Shaping the Strategic Role of Design at Jar
Jar, a fintech startup empowering millions of underserved Indians to build savings. Jar is transforming traditional financial barriers into opportunities for those who have historically struggled to build their savings.
Expanding the horizon
I led the strategic design transformation that expanded our platform from a focused Gold Savings app to a comprehensive fintech ecosystem. By introducing three new verticals - Loan and Jewellery—we reimagined our product architecture and user experience, positioning Jar as a versatile financial solutions platform.
During my tenure, I:
Scaled the design team from 4 to 18 members, building a strong, cross-functional group of designers.
(A) Designing for ease and efficiency (UX design),
(B) Creating visual delight (UI, Visual & Motion design)
(C) Enhancing comprehension (UX Writing).
Took on expanded responsibilities, including Quarterly roadmap planning with vertical leads, setting month-over-month design and product priorities, and aligning the design function with the company's overall business and product strategy.
This multifaceted role allowed me to drive significant growth and evolution at Jar, as the company transitioned from a single-product offering to a diverse Fintech ecosystem.
Enabling design team ownership & accountability
As our design team transitioned from an early-stage startup to a scaling-stage startup, the exponential growth in design tasks demanded a strategic reimagining of our operational framework. I methodically redesigned our team structure, implementing task management protocols, stage-defined design review processes, and cross-vertical engagements to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing and avoid the risk of work duplication.
✦ Defining the workflow for clear Design & Product partnership
To set clear expectations on each stage of the project, from problem area to defining scope to design handover. More about it here.
✦ Design reviews
Structured sessions where designers present in-progress work. The goal isn’t approval, it’s collective intelligence. The aim was to provide visibility the every stage of design and set the right expectations.
✦ Cross-product vertical Design visibility
Get a clear view of ongoing design tasks, progress stage, dependency, blockers, expected delays and visibility to cross-functional team members. This allowed us to avoid re-work and use learnings from experimentation & research across business verticals.
✦ Squads in product verticals
To enable the team for more ownership, accountability and impact, working with the POD leads (business verticals), we introduced Squads within individual PODs. Each Squad had a designer, product manager, product analyst and design researcher at a shared capacity.
✦ Design system and tokenisation
To reduce design & tech debt, improve turnaround time to go live and maintain design consistency.
✦ Design throw-ups
To build a culture where critique is collaborative, and quality rises naturally through shared ownership. We focused on intent, not polish. Over time, this helped us build a shared sense of taste and elevate the culture of seeking feedback.