Product Design Lead · Design Systems & DesignOps – Available for hire

Hendrik Kettelhut

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01 – Experience

10+ years building products.
Three generations of design systems.

  • 2025 – Present

    Personal Projects

    HeroLog, Reliquary & UE5 RPG Prototype

    • Built a React Native app and its in-code design system: tokens, variants, dark mode, Storybook, TypeScript
    • AI-first workflow with Claude Code (skills, agents, MCP); 3D gameplay prototyping in Unreal Engine 5

  • Aug 2023 – Aug 2025

    Yara International

    Lead Designer

    • Redesigned the UX workflow to remove bottlenecks and prevent deadline overruns across teams
    • Decreased design inconsistencies by 80% through system adoption and embedding design patterns
    • Implemented a regional design system aligned with the global platform, reducing fragmentation across markets
    • Scaled the design team from 1 to 5 designers and mentored them, cutting onboarding time by 30%
    • Collaborated with the global brand team to define a unified visual language for digital products

  • Oct 2020 – Jul 2023

    Yara International

    Senior Product Designer (Design Systems)

    • Generated 40+ reusable components as a team of one and drove adoption across Yara's products
    • Drove adoption of the Fertilise Design System as the official system for a full product rebranding
    • Integrated 80+ components from a regional system into the new global 'System of systems'
    • Onboarded 8 product teams via workshops, cutting system adoption time by 40%
    • Increased contribution rate by 60% through standardised workflows and contribution frameworks

  • Dec 2018 – Sep 2020

    Yara International

    Senior Product Designer

    • Built the first shared component library (40+ components), establishing quality standards that later evolved into the Fertilise Design System
    • Reduced design–engineering handoff issues by 70% by replacing fragmented UI with a unified style guide
    • Increased sign-up rates by 38%, retention by 40%, and conversions by 30% through product redesign
    • Designed the first mobile MVP, driving higher engagement and adoption

  • Oct 2013 – Oct 2019

    Freelancer

    Senior UX Designer (part-time alongside employment from 2018)

    • Created brand guidelines and style guides adopted by 10+ clients as their standard design reference
    • Delivered UX/UI design for 15+ client projects with a 90% on-time delivery rate

  • Aug 2012 – Sep 2013

    Webguidez Entertainment GmbH

    UI Designer

    • Designed adverts for 10+ projects across gaming and entertainment clients, supporting campaign launches
02 – Competencies

Systems thinking
across every layer.

Design Leadership

Design Strategy Team Building and Scaling Mentoring and Coaching Workshops and Discovery Stakeholder Management Cross-functional Collaboration Design Critique Product Vision and Roadmap

Design System Architecture

Component Architecture Token Architecture and Pipelines (Style Dictionary) System Governance Versioning and Deprecation Audits and Adoption Metrics Multi-brand Theming Accessibility (WCAG) Contribution Models

DesignOps, AI and Code

Figma (Variables, Modes, Branching, Libraries) Figma MCP Server Claude Code (Agents, Skills, MCP) Storybook React / TypeScript HTML / CSS / SCSS Prototyping in Code Documentation Standards

Languages

German (native) English (fluent)
03 – Education

Self-taught first.
Formally trained second.

  • University of Applied Sciences Berlin

    B.Eng. Print and Media Technology

04 – Certificates & Conferences

Recognised expertise,
formally certified.

  • NN/g

    UX Management Certificate (Feb 2025)

  • IHK

    AEVO license – Trainer license for apprentices (Jun 2015)

  • Into Design Systems

    AI Conference (Mar 2026)