LUKE DACEY • HANDS-ON DESIGN LEADER
I help organisations turn ambiguity into products people love using.
WHAT I BRING
I've built design orgs, developed leaders and shaped products used by millions of people.
But leadership has never meant stepping away from the work.
70M+
Directed product experiences for 70M+ users across MENA
40+
Built and led multidisciplinary design teams of 40+
24 years
Working in design, strategy and organisation change.
MY CAREER
The complex problems I’ve been trusted to solve.
Over the last 24 years, I've designed products across consumer, enterprise and AI. From super apps and digital payments to maritime platforms and financial intelligence. Different industries, same challenge - making complex systems feel simple.
Super Apps
Unified navigation and discovery across multiple businesses. Designed marketplaces, subscriptions, maps & location, future product vision and AI-powered personalisation.
Careem · The AA
Digital payments
Wallets, crypto, transfers and financial experiences that made complex transactions feel simple and trustworthy and turning ambiguity into products people actually want to use.
Casim · Careem · The AA
Financial intelligence
Reimagined invoicing as a financial operating system and designed predictive wealth planning that surfaces risk, opportunities and long-term outcomes.
Casim · YTree · Pace · Aviva
Enterprise platforms
Transformed paper, spreadsheets and disconnected systems into scalable digital platforms across maritime, automotive and hospitality to make complex data usable.
90POE · The AA · Pace · iDirect
AI-native products
Embedded AI into discovery, financial operations, revenue management and predictive decision-making long before it became mainstream.
Careem · Casim · Pace · The AA · YTree
Operational systems
Designed products supporting crews at sea, drivers on the road, hotel operators and finance teams under real operational pressure - creating clarity when stakes are high.
90POE · Careem · Pace · Casim · iDirect
Predictive experiences
Shifted products from reporting what happened to anticipating what happens next, from crash detection to hotel revenue forecasting and lifetime financial modelling.
Careem · Casim · Aviva · Pace · YTree · 90POE
Research-led transformations
Conducted immersive research - from living onboard cargo vessels to travelling the world to uncover the real problems behind user decisions and pivot product direction.
Casim · Careem · 90POE · Simply Business · Aviva · iDirect
Design at scale
Built design systems, governance, reusable foundations and operating models that enabled teams to deliver consistently across products, markets and disciplines.
Casim · Careem · 90POE · The AA · Aviva · Pace · iDirect
A NEW CATEGORY
What I’m currently building.
- Currently in testing -
The highest-performing organisations won't have more AI. They'll have better judgement.
The system transforms everything your organisation already knows into faster decisions, stronger alignment and more confident execution.
By surfacing risks, contradictions and opportunities before they become expensive, it reduces waste, rework and execution risk across the entire product lifecycle.
MY WORK
Featured case studies.
CAREEM • UBER • MENA
A core product at scale, where broken flows cost users and revenue.
12% – Increase in rides completion
23% - Fewer driver related cancelations
95% - CSAT scores improved
CASIM • FOUNDING TEAM • 0 TO 1
Defined product direction, operating model & secured the first early adopters.
9 months - Zero to market-ready
5 early adopters - Secured through strategic positioning
Strategic playbook - Built and used from day one
THE AA (AA-X) • HEAD OF UX • 14M+ USERS
Legacy services, built without a shared product model.
27% - Increase in bookings in app
18% - Increase in upsell conversion rate
57% - Decrease in customer service call volume
CAREEM • GLOBAL HEAD OF DESIGN • 70M+ USERS
40+ designers across 10 verticals, shipping fast with no shared direction.
-24 to +78 - 102 point eNPS improvement.
300% - Improvement in team satisfaction.
40% - Increase in early stage design involvement
INDUSTRIES CHANGE - THE PROBLEMS DON’T
I've seen the same patterns across 20+ years and multiple sectors.
I've worked across fintech, consumer, automotive, B2B, maritime and government. I’ve been a researcher, a strategist, a PM, an interaction designer and leader. The design problem was always downstream of something structural. Changing the designer doesn't fix it, changing the conditions does.
Design is brought in too late
By the time design is involved, the problem is already constrained. I work upstream, shaping the problem before solutions are defined.
Ownership is unclear, so decisions drift.
When no one owns the decision, everything slows down. I define ownership so teams can move without escalation.
Teams scale faster than their structure.
At Careem the team had the talent, the structure was the problem. I restructure around accountability. eNPS moved from -24 to +78.
AI is introduced, not integrated
Most teams add AI on top - this is the wrong model. I build it into how the system works, so it changes how decisions actually get made.
FROM THOSE WHO WERE THERE
“Luke is the kind of leader who always raises the bar for quality, for accountability and for the culture of the team”
Linden Dance - Lead Product Designer, Careem
“Luke’s leadership was pivotal to the success of our projects. Luke combines strategic thinking with a deep sense of empathy”
Samantha Hamadeh - Product Marketing Lead, Careem
“His ability to balance hands-on execution with big-picture thinking makes him an invaluable example in any team”
Nadia Roeleveld - Product Designer, Koos