iCapital Case Study:
Evolving a Reactive Design Team into a Proactive, Enterprise UX Organization

Executive Summary

In 2021, I was recruited as Head of UX to build a mature, scalable design organization for iCapital’s rapid enterprise growth. Over four years, I grew the team by 166% (3 to 8 specialists), established iCapital’s first Enterprise Design System, and launched data-driven initiatives that moved UX from a reactive service to a proactive product strategist.

The Challenge: The Reactive Bottleneck

  • Legacy Model: A 3-person team acting as a "graphic design" service, brought in at the final hour to style pre-baked features.

  • Siloed Requirements: No collaborative discovery process; design decisions lacked user validation or cross-functional alignment.

  • Complexity: Navigating a heavily regulated fintech landscape without formalized research or systems-thinking.

When Greg joined, the team was viewed as a production studio that put band-aids on product requests...

-Direct report at iCapital

The Strategy: People, Process, & Data

1. Intentional Org Architecture

I split the team into two specialized disciplines to eliminate production bottlenecks:

  • UX Architects (Upstream): Focused on discovery, research, strategy, and wireframing.

  • UX Designers (Downstream): Focused on high-fidelity execution and design system integrity.

2. The Collaborative Culture

I instituted moderated co-design workshops to extract requirements directly from stakeholders. This dismantled silos, accelerated alignment, and ensured UX was defining the what and why alongside Product Managers.

3. Data-Driven Initiatives

To prove design ROI, I launched two core programs:

  • Project Lift: Rigorous heuristic audits across the platform to provide PMs with a validated, prioritized optimization roadmap.

  • Project Baseline: Continuous SUS (System Usability Scale) tracking to benchmark and measure platform usability gains over time.

The Impact

  • Operational Scale: Expanded from 3 generalists to 8 specialized roles, creating a self-sustaining research and design ecosystem.

  • Design Velocity: Built and deployed an Enterprise Design System, drastically reducing engineering rework and unifying the fintech ecosystem.

  • Measurable Quality: Established a direct correlation between UX interventions and rising SUS scores, proving design's business value.

  • Strategic Influence: Successfully shifted UX into a "proactive loop," securing a permanent seat at the table for product roadmapping and portfolio strategy.

“You are a very good leader. I would hire you again in a heartbeat, anywhere I went.”

- CIO iCapital