The expert track to design career fulfillment
Three leaders from our design community, who have experienced the Principal Product Designer and Product Design Manager roles from different angles, share their insights on Zalando’s expert career tracks.
The days of feeling boxed in by rigid job descriptions and predetermined career trajectories are coming to an end. The new career paradigm is not so much about how we fit in, but how our roles mold around what we want to achieve. Zalando’s focus on user experience does not only apply to our products and design systems, but also to our career paths. On the expert level, there are two roles in which you can explore your strengths and make an impact — Manager and Principal — and, like many other roles in our organization, you can flexibly move between them according to what drives you.
It could be that, after a couple of years leading a team, a strategic opportunity appears in another area of the company that you’d love to turn your mind to. Perhaps it’s the other way around and, after some time spent mastering your craft, you miss the reward of helping your colleagues grow. The sheer size and diversity of the Zalando organization means that exploration is always an option.
Have you ever wondered what it looks like to move between the Principal and Manager roles? Three leaders from our product design community share their journey.
From Principal to Manager to Principal to Manager
Thomas Schluchter
Having worked as an individual contributor in another company, Thomas Schluchter joined Zalando’s Retail Core team in 2015. As the organization was growing rapidly, he immediately found himself leading a team — an opportunity that he admits was a little nerve-racking, yet serendipitous: “I dove into management a lot sooner than I expected, which is like learning an entire new craft.” Thomas spent four and a half years as a Product Design Manager, guiding his team as it quadrupled in size, before he decided to return to more hands-on, strategic, design as a Principal Product Designer in the same team.
After two very enjoyable years, Thomas started to miss management. “I realized how much design I had actually done as a Manager — maybe not in terms of spending time in Figma, but in terms of designing processes, structures, and interactions with people. In other words, it’s organizational design, which is as iterative of a process as product design, and involves a great deal of curiosity, discovery, and empathy. One thing that I’m really passionate about is helping people grow. I felt like, although I could do that in a mentorship capacity as a Principal, I wanted to be close to people’s growth and play a bigger part in setting them up for success. This coincided with the opportunity to move over to Zalando Lounge, which is a completely different part of the business. It felt like a wonderful opportunity to have a fresh start. And this time, I could approach management with a little bit more hard-earned wisdom than the first time around.”
For those who are considering going into management for the first time, Thomas stresses that it is important to have yourself figured out. “Know what drives you, and pay attention to what fears drive you as well. You are going to be in a situation where you’ll make mistakes, just like everybody else, except those mistakes affect people. It’s incredibly important, especially in the beginning, to have somebody who can act as a mirror for you, and who can coach you through these experiences. Zalando’s mentorship program is a great way to find such a person. You also have to be ready to give yourself compassion, to ask for feedback as much as possible, and to cultivate an environment of trust and open communication within your team. Sometimes that means showing your vulnerability; you don’t have all the answers, and that’s okay.”
From Manager to Principal
Jeff Dernbach
Echoing the sentiment of fellow Principal Product Designer Inès Mir, growing room was a big motivator for Jeff Dernbach to join Zalando in 2022. Though Jeff had always gravitated more toward individual contribution, the companies or business units he’d worked in didn’t distinguish a Principal role; UX Manager was commonly the highest level available, and included a mix of responsibilities.
“The Principal role is more about thought leadership than people leadership, and it’s good to separate those responsibilities. One of the things I never wanted to do was mix management with creative direction. As a Manager, I didn’t want to be the final arbitrator of design; I wanted to let people make their own mistakes so that they could grow. As a Principal, I enjoy being a step back and mentoring people on the design level, while focusing on my craft.”
As a Principal in Zalando’s Retail Operations team, Jeff is diving into sociological research, particularly around topics such as accessibility and inclusivity, as well as his passion project, game theory. “I recently gave a presentation to my team on how to use game theory to help us better advocate our designs to our non-designer colleagues, and how to build rapport and relationships to become more successful. As one of the Managers on my team says, as Product Designers, we do not solely own the experience. We’re more like shepherds of the experience, collaborating with Software Developers, Product Managers, stakeholders, and so on to execute the vision.”
From Principal to Manager
Emilie Julie Alonso
“All our work as Product Designers is centered around the user. Management applies the same concept or mindset to another target group, the employee.” Emilie Julie Alonso shares Thomas’ vision of management as design. Having joined Zalando in 2022 as a Principal — focusing on adaptive fashion as part of the Diversity and Inclusion team — she is delighted to be bringing her empathy-driven approach to people leadership as she transitions to a Manager role.
“Before Zalando, I already had management responsibilities, so I knew I really liked it and I wanted to go in this direction again. For me, management offers the perfect mix of people and process. It is about framing ways of working within a defined ecosystem, as well as identifying growth opportunities for your team. Regarding the latter, I’ve studied cognitive science, and I really like to motivate and unblock people. I want to help them to better understand where they stand, in which direction they want to grow, and how to get there.”
Emilie’s design work at Zalando has focused on amplifying the voices of customers from minorities and defining inclusive solutions for them. “My role as a Principal has involved working on highly complex topics and using a broad set of design tools to challenge bias and stereotypes. It is about defining company-wide inclusive standards for our customers. These are great design challenges and I will be happy, as a manager, to orchestrate all of this so that my fellow designers can continue the work.”
From one expert to another
Are you ready to find your fit? Here are some important takeaways from our experts.
- Prioritize your passion
“You should never take on a role based on the hierarchy. It should be based on your interest. In management, you need to be able to communicate well with people to bring clarity to processes and professional growth,” says Emilie. “As a Principal, you need to be able to transfer your design knowledge to make sure everyone delivers high quality products or services. These are skills you can develop along the way, but you need to have a genuine interest in order to be totally fulfilled. Whichever role you are considering, think about what the implications are and if it’s something that you really enjoy doing.”
- Both roles impact people
“Impact comes from being able to rally resources around you which, in either role, often means people. The better you lead, the more impact you generate,” Thomas advises. “People are only going to allow you to lead if you give them a reason to follow you. A lot of the skills you develop when you lead as a Principal transfer immediately to the Manager role. In management, I think it’s really a question of: How much fun do you have in development conversations? How much do you like, to an extent, playing organizational politics? How much do you enjoy pushing for head count? But, before all of that, comes building relationships with people in order to get things done.”
- Don’t play too many roles at once
“In the end, it is really about what you want to do, and who you want to be within your organization and your career track,” Jeff concludes. “There isn’t a right answer, but perhaps there is a wrong one. Management offers a lot of opportunities to lead, mentor, and help your team develop and grow. It is about people and building interpersonal relationships, rather than crafting digital experiences and solving user problems. To be an effective manager, you always have to be vigilant to not be in a position where you take from your direct reports, but instead create a support structure to nurture their growth. You want to remove barriers, not inadvertently create them. As a Principal, the same is true, but you are doing hands-on design work that also influences the business unit or the organization at large. Don’t try to play too many roles at once; decide who you really want to be and everyone will benefit, especially you.”
Interested in another perspective on the Principal and Manager paths? Principal User Researcher, Fabian Kimmich, shares four milestones of his user research journey of discovery.
