Design and UX leadership · Singapore · Available now
Xavier Sorribas
Twenty years in UX and design leadership, in Barcelona, Madrid, London, Brussels and Singapore. I created the research function at NTUC Link and grew a global design organisation at Yara. I still build products myself.
What I enjoy most is working out how technology can make people’s lives better. How it can be accessible and empower people, how good service design builds better experiences, and how to make things simply work better. In the end, I want to deliver things that make a real difference to people.
Outside work: a long-distance runner, a compulsive Gundam builder, and staff to three demanding cats.
I can work in Singapore and the EU without sponsorship
How I lead
Four principles behind how I lead.
They come from how I have run teams, and they shape how I work now.
- 01
Clarity and accountability come first.
I give every team a structure people can see and accountabilities they own and respect.
- 02
Operations are the multiplier.
Past a certain size, a team’s output comes from how it’s organised, not from individual talent.
- 03
UX earns its place at the centre of the business.
A team that matters stays embedded and proactive, measures what it ships and how it lands, and stays in the room with stakeholders.
- 04
Never complacent.
I keep teams learning from others and testing new methods and tools, AI included, on real projects, then we decide together what has earned a place.
Career
Twenty years, from research to leading and building.
Global Director of UX at Yara until June 2026. Before that, research and UX leadership at NTUC Link, everis / NTT DATA and Betfair. Each stop is a role, in the order it happened. Each coloured line is a discipline.
- Leadership
- Research
- Design
- Building
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2006 to 2012
2006 to 2012
Earlier roles
Userlab La Salle Barcelona, Santander, everis Madrid
-
2012 to 2015
2012 to 2015
Betfair
Senior UX Researcher · London
-
2015 to 2017
2015 to 2017
everis / NTT DATA
Senior UX Manager · Brussels
Built a practice billing more than EUR 3M a year, from no permanent UX team.
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2017 to 2018
2017 to 2018
NTUC Link
Head of UX Research · Singapore
Created the research function.
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2018 to June 2026
2018 to June 2026
Yara International
Senior Manager of UX, 2018 to 2021. Global Director of UX, 2021 to June 2026. · Singapore
Grew design from one regional team to a global organisation of more than 120 people across 20 countries.
-
June 2026
June 2026
Inkwell
Designed and built solo
Live, used by three Singapore tattoo studios.
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2026, in beta
2026, in beta
CX Studio
A service design tool, designed and built solo
Built with Claude Code and ChatGPT.
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Now
Now
Next stop: your team
Right now I’m building my own products and writing about design leadership. What comes next is leading a design team again, and it could be yours.
Writing
Recent writing.
I write about design leadership, UX operations and AI on Medium. The newest article comes first.
Latest23 Sep 2026Successful UX never endsIt is sometimes hard to explain to management teams that having the right solution to one problem does not mean we should rush to implement it.Read on Medium
7 Sep 2026Why AI Makes the Double Diamond More Important Than EverEveryone is rightfully excited about the speed AI brings to product creation.- Chatis not always the right interface26 Aug 2026The Problem With Chat as the Default AI InterfaceThe rapid adoption of AI has made chat one of the most prominent interaction patterns in recent years.
21 Aug 2026Why Organisations Need UX Ops More Than EverCutting UX Ops may reduce a visible cost, but it is ultimately a net loss driven by a short-term focus on pure delivery.
Ask about Xavier
Questions, with short answers.
QWhat did you own at Yara?
From 2021 to June 2026 I was Global Director of UX at Yara International. I owned the US$9M annual budget, the structure, hiring and mentoring, and grew design from one regional team into a global organisation of more than 120 people across 20 countries. I also led the creation of UX operations and the design system.
Contact
Open to design leadership roles.
I’m based in Singapore and can work in Singapore and the EU without sponsorship. Available now.