Design Leadership at Scale: Executive
4.8 (54)
2 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Shape the future of business. Develop the vision, strategy, and influence to make design a critical driver of transformation.
Design Leadership at Scale: Executive
4.8 (54)
2 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Shape the future of business. Develop the vision, strategy, and influence to make design a critical driver of transformation.
Leadership experience
Course overview
Expand your impact and position design as a competitive advantage.
This advanced course equips senior design leaders to move from tactical design execution to strategic leadership. You will learn how to align design with business strategy, lead cross-functional transformation, and position design as a key driver of innovation and business growth.
What you’ll learn:
1. Shift from tactical to strategic design leadership
Move beyond day-to-day operations by aligning design with broader business objectives and leading with strategic vision to shape company outcomes.
2. Connect design, business, and technology
Master the integration of business priorities, emerging technologies, and experience strategy to drive innovation, while building the fluency to influence C-suite decision-making.
3. Lead organizational change through design
Foster a design-driven culture and lead organizational change by positioning design as a strategic asset. You'll learn to scale your team, build influence, and drive design maturity across the organization.
4. Transform product culture and scale design for growth
Integrate design thinking throughout the product lifecycle to drive continuous innovation. Build scalable operations and systems that support growth while balancing operational efficiency, creativity, and quality in fast-paced environments.
5. Design the future of business
Harness future-leaning capabilities, emerging technologies, and new ways of working to elevate design’s role as a strategic differentiator and build your legacy as a future-ready leader.
Plus: 2 in-depth Office Hours with Rachel for personalized guidance tailored to your specific leadership challenges.
Who is this course for
01
Senior Design Leaders taking on their first executive role. Ready to expand influence and lead design’s integration into business strategy.
02
Senior Design Executives leading large teams and portfolios. Leaders aligning design with business goals and scaling cross-functional teams.
03
Design C-Suite navigating rapid transformation and growth. Leaders using design to drive innovation and lead organizational change.
What you will get out of this course
Accelerate your career
Position yourself as a strategic design leader by mastering business fluency and aligning design with organizational goals. You’ll unlock new opportunities for executive-level roles and influence high-stakes conversations that shape the future of your career.
Amplify your impact
Learn how to connect design to measurable business outcomes, elevating your function as a key driver of business strategy. By demonstrating the tangible impact of your team’s work, you’ll influence priorities, drive innovation, and secure greater investment.
Expand your influence and communication
Build strong relationships across the C-suite, foster cross-functional collaboration, and articulate design’s strategic value effectively. You’ll craft a communication strategy that aligns with business goals and positions design as a critical component in key decisions.
Designed for busy senior design leaders
This intensive two-week course is curated for senior leaders with demanding schedules. Recorded sessions are available for flexibility, allowing you to review key lessons at your convenience.
This course includes
7 interactive live sessions
Lifetime access to course materials
42 in-depth lessons
Direct access to instructor
19 projects to apply learnings
Guided feedback & reflection
Private community of peers
Course certificate upon completion
Maven Satisfaction Guarantee
This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.
Design Leadership at Scale: Executive
Course syllabus
Week 1
Jun
23
Optional: Design Leadership at Scale – Kickoff Call
Module 1: Establish Strategic Foundations
Jun
24
Live Session: 1
Jun
25
Optional: Office Hours w/ Rachel
Module 2: Drive Vision + Execution
Jun
26
Live Session: 2
Week 2
4.8 (54 ratings)
What students are saying
Meet your instructor
Rachel Kobetz
Chief Design Officer @ PayPal
Rachel Kobetz is a distinguished Chief Design executive with proven expertise driving the vision, strategy, and implementation of customer experiences and organizational transformation for Fortune 100 companies. Her ability to shape product cultures that humanize technology and forge meaningful connections between products and consumers has made her a sought-out operator, indispensable advisor, and industry thought leader. Rachel builds world-class organizations integrating human-centered design to drive product and service innovation and elevates design as a strategic advantage. She brings deep expertise in design strategy, operational leadership, and organizational design, ensuring that businesses can navigate the present and shape the future. Her leadership experience spans a range of industries, including tech, e-commerce, financial services, consumer electronics, and travel.
As Chief Design Officer for PayPal, Rachel is responsible for the design strategy and execution at scale across all end-to-end experiences for consumers, merchants, developers, and employees globally. She’s joined at a pivotal moment in the company’s history to reinvent experiences across all surfaces, foster a culture of creativity and innovation, and help to define the future of commerce and payments.
Prior to PayPal, Rachel was SVP and Global Head of Design for Expedia Group, where she led a cultural transformation to shift the company into an experience-led organization, responsible for the design vision, experience strategy, and operational leadership for all products and services. Before joining Expedia, Rachel held prominent leadership positions as SVP and Head of Experience Design at Bank of America, Head of Studio, New Product UX at Amazon's Human-Centered Design Group, and Senior Director of UX at Samsung's Mobile Innovation Lab.
Rachel serves as Executive Board Member for the Fast Company Executive Board. She also writes the influential newsletter, Defining Experience, providing insights on design leadership, experience-led culture, emerging technology, and the future of work.
Join an upcoming cohort
Design Leadership at Scale: Executive
DLSE06 – Q2 2025
$2,600
Dates
Application Deadline
Strategic Design Leadership: Essential Questions for Design Executives
What keeps design executives up at night?
It's rarely the design challenges themselves. More often, it's the broader questions that come with leading design at scale: How do we transform an entire business through design? Build teams that can consistently deliver excellence? Create systems that scale while preserving innovation?
In this piece, I share a framework that helps maintain strategic clarity while building for lasting impact...
Get this free resource