LUKE DACEY • HEAD OF DESIGN
I help organisations build the right products.
From founder-led startups to global product organisations, I combine hands-on design, product judgement and experienced leadership to help teams build the right products.
What sets Luke apart as a leader is his ability to combine vision with collaboration. He communicates ideas with clarity and passion, bringing others on the journey and motivating them to raise their own standards.
Jay Tulloch - Head of Platform Design, Careem
SELECTED WORK
Every organisation is different. The challenges rarely are.
Over the last 24 years I’ve worked across startups, scale-ups and global organisations. I’ve found the same patterns repeat. These projects show how I approach them.
01.
FOUNDING DESIGNER • ZERO TO ONE • AI NATIVE
Building the wrong thing is expensive.
Replacing assumptions with evidence to build the right product from day one.
02.
22 SERVICE SUPER-APP • 70M+ USERS • 40+ DESIGNERS
Growth exposes every weakness.
Helping products and teams scale without losing clarity or quality.
03.
PLATFORM REDESIGN • MOBILITY • SCALE
The obvious problem is rarely the real one.
Research that challenged assumptions and transformed customer behaviour.
04.
COMPLEX SYSTEMS • SERVICE DESIGN • CONVERSION
Complexity compounds.
Making difficult products feel simple through better product design.
HOW I WORK WITH AI
Most teams are experimenting with AI, very few are restructuring around it. I’m building it.
THE STRATEGIC SHIFT
The mistake is treating it as a tool layer. I build AI into how work actually gets done — research, synthesis, decisions, delivery. Not to generate output. To remove the thinking that was never worth doing manually in the first place.
A lot of my recent work has been focused on building and experimenting with AI-native product workflows around what product organisations look like when exploration, synthesis and execution stop being the expensive part. I’m increasingly interested in how organisations adapt when execution stops being the primary constraint.
The wrong question about AI is getting more expensive to ask
The first place AI should live isn't in your product
AI won't replace you. It will expose you.
HOW I LEAD
I don’t manage people, I manage the conditions around them.
Clear direction, honest feedback, no surprises
My job is to create the conditions for good work. Clarity on the brief and protection from noise.
Honesty and transparency as standard
I stay close to the work. When something isn't working I say it early. When it is, I say that too.
Air cover without isolation
Clear ownership, honest feedback, no surprises. The teams I've built keep delivering at scale.
Freedom within a framework
Strong opinions on direction, clear ownership, then genuine autonomy on execution.
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
BACKGROUND
I operate across product, design, and strategy, from early definition to delivery.
I’ve spent 23 years working across product, design and strategy, from early definition to deliver. I’ve built from zero, led global teams and worked across fintech, consumer, automotive, B2B, maritime, and government.
Whether it’s across early-stage companies, or products at scale, the environments are different, but the underlying challenges are the same.
Casim - VP of Design
Make it a Conversation - Founder & AI Advisor
Careem - Global Head of Design
Careem - Head of Design - Rides, Captains, Pay
The AA (AA-X) - Head of User Experience Design
YTree - Head of Design
EARLIER
Pace Revenue - Lead Product Designer, Ninety Percent of Everything - Design & Product Manager, Aviva - Senior Product Designer, Simply Business - UX Specialist, Digital Catapult - Senior UX/UI Designer, iDirect - Interaction & Visual Designer.
