Polly D'Arcy - Going from IC to VP of Design at Wealthsimple

Imagine going from IC to leading the Wealthsimple design team in a few short years… That was Polly D’arcy’s com/in/pollydarcy/) journey and today’s episode covers everything she’s learned along the way. We go deep into design leadership, craft, hiring, and a lot more. Some highlights: - Why Polly hires specialists over generalists - Tactics to nail your next portfolio presentation - What it looks like to lean into the moment with AI - How Polly defines design quality at WealthSimple - Polly’s go-to interview question to evaluate designers - How AI is changing team composition and design roles Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿 🌐

club 🐦 com/joindiveclub Now you can join advanced courses taught by the top designers to help you take a huge leap forward in your career 💪 Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:49 The importance of dogfooding 8:51 Going from manager to leading a design team 12:36 Defining quality at Wealthsimple 15:59 Raising the craft bar with AI 22:24 Leaning into the moment with AI 25:26 Rethinking product team composition with AI 31:47 Building a winning design team 37:03 Generalist vs. Specialist designers 42:24 Building remote culture 45:41 The hiring signals Polly looks for 49:24 Tactics for portfolio presentations 53:27 Handling imposter syndrome