Mindaugas Petrutis

Intentional Career Mapping: Future-Proof Your Design Career

On Deck

Invision

Founder at Coho (ex-On Deck, InVision, Design Recruiter)

Discover how to identify unconventional opportunities that others miss and learn when taking calculated risks pays off.

Think beyond conventional career paths

Learn to craft your path using cold outreach, relationship building, and long-term vision.

Design your unique career trajectory

Get frameworks for evaluating opportunities based on future impact rather than immediate gains or industry expectations

Master strategic career decisions

🌎 MAR cohort timezone - AEST / PST / EST 🌎 JUN cohort timezone - EU / APAC ---⭐️9.7/10 Rating ⭐️ 3 cohorts annually ⭐️ 20 students per cohort ⭐️ Unlimited 1-1 support--- 🥲 Do you feel lack of confidence to contribute to business strategy as a designer?🥲 Perhaps you've hit the 'design skill ceiling" and unsure how to take your career to the next level.🥲 You might feel powerless when communicating design solutions to business partners and wonder what it takes to become an high performing strategic partner to the business. I've created this course to help you overcome these exact challenges.👆🏼 Designers with the most success in our industry are business-aware. If you think narrowly and talk about "design and design only" without factoring in business growth and understanding how to share the value of design, your impact will stay shallow. From an alumni Lead Designer's review: "This is by far, one of the best course I've taken about combining business with design." Tap into the real live MBA strategies and success frameworks I've used to grow my own multi 6 figure business, as well as helping companies to secure millions in funding. This course will give you the skills, frameworks, scripts and adaptable knowledge necessary to influence design in your company and change the way you show up as a designer forever. The choice is yours:👉🏽 Continue as an average performer, or seize this unique learning opportunity to become a high-performing strategic design partner. If you can commit to put in the work for 4 weeks, approximately 4-6 hours/week, the outcome will surprise you. P.S. Reimburse the cost of this course if your company offer Learning and Development budget. Otherwise, seek accounting advise regarding related to your role should be tax deductible.

The one holistic course to become the most business savvy designer in the room

<ul><li>Understanding key business terminologies and how they relate to product design</li><li>Learn to connect design impacts with the business viability to gain buy in</li></ul>

Develop business Acumen and Become a Strategic Designer

<ul><li>Learn to expand your research toolkit that supports your design rationales</li><li>Deliver your design directions with confidence by applying effective storytelling techniques</li></ul>

Unblock Research Feedback Loops, Build Data-Backed Design Rationales to Gain Stakeholder Buy-in

<ul><li>Learn the importance of active listening and effective communication</li><li>Practise facilitation skills by planning and leading ideation workshops with actionable frameworks to follow</li></ul>

Build Facilitation Skills and Influential Advocacy

<ul><li>Learn how to measure design impact and track progress</li><li>Define your career goals </li><li>Identify milestones to step into senior roles</li></ul>

Measuring Impact and Level Up Your Product Design Career

Two x 30mins 1-1 follow up mentor calls

Bonus: 
 

Course modules

1-1.5hrWeekly module learningQ&amp;ACollaborations --MAR Cohort: AEST 10am / PDT 6pm / EDT 9pm---JUN Cohort: EU 8am / AEST 6pm / APAC pm

Weekly Live Classes

1hrWeekly assignment learning reviewQ&amp;A --MAR Cohort: AEST 8.30am / PDT 1.30pm / EDT 4.30pm---JUN Cohort: EU 8am / AEST 6pm / APAC pm

Q&A, Learning Reflection

Course schedule

Growth Designers Infuse strategic business thinking into your process, lead and inspire your team through trends, strategy and execution.

Senior Designers You've mastered craft-focused skills and ready to level up to become the most business savvy designer in the room.

Start-up / Freelance Designer Gain confidence in business decision-making, become an invincible design partner to drive business growth

NOT for Junior Designers This course is best suited for anyone with any least 3 years industry experience or a career transitioner.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

Gain new perspectives into business landscapes and increase your ability to make decision within and beyond the business eco-system. Becoming empowered to make strategic decisions and communicate business value through design.

Develop business acumen and become a savvy strategic partner

The art of how to influence effectively. Apply proven frameworks and process to align strategic goals, lead cross-functional collaboration, and increase design influence with new found business confidence.

Influence strategic decisions by connecting design to business growth

Learn to apply minimum viable research frameworks to guide your designs and measure success. Connect business goals with the value of design. Become a persuasive storyteller with proven frameworks to follow.

Turn research insights into compelling product opportunities, learn to communicate the value of design

Life is so much more than "work". The art to create the dream career path is by aligning it with your true life vision. You'll learn to set effective goals for professional development, walk away with a plan to execute and evaluate towards your end goal.

Holistic career planning, craft your impact story to pitch for promotion

Any questions or challenges during the course, Instructor is only one message away to provide any support you need to maximise your learning experience.

Instructor 1-1 support when you need

From business strategy, communicating the value of design to career growth planning. Learn to become a high performing strategic designer 

Jacalin Ding

Principal Product Design Leader // Entrepreneur // Mentor // Speaker

Cohort 4 - Nov 2024

Cohort 5 - Mar 2025

Design Leadership at Scale: Career Strategy is tailored specifically for design leaders looking to define their career path. (6 hours live class, combining lectures, breakout groups, online content, and two in-depth office hours with Rachel and Kristin to discuss your specific challenges and opportunities.) The course is built on practical insights and experiences, offering a hands-on approach to career development. Rachel and Kristin have defined hiring practices for some of the largest global companies and hired thousands of designers; now, they’re bringing the same career coaching and frameworks to this course. Whether you want to advance within your current organization or explore new opportunities, this course will help you define your blueprint for success. // Course Content // 1: ARCHITECT YOUR CAREER • Define Your Leadership Trajectory:&nbsp;Explore diverse pathways in design leadership and carve out a unique trajectory that positions you as a standout leader. • Hone Your Leadership Edge:&nbsp;Understand the essentials that set you apart as a design leader, with a focus on practical application and self-assessment. • Leverage Your Unique Strengths:&nbsp;Conduct a deep dive into your capabilities and align them with industry benchmarks to create a personalized growth plan that propels your career forward. • Craft a Strategic Career Plan:&nbsp;Develop a forward-looking, actionable career strategy that aligns your skills with your professional aspirations, ensuring you’re always moving towards your ultimate goals. 2: ADVANCE YOUR IMPACT • Elevate Your Expertise:&nbsp;Pinpoint critical areas for growth and take decisive steps to elevate your expertise, ensuring you stay ahead at every stage of your career. • Define Success on Your Terms:&nbsp;Set and achieve clear, measurable goals that align with your personal vision of success, driving your progress and holding yourself accountable. • Map Your Career Strategy:&nbsp;Create a comprehensive, action-oriented career roadmap, drawing on expert strategies for long-term success. • Become an Industry Standout:&nbsp;Learn advanced strategies for distinguishing yourself in a competitive market and gain the insider knowledge needed to make your mark. • Make Informed Career Moves:&nbsp;Equip yourself with the knowledge to select the right roles and opportunities that align with your long-term vision, ensuring each move advances your career strategy. BONUS: • Evaluating Opportunities:&nbsp;Learn the art of assessing companies and roles through the lens of experienced design executives. • 2 In-depth Office Hours / Q+A Sessions:&nbsp;Dedicated sessions with Rachel and Kristin to discuss your specific challenges and opportunities, receiving tailored guidance to propel your career forward. Accelerate your career and refine your path. This immersive is an investment in defining and achieving your design leadership career goals.

Shape a design career that provides you growth, development, and success.


Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

Ambitious Senior Managers, Directors, and VP-level design leaders&nbsp;in both startups and large technology product companies.

It's ideal for those planning on staying and growing at your current company for the next 3+ years or are thinking of changing companies.

This course is&nbsp;not&nbsp;for aspiring design managers and early-career design managers. It does not focus on the detailed steps of skill-building.

Gain insights on what hiring managers look for in candidate profiles. Understand factors that make a portfolio stand out, tactics that increase your chances of being hired, recognized, and promoted, + selecting the role and organization that aligns with your career objectives.

Get the career outcomes you want


Immerse yourself in the intricate landscape of the design industry. Gain clarity on various career paths and development tactics, setting the stage for&nbsp;better&nbsp;informed career decisions. Conduct an analysis of the design sector to spot the right opportunities.&nbsp;

Gain deeper design industry understanding 


Formulate a definitive, actionable career plan, anchored in your unique strengths and goals. Establish a personal framework that propels your professional growth and development.

Develop your career blueprint


Equip yourself with strategies to navigate the uncertainties of the job market. Learn the key to distinguishing yourself in a competitive market.&nbsp;

Navigate the current environment


Forge valuable connections with fellow professionals and seasoned industry experts in a dynamic, collaborative setting. Become part of the Defining Experience community to keep the momentum and conversation going.

Grow your professional network


Take advantage of two dedicated Q+A sessions with Rachel and Kristin for tailored advice and insights.

Exclusive Office Hours


Leave with a collection of essential frameworks and actionable tools designed for making informed decisions, effective career planning, and planning your next steps with confidence.

Toolkit for Success


Frameworks, tactics, and approaches we’ve shared in career conversations for years, so you can build a great design leadership career.


Rachel Kobetz

Chief Design Officer, PayPal


Kristin Skinner


Chief Experience Officer, &GSD


DLSCS02 - October 2024

DLSCS03 - May 2025

As an experienced designer, you want to make the right next career move. Meanwhile, landing a new role is harder than ever. The industry is evolving rapidly, the job market feels unfamiliar, and some skills no longer seem to matter. Approaching your job search without a strategy isn't an option anymore. Throughout my career, I’ve zigged when most others zagged. As a candidate, I learned to pick the right companies (leading to 4 exits), tell compelling stories (leading to consistent offers), and tailor my messaging to each company (leading to multiple, competing offers). As an in-house designer, I've hired design leaders for top roles. As a leadership coach, this year I've taught designers at all levels how to land new roles and that propel their careers forward. In&nbsp;Career &amp; Job Search Strategy for Designers, I'll help you optimize your job search with my MBA-level business insights and hands-on exercises focused on two critical areas: Building your career &amp; job search strategy and mastering design job search tactics to target, find, and successfully apply to opportunities that will be great for your career. If you want to stand out in a sea of competition, find the right next opportunity, get a foot in the door with leading companies, and land a better design job faster, this course is for you.

Accelerate your design career in any job market

Build an effective career and job search strategy with business lessons, Ryan's proprietary career frameworks, and hands-on exercises.

Saturday: Design Career Strategy

Learn &amp; practice key tactics to encourage inbound leads and make your outbound efforts more effective, including revising your portfolio case studies and avoiding common messaging mistakes.

Sunday: Design Job Search Tactics

Drop in for career strategy feedback or portfolio critique after you've had time to implement the learnings from our workshop.

Two bonus Office Hour sessions

Experienced Senior to Principal ICs who are considering a change or actively seeking roles that align to their long-term career goals

Experienced Managers, Senior Managers, &amp; Directors who want to make sense of new market conditions and position themselves accordingly

*NOT* for early-career or aspiring designers. This course is for folks with at least 5+ years of full-time experience as a designer

Who this course for

What you’ll get out this course

Designers often apply too broadly to too many jobs. Avoid burnout by targeting the right companies where your application is more likely to succeed.

A winning strategy for the roles you should be targeting

Gain a deep understanding of how factors like business stage &amp; ROI-based decision making shape what companies look for. Learn to position &amp; communicate strengths &amp; skills—and describe your work's outcomes—in relation to the company's goals.

An MBA-level understanding of business factors that affect hiring decisions

In class, we'll review and dial-in your case study stories with hands-on feedback on your portfolio website and on-site portfolio presentations. Learn what notes to hit, and what mistakes to avoid.

Polished case studies that land & win interviews

Asking smart questions makes you stand out as an insightful candidate and gives you data to know whether the company is the right fit for you, too. Get Ryan's top questions, and learn how to build your own questions that give you the insight you need.

A list of questions YOU should ask in interviews

Applying to design roles is unlike anything else. We have to build perfect portfolios, explain the value of Design to non-designers, and are judged on project criteria that we don't have full control over.

A career & job search course designed just for Designers

We'll go beyond lecture &amp; frameworks, actively working through exercises together in real-time. Every step of the way, Ryan will help you dial-in your strategy and deliverables to accelerate your job search.

Live hands-on instruction & real-time 1:1 feedback

Build the right strategy & leverage uncommon tactics to land an exceptional design role.

Ryan Scott

Learn to get hired from a designer who's built a world-class career

March 2025

Soft skills are often viewed as something you either have or don't. This common misconception holds back countless talented designers from reaching their full potential. You can significantly improve your influence and impact by understanding and practicing key principles of relationship building, strategic thinking, and organizational dynamics. These skills aren't just "nice to have" - they're the critical differentiator between designers who contribute and designers who lead. Through this intensive 3-week experience, you'll join a cohort of designers to master the foundational skills that accelerate design careers. Every session combines frameworks, hands-on practice, and real-world implementation. What Makes This Course UniqueThis course teaches soft skills and career development strategies specific to product design that aren't available elsewhere: not in books, not on YouTube, not in podcasts, not in typical design education. You'll get:• Real-world scenarios and practical solutions• Hands-on workshops practicing key skills• Frameworks specifically designed for UX careers• Direct feedback on your implementation• A concrete action plan for career acceleration Who This Course Is ForYou'll get the most value if you're:• A Senior Designer looking to expand influence (3+ years experience)• A Design Lead preparing for broader impact• A Design Manager building effective teams• An IC designer ready for the next level Most importantly, you should be:• Currently practicing UX/product design• Ready to examine and improve your approach• Open to new perspectives and strategies• Committed to long-term career growth The Catalyst ExperienceOver three intensive weeks, you'll work alongside up to 40 ambitious designers to:• Master relationship building across organizations• Develop strategic communication skills• Create personal evaluation frameworks• Build concrete career acceleration plans• Practice real-world scenarios• Construct implementation strategies Each week builds on previous learning:Week 1: Foundation for Impact* Understanding key soft skills* Building relationship frameworks* Mastering strategic communication Week 2: Assessment &amp; Growth• Understanding competency frameworks• Creating personal scorecards• Developing growth strategies Week 3: Implementation &amp; Action• Practicing with real scenarios• Creating action plans• Building accountability systems The TransformationBy the end of this course, you'll:• Build more influential relationships across your organization• Get deeper buy-in for your design decisions• Navigate complex organizational dynamics with confidence• Develop solutions to challenging team dynamics• Better influence executives, peers and team members• Create frameworks for continuous career growth Join our next cohort of catalyst designers ready to accelerate their impact and advance their careers.

Amplifying your impact.

Foundation-building sessions where you'll learn key concepts and frameworks through: <ul><li>Interactive lectures on core concepts</li><li>Guided exercises to practice new skills</li><li>Real-world case study analysis</li><li>Framework introduction and application</li></ul> NOTE: All sessions are recorded.

Tuesday Live Sessions

45-minute drop-in sessions for:<ul><li>Questions about weekly content</li><li>Project guidance</li><li>Personal scenarios</li><li>Implementation support</li></ul>

Optional Thursday Q&A Sessions

Hands-on workshops where you'll apply what you learned that week through:<ul><li>Structured practice with real scenarios</li><li>Direct peer feedback on your work</li><li>Framework refinement and customization</li><li>Action plan development and review</li></ul>

Saturday Implementation Workshops

<ul><li>Read assigned book chapters</li><li>Complete module exercises</li><li>Work on projects</li><li>Review supplemental resources</li></ul>

Self-Paced Weekly Projects
 

Mid to Senior-level design professionals with 3+ years of experience who want to amplify their impact beyond technical design skills.

You've mastered the craft of design, but stakeholders ignore your ideas. Your technical skills have outpaced your career growth.

You want to turn design expertise into influence by mastering strategic relationships, stakeholder management, and development frameworks.

Create a personal influence map and develop communication strategies that get stakeholders on board. Learn to navigate complex team dynamics and build allies across your organization.

Master Relationship Building & Strategic Communication

Develop a personalized career scorecard using proven evaluation frameworks. Learn to identify growth opportunities, set meaningful goals, and create actionable development plans.

Build Your Professional Assessment Framework

Learn to translate design decisions into business outcomes. Practice presenting to leadership, managing up effectively, and positioning yourself as a strategic partner.

Transform Design Skills into Organizational Impact

Walk away with a concrete action plan for your next career move. Include specific milestones, accountability measures, and strategies for continuous growth and influence.

Create Your Career Acceleration Roadmap

Master strategies for thriving in VUCA environments. Learn to identify hidden influencers, manage competing priorities, and turn challenging situations into opportunities.

Navigate Complex Organizational Dynamics

Learn to lead without authority. Master stakeholder management techniques, build social capital, and create networks that amplify your organizational impact.

Develop Leadership Through Influence 

Equipping talented designers with the strategic relationship skills and leadership frameworks needed to amplify their career trajectory.

Lightning Lessons

Intentional Career Mapping: Future-Proof Your Design Career