EMEA MANAGEMENT
My Role
Regional Discipline Lead for UI Design, for EMEA region of Nuance Enterprise Professional Services (PS). Reported to Senior Director for EMEA PS.
My Responsibilities
Coordinated hiring/staffing of UI Designers in the EMEA region. Very close co-operation with US/Canada UI Managers, with whom I met weekly.
Coordinated professional development of UI staff across the region, including upwards to Global Discipline Lead (based New York, USA) and sideways to EMEA Country/Region Managers.
First contact for UI questions for EMEA region, mostly from US/Canada UI teams, US/EMEA Sales colleagues, and senior management.
Represented UI Design discipline within EMEA Discipline Leaders forum, coordinating with senior colleagues for Development (Germany), Speech Science (USA), Quality Assurance (UK), and Project Management (Germany).
Acted as UI Consultant for some projects, where local team/management requested support. Often the first point of contact for UI escalations.Challenges & Opportunities
Managing conflicting resource requests at EMEA regional level.
Managing occasional resource sharing with US/Canada.
Adapting North American professional development goals to EMEA needs, markets, and skill sets.
Developing positive, professional working relationship with CEO of UK third party recording studio used by many Nuance clients, to address quality concerns across multiple projects.
As one of Nuance’s major clients saw a gradual increase in traffic in Germany, I flagged the opportunity with Nuance senior management, to help support a phased upgrade of their legacy German IVR to match their far more advanced US and UK systems. This included conversations at Director, Senior Director and VP level, and factored in staffing and international co-ordination.
Resolving potential conflicts of interest between my roles as an EMEA-wide Manager, a UK Manager, and a hands-on Principal User Interface Designer.