative role on the Apple Store Dubai flagship opening
- Pixel-perfect delivery standards embedded across all GCC production teams
Shipped the platform rebrand via atomic design and A/B testing; launched dubizzle.uno.
The work
Core team contributor defining design patterns across Motors and Classifieds verticals, then led the full web and app rebrand using atomic design principles and iterative A/B testing; establishing a "try, fail, repeat" playbook that accelerated future roll-outs.
What moved
- Launched dubizzle.uno via atomic-design sprints and cross-functional collaboration
- Defined coherent patterns across Motors, Classifieds, and other verticals
- Established an iterative A/B testing culture that became the product team's default
Redesigned the region's top women's portal; +45% engagement and Cartier, L'Oréal, Nissan on board.
The work
Creative lead for yasmina.com and its e-commerce arm mooda.com; shaping user-centric web experiences in partnership with editorial, video, and dev teams. Pitched and onboarded major regional brands.
What moved
- +45% user engagement in Q1 2012 following the redesign
- Onboarded Cartier, L'Oréal, and Nissan through conceptual pitches
- Attracted multi-channel marketing partnerships with global brands
The designs behind the numbers
Redesigning Telco Bill Payment for a Super App
From a fragmented telco billing experience to a trust-first payment system that drives self-service adoption and retention.
All-in-One Bill Payment
The Telco revamp built the foundation. This is what happened when we trusted it enough to extend; and what the data showed in the first 30 days.
From Zero to Vision: NEOM's Tourism Content & Booking Hub
Defining the experience vision for NEOM's tourism platform from scratch. Research across three markets, a 200-page LEAD framework report, and prototype concepts for three distinct user archetypes.
Recognitions & Awards
Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification
8 modules. Exceptional scores across UX Strategy, AI for UX, Designing Influence, and Journey Mapping.
Score 100%UAE Insurance Authority Digital Transformation Award
Smart Services Prize, National Day Ceremony, November 2020. AXA Gulf recognised as benchmark for the UAE sector.
Most Impactful Social Innovation
The mobile app won the Most Impactful Social Innovation during the UAE Innovates 2024 Award.
What you get if we work together
You need more than a design lead. You need someone who's already done it at scale.
I've operated at director level inside complex programmes
Across Publicis Sapient, I've led 20+ direct designers and 50+ cross-functional collaborators across Product, Tech, Data, and CX — setting the operating model, owning resourcing, and representing design at the executive level.
I've translated design into money before
UAE Insurance Authority award. Omantel CX platform that's still running. I know how to tie a design decision to a business outcome; in the room, in writing, and in the numbers.
I leave behind designers who don't need me
20+ designers led across 3 continents. The ones I've managed have gone on to lead. Junior-to-senior pipelines, operating models, critique cultures; I build the conditions, then get out of the way.
15 years of senior roles, complex programmes, and shipped products. Here's what's relevant.
Apple. AXA. Omantel. NEOM. Always in the room where the brief was hardest.
Apple, AXA Gulf, Omantel, NEOM. Every role was strategic and complex; not junior execution, not hand-off work. NNG certified. MA with high honours. Available for senior IC or director-level roles.
I close the gap between strategy and shipping.
Most leaders do one. I do both simultaneously; embedded in national transformation programmes, trusted with the most visible work, no long ramp-up. Hired once, you get the full stack.
Dubai base. No timezone friction.
MENA, Europe, US; delivered across all three without missing a beat. Open to relocation for the right role. Best fit: Experience Design Director, Head of Design, Platform Design Lead.
Go ahead. Ask what you'd normally paste into ChatGPT.
The craft isn't going anywhere. Let's make sure you aren't either.
I'll help you articulate what you already know
You can feel when a design is wrong. Working with me, you'll learn to say exactly why; in a way that lands with a CPO, survives a roadmap cut, and holds up six months later. That's the skill that changes careers.
Working in messy, real conditions; not clean briefs
No perfect briefs, no quiet sprints. Alongside me, you'll learn how to design when the conditions aren't ideal; which is always. That's the only kind of experience that transfers.
I'll tell you when your work is ready; and why it isn't yet
Most feedback is vague or political. Mine is specific: what's not working, what the decision underneath the design actually is, and what would make it land. Designers who work with me stop second-guessing and start deciding.
Experience Design since 2011.
I am looking to build products that stand for something.
I love discussing design leadership, systems thinking, and what it takes to build digital products in a region moving this fast.
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