Hendrik Kettelhut. 👨‍💻

I lead and govern design systems at scale, unifying fragmented products into coherent UX platforms across complex organisations. I specialise in consolidating regional systems into global standards, defining clear governance models, and enabling consistent delivery through system-level decisions.

Experience

Design Lead – Yara International Aug 2023 – Aug 2025
I lead the YaraPlus UX team across Europe, India and Singapore, including roadmap planning, design execution, hiring and mentoring.

Key achievements:

Scaled the design team from 1 to 5 designers within one year, improving delivery velocity and overall product quality
Enforced a UX workflow that eliminated bottlenecks, restored schedule reliability, and prevented deadline overruns
Decreased design inconsistencies by 80% through system adoption and embedding consistent design practices across products
Defined and implemented a regional design system aligned with the global platform, enabling local product teams to design consistently without fragmentation

Senior Designer (Design Systems) – Yara International Oct 2020 – Jul 2023
Founded and scaled Yara's first regional Design System, Fertilise. Later, moving into a Global Design System initiative, consolidating regional systems into a unified, scalable platform.

Key achievements:

Generated and rolled out 40+ reusable components as a Team of One and drove adoption across Yara's digital products
Fertilise Design System was adopted as the official design system for a full product rebranding
Hired, managed, and developed the first design systems intern into a full-time contributor
Integrated 80+ components from a regional system into the new global ”System of systems”
Enabled collaboration and heightened contribution rate by 60% through standardised workflows and contribution frameworks

Senior Product Designer – Yara International Dec 2018 – Sep 2020
Working on the flagship product, Atfarm, and other products within the ecosystem, I led the transition from loose style guides to the first formal design system.

Key achievements:

Built and scaled a web component library with 40+ components, establishing shared quality standards across multiple teams
Reduced design–engineering handoff issues by 70% by replacing fragmented UI with a unified style guide
Designed and launched the first mobile app MVP, contributing to higher engagement and adoption
Increased sign-up rates by 38%, retention by 40%, and conversions by 30% through product and flow redesign

Senior UX/UI Designer – Freelancer Oct 2013 – Oct 2019

Screen Designer – Webguidez Entertainment GmbH Aug 2012 – Sep 2013

Core competencies

Leadership: Design Leadership, Team Building and Scaling, Strategic Influence, Mentorship and Coaching

Design System: Design Governance, System-Level UX, Cross-Product Consistency, Design–Engineering Collaboration, Org-level adoption mechanics, Contribution Workflows

Education

University of Applied Sciences Berlin – Bachelor of Engineering in Print and Media Technology

Berufliches Gymnasium für Technik Lüchow – High school diploma (Abitur) with focus on Computer Science

Certificates

NN/g UX Certificate – With speciality recognition in UX Management

IHK AEVO license – Trainer license to teach apprentices (Ausbildereignungsprüfung)