Ecosia
Director of Design
2026 - now
- Product
- Brand
Hello, I’m Sylvain. I build design teams that don't wait for a brief. Until recently, Director of Design and co-CPO at Ecosia.
15 years in design, 7 leading teams, from Berlin to Tokyo. Product design, content, research and brand under one roof, over €100m raised along the way. I coach my teams to pitch like founders and ship like engineers.
I'm open to Head of Design and Director roles, so if you think we'd be a good match, let's talk.
- Ecosia
- Zalando
- Renault-Nissan
- Omio
- GetYourGuide
- Autodesk
- Taxfix
- McCann
- Holoplot
About
2026 – Now
Director of Design
Ecosia Berlin
I led an extended AI-first organization across product design, content design, UX research and brand. I shared the CPO role with the CEO, to craft the sustainable experiences of browsing the web in the AI era.
In August 26, my role (top design leadership) was eliminated as Ecosia goes into Founder Mode. CEO’s recommendation letter available here.
2024 – 2025
Head of Design/Co-founder
Docdocjob Berlin, Singapore
Led product/design work & freelancers for our AI-led medical recruitment startup, growing traction across APAC and middle-east. The team has since pivoted to streamline international hiring.
2024
Experience Design Director
MRM//McCann Berlin
Led strategy and creative direction on fintech & corporate clients. The role lacked product work, so I left to focus on the startup I co-founded earlier this year, Docdocjob.
2020 – Now
Startup advisor
Europe
I join startups to advise or give a hand on product, design and growth strategy. Among them, you'll find Axcels, Kinderkiez, Stenon, TheGoodBoss and many more.
2020 – 2024
Interim Leadership (manager/super IC)
Berlin, Zürich, Oslo
I join headless teams or full design orgs to improve operations, manage designers and lead design work on complex challenges. I brought agency in uncertain times to companies such as Taxfix, Zalando, GetYourGuide or Autodesk.
2019 – 2020
Director of Product Design
TourRadar Vienna
Took over leadership, scaled the team to 7 and supported C-suite through organizational changes during a massive redesign with vision designs.
2018 – 2019
UX Lead
Goodpatch Studio Berlin, Paris, Tokyo
Deployed at Renault-Nissan to lead 3 teams across HMI, apps and SaaS projects. Led design work for Mercedes and Amazon and led the team on our internal car experience prototyping tool, Drive Athena.
2011 – 2018
Designer at various startups & scaleups
Paris, Berlin
Ad agency internship after master degree → moved to Berlin to join Omio as their first product designer → joined Zalando’s innovation projects team.
What I do. I help companies build digital products and teams from scratch or elevate them to new levels, to explore exciting business opportunities and desirable futures.
10+ direct reports. Domains of 100+ people. Helped raise over €100m, at every stage. I care about the business as much as the design, and I don’t need a translator to talk to a CTO or CFO.
Design belongs where strategy gets decided. I’ve spent 15 years putting it there, in startups, scale-ups and corporations. Right now that means getting teams fluent in AI instead of scared of it.
I grew into management because I wanted designers to do the best work of their careers. I hire carefully, turn seniors into leaders, and treat a reorg as a chance to fix what’s broken. My job is to orchestrate our collective achievements, not to collect the credit.
Connected cars, multi-market e-commerce, deep tech. I go for the problems other designers avoid: technical, ambiguous, political. I bring structure without killing momentum.
Paris, Berlin, Oslo, Zürich, Vienna, Tokyo, Singapore. Enough places to know that alignment is a people problem before it’s a process problem. My social science background helps.
At TourRadar I designed the vision the company redesigned toward. At Nissan I explored net-zero mobility services. I define what a desirable future looks like, then map the path and do the work to get there.