Permanent
I’m open to permanent roles when there’s a strong cultural match.
Résumé
Updated:
Strategic design executive with 20+ years leading complex, trust‑critical digital products and services across
Europe and the Middle East.
I build and scale product, service, and design organisations in regulated domains
(banking, identity, privacy, smart cities, AI‑enabled services), and align strategy, delivery, and governance
so teams ship fast without losing quality.
My work turns ambiguity into decisions, roadmaps, and delivery‑ready
artefacts, with cross‑border programmes and executive alignment that keep craft consistent at scale.
I help organisations turn complexity (regulation, identity, payments, AI-assisted automation) into clear,
controllable experiences, and scale quality through governance (decision artefacts, design systems, operating
rhythms) so teams ship fast without drift.
Partner to Product, Engineering, Data, and Risk/Compliance;
experienced leading distributed teams and multi-market delivery.
Executive profile
- Scope: Strategy, product and service design, operating model, and design governance.
- Domains: Regulated and high‑trust systems (financial services, identity, smart cities, health) where risk, compliance, and adoption matter.
- Delivery style: Turn ambiguity into decisions — and decisions into delivery artefacts: principles, roadmaps, patterns, state models, acceptance criteria, and governance rituals.
- Leadership: Built and scaled teams (founded Fjord Italy; led 30+ designers at Deloitte Digital; led distributed teams at Globant).
- Markets: EU + MENA cross‑border delivery.
- Languages: Fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Italian.
International experience
- Italy: Turin, Milan, Rome
- Spain: Barcelona, Madrid
- United Kingdom: London, Liverpool
- Malta
- Switzerland: Geneva
- Saudi Arabia (KSA): Riyadh
- United Arab Emirates (UAE): Abu Dhabi
Leadership highlights
- Agile transformation & innovation: design sprints, rapid prototyping, and iterative delivery with clear decision ownership.
- Governance at scale: design systems, critique rituals, pattern libraries, and lightweight quality gates that prevent drift under pressure.
- Workshops & executive alignment: 250+ facilitated sessions to converge on priorities, constraints, and measurable outcomes.
- AI/ML decision support: interpretable experiences, safe defaults, and responsible‑use guardrails for adoption in sensitive contexts.
Experience
Strategic & Product Design Director — Globant | Madrid, Spain | 2022–2025
- Led distributed delivery teams across time zones, partnering with product, engineering, and senior stakeholders on direction, sequencing, and quality.
- Delivered end‑to‑end experience work across complex ecosystems, translating constraints into usable patterns and delivery‑ready requirements.
- Established governance mechanisms (reviews, standards, decision artefacts) to keep craft consistent across parallel teams.
Strategic & Experience Design Director — Deloitte Digital | Milan, Italy | 2017–2022
- Directed multidisciplinary teams on large‑scale digital transformation programmes for global clients in regulated and high‑trust domains.
- Managed 30+ designers while maintaining delivery quality through clear operating rhythms, standards, and coaching.
- Partnered with executives to align ambition with feasibility — reducing churn and enabling faster decision‑making.
Service Design Director — Fjord (Accenture Song) | Milan, Italy | 2014–2016
- Founded the Fjord Italy studio and built the early team and delivery model.
- Led service and experience design work across multi‑stakeholder programmes, from concept framing through delivery support.
Earlier roles
- Mobile Experience Product Owner — Mr. Green
- Information Architect — Teachers TV
- Digital Projects Lead — Dorna Sports
- Freelance engagements — AKQA, Huge, Virgin Media, and others
Selected Clients
- Automotive: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Stellantis (Jeep, Alfa Romeo).
- Luxury & fashion: Prada, Bulgari, Brunello Cucinelli, Valentino, Richemont.
- Financial services: Santander, BBVA, Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit, Eurobank, Banco Sabadell, Danske Bank, Mediolanum, ING, Cofidis, MPS, Agos.
- Travel & leisure: Miral, MSC Cruises, Seven, Qiddiya, Costa Crociere, Silversea, Alpitour.
- Healthcare: Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen.
- Retail: Intimissimi, OTB, VF Corporation.
Methods & tools
- Systems thinking: mapping ecosystems, dependencies, and the operational truth behind experiences.
- Scenario planning & competitive analysis: anticipating future states to inform strategy and portfolio direction.
- Service blueprinting & value proposition design: aligning user journeys with business outcomes and delivery feasibility.
- Rapid prototyping: reducing risk by testing critical flows, states, and trust cues early.
- Journey mapping: prioritising improvements across touchpoints, channels, and segments.
- War‑room facilitation: structuring complex decisions with traceability and ownership.
Selected publications & speaking
- Design Thinking for Business (Politecnico di Milano) — debates and industry talks on profiling, empathising, and strategic design.
- ServDes.2018 Conference (Milano, Italy) — Service Design Proof of Concept proceedings contribution.
- Poli.Design — Service Innovation Academy session on service and experience design.
- Il Sole 24 Ore — commentary on service design and delivery readiness.
- Il Design thinking per l’innovazione, fra small e big data
- School of Management, Politecnico di Milano - 4 Kinds of Design Thinking: From Ideating to Making, Engaging, and Criticizing
- Design thinking. A che punto siamo?
- Poli Design. Service Innovation Accademy
- Alessandro Piana Bianco: The Symbolic object of Design Thinking
- Service design in companies - ServDes2018 - Service Design Proof of Concept
- Design Thinking: come conciliare l'innovazione e il capitale umano per una ripartenza efficace
- Observatory Design Thinking for Business - Which Kind of Design Thinking is right for you?
More context
- Alessandro Piana Bianco on Google Scholar
- my github repositories
- my Hacker News submissions
- Chapter contribution (2005): “Cacciatori e prede. Il caso Manhunt” in Gli strumenti del videogiocare (Costa & Nolan).
- Merry Lingua Frank - A semi-serious (un)controlled vocabulary of Experience Design. And related obsenities.
- Designing Experience Design - A tangential take on experience design principles
- Alessandro Piana Bianco on IMDB
For a full timeline, roles, and certifications, refer to the downloadable PDF résumé.
Choose the engagement mode
If you are hiring: send a short brief (scope + constraints + success metrics). I’ll reply with fit, approach, and a first-week plan.
Advisory retainer ~ 1-2 days/week
What it is
A light-footprint, high-leverage advisory role embedded alongside senior leadership (C-suite, VP Product, Head of Design, Head of Digital). I operate as a strategic sparring partner rather than an execution lead.
moreInterim leadership ~ 8-16 weeks
What it is
A time-boxed, hands-on leadership role (e.g. Interim Design Director / Head of Product Experience) with full operational responsibility.
moreVenture sprint ~ 4-6 weeks, fixed scope
What it is
A focused, outcome-driven engagement to validate or crystallise a specific opportunity, often pre-funding, pre-build, or pre-scale.
moreContact
Considering me for VP/Director/Head of Design roles, strategic advisory, or speaking? Send the brief, scope, and timeline and I will respond directly.