Hugo Mejia — Fractional Design Leader & Product Design Consultant

Who am I

Designer by trade, with over 25 years of experience across industrial, graphic, and digital design.

I have driven digital product delivery in close partnership with Product and Engineering while elevating design craft through large-scale transformation initiatives across SaaS and enterprise platforms. I’ve built a reputation for shaping 0-to-1 product strategies and translating complex user and business needs into scalable, accessible solutions that deliver measurable results.

I partner with enterprise and growth-stage teams as a fractional design leader and consultant. Most recently, as Head of Design at Scotiabank, I led the strategy, execution, and delivery for the Digital Platforms channel. My mandate covered the Web Banking portal, the Mobile Apps for Android and iOS, and Design systems; delivering platform experiences including product summaries, transactions, payments, self-service, settings and preferences, and the enablement of multiple other flows on web and mobile, operating within a highly regulated environment with strict privacy, identity, security, and accessibility requirements (AODA/WCAG).

What I bring to an engagement:

Exceptional teams, built and coached to think like strategists
Clear, achievable product strategy
Digital experiences that improve people's lives and help businesses thrive

0 Design organization spanning research, product, visual, service, and content design

0 Supported Product Squads

0 customers served in Canada

0 customers served in the Caribbean and Central America

How I help

Fractional design leadership

Senior design leadership without a full-time hire. I help setting strategy, building and coaching teams, and raising craft. Ideal for scale-ups establishing design maturity or enterprises in transition.

Design systems & design ops

Establishing scalable, accessible systems and operating models that lift quality, velocity, and collaboration across product and engineering.

0→1 product strategy & advisory

Turning complex problem spaces into aligned vision and shippable direction, plus advisory and coaching for design leaders and teams.

Engagements are flexible: ongoing fractional, scoped projects, or advisory.

Let's talk:

Send me a message Schedule a meeting

Leadership Philosophy

Product development teams are best supported by servant leadership

Design is a discipline rooted in empathy

Design must prioritize outcomes over outputs

Design is a natural partner to Product, Engineering and Executives

Experience

NOV 2025 — CURRENT

Product Design Consultant & Fractional Design Leader

Independent practice

Partnering with enterprise and growth-stage teams on fractional design leadership, design systems, and 0→1 product strategy.
Advisory and coaching for design leaders and teams building design maturity.

OCT 2023 — OCT 2025

Head of Design Digital Platforms

Scotiabank

Led and scaled a multidisciplinary design team of 20 (Product, Research, Content, Service).
Owned the design vision and strategy for retail banking platforms and design systems, partnering with senior leaders across the enterprise to shape roadmaps, guide decisions, and embed design thinking into our CX and customer journeys.

FEB 2020 — SEP 2023

Product Design Director, Web and Mobile Digital platforms

Scotiabank

Directed the design strategy for core mobile and web platforms, defining multi-year product roadmaps across transactional and self-service flows, onboarding, settings and preferences, help and support, and inclusive design improvements.
Mentored and coached senior designers into lead roles by implementing a career progression framework that improved team engagement and retention, with minimal turnover over five years.

2019 — 2021

Product Design Director

Scotiabank Caribbean and Central America

Led the Digital Design vision and execution for regional customers, enabling 3.5M clients across 7 markets and 8 currencies to interact with their bank on web and mobile platforms.
Scaled a distributed, multidisciplinary design team from 3 to 12 members across Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica, including Product, Service, Content Designers, and Design Researchers.

FEB 2007 — MAR 2019

Previous roles

Scotiabank - Bell Mobility - Masterfile Corporation - Universidad de los Andes

Lead and individual contributor roles covering product design and strategy, UX research and service design across financial services, mobile apps design, e-commerce portals and public sites for education.

Case studies

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