Teacher, podcaster, speaker, mentor, and

Design Leader

with more than 20 years of experience in the design and digital industry helping companies such as Embraer, O Globo, and Santander to synthesize objectives, value and context for the best solutions for the business. I have been living in Porto, Portugal since 2021.

focused on impact

Business
and people

EI definitely believe that Design can be an important part of business and, because of that, the Leadership of design, and through design, is essential to get this outcome. This new era of emerging and growing design teams around the world needs leadership prepared to build on two layers of leadership.

Rafael Burity

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIENCE through leadership

Work Experience

With experience in several industries, I have worked as a designer and leader, focused on building and delivering products and services that work for the business and the customer, structuring teams in the emergence, growth and evolution, in the management of designers and design.

Head of Product Design and UX Research

Leading a team of 30+ designers for 8+ B2B, B2B2C, and B2C products, I drive product vision, build ecosystems, and internationalize the company. I enhance product outcomes, align design goals with business objectives, and foster a user-centered design culture. Overseeing products representing 80% of company revenue, I elevate hiring and performance standards.

Research and Design Manager

I led the reconstruction of a 15-member design team and a 5-member research team during digital transformation. I organized the design function, restructured the research team, and developed new capabilities focused on innovation and user research, implementing user-centered design processes.

Customer and User experience Manager

I managed the UX strategy and development for the Santander Group startup Ben Visa Vale and the design vision for Corporate Products (B2B) at the bank. My responsibilities included defining UX strategies based on research and testing, establishing career development paths, overseeing UX for Corporate Products and Ben Visa Vale, and implementing continuous UX improvement and product discovery processes.

Head of UX Design

I led the UX area at Embraer Sistemas, a new business unit focused on digital products for the B2B and B2G market in industry, defense, and air traffic. I defined the company vision for User Experience, implemented a culture of design, usability, and accessibility, and created design standards, UI guides, and user-focused processes. I also supported the structuring of the marketing and communication departments.

Evolution of products and process through Design

Leadership Cases

As a designer, I have a solid understanding of user-centric culture and this, combined with my experience in large companies over the last 10 years, has made me able to lead and deliver good results, which you can see here, for the company, always through design .

process, Product, roadmap

Building a Discovery Process and Product Prioritization Framework at Santander

s Head of UX/CX, I led the creation of a discovery process and data-driven product prioritization framework for Ben Visa Vale, a Santander Group startup. This initiative reduced prototyping and

culture, Leadership, Strategy, user-centered

Creating a User-Centered Culture in the Defense and Air Traffic Industries

Scaled the UX team from 1 to 18 members, achieving a 70% reduction in project costs, a 45% decrease in development expenses, and delivering 9 innovative products while transforming Atech’s

Leadership, quality, Strategy

Enhancing Interface Quality and Maximizing Impact at a Unicorn Startup

As Head of UX, I led a transformative redesign of Unico's digital products, implementing quality gates, dashboards, and team restructuring. This resulted in a 91% reduction in usability debt and

A purpose-driven career

My design leadership approach

I believe that a good design leader should always have two points of view on leadership. The vision for the future of design in the company and how that vision will deliver results, and the vision for how to build/develop the team to deliver the first one.

To me, leadership is just another design problem. Therefore, I believe that Design can be an important part of innovation and better results for any company.

Helping you find your Why, What and How

Services

Over time working in different markets and companies of different sizes, both as a design professional and in terms of education and knowledge sharing, I have helped companies and professionals to scale and improve their learning, find their path and evolve.

Strategic Design Consulting

The experience starts with a strategic vision. I want to contribute with your definition of vision for business growth and delivery of an efficient roadmap for your product and market.

Mentoring and Education

My mission is to help professionals, through follow-up, to define goals and plan the way to achieve them. I´ve been teaching companies and individuals who are interested in creating products or services with business impact and WOW experiences through design.

Talks and Events

With 8 years of experience and more than 50 lectures, I focus on disseminating knowledge about innovation and digital transformation, user-centered design culture and product in different types of companies and audiences.

Shared content and knowledge

To watch and listen

Video

I had the pleasure and honor of speaking with Donald Norman, co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, about his vision and new book.

Podcast

We invited Marty Cagan a founder and partner at Silicon Valley Product Group, and author of INSPIRED and EMPOWERED.

A little of my thoughts

To read

industry, Leadership, market

The “Great Flattening” and Its Impact on Leadership in the Digital Market

The flattening of corporate hierarchies and the elimination of middle management positions are reshaping the digital market. As companies seek leaders who can balance strategy and hands-on execution, it raises questions: Does this “hybrid leader” model make sense? How can we build agile teams without inflating hierarchies? In this article, I explore the impact of the “Great Flattening” on design, product, and leadership, and the challenges of integrating strategic and operational roles.

Career, communication, presenting, storytelling, Strategy

The Importance of Knowing How to Present Your Design Work

Learn how to articulate and present design to build trust, engage stakeholders, and ensure the success of your projects.

User Experience

UX Talks: Current UX market expectations for Designers and Leaders

For UX Design professionals of all expertises, from students to leaders, that look for know more about market, career and how to be prepared