Director of Product Design & Research · AI-Native Product · Munich
Manuela
Olivero.
research leadership, org scaling
01 — About
Leading the shift
to AI-native product.
20+ years translating product vision into measurable outcomes — at scale, across sectors, and now at the frontier of AI.
Director of Product Design and Research at Prezi & Infogram, working at the intersection of design strategy, AI, and business growth for 160M+ users — in close partnership with product and engineering.
Much of my career has been spent in products where people have to act on something they cannot verify for themselves: risk in retail and enterprise banking, access to sensitive internal resources, and now non-deterministic agent output. The design problem is consistently the same — make what the system did legible enough that someone can decide, without burying them in the mechanics.
Before SaaS, I spent six years in consulting at Reply, building a design business unit, managing P&L, and delivering digital transformation for some of EMEA's largest financial institutions. That experience grounded me in what it means to own outcomes, not just craft.
Right now I'm deep into AI-native product development — shipping Swoop, a new Prezi product, from agentic system design to rethinking how AI changes UX, strategy, processes, and the teams behind it. Two things underpin that work: a design system delivered as an agent, so the organisation ships coherent design at speed, and an integration layer that defines what the product can safely reach into — and where it stops.
Signature Strengths — Gallup & Strengthscope
- Strategic Gallup
- Ideation Gallup
- Empathy Gallup
- Creativity Strengthscope
- Developing Others Strengthscope
- Critical Thinking Strengthscope
- Optimism Strengthscope
02 — In others' words
The most effective way to convey
my essence is through others' perspectives.
"Manuela is a natural leader with strong empathy, able to tackle challenges head-on while staying open to new ideas. In 2023, she successfully aligned the design team with new goals and navigated team formations. She addressed complex HR situations with heart and strategy."
"Manuela acts with initiative, often identifying solutions independently before discussing them. She strongly commits to personal growth and actively applies feedback."
"Her role goes beyond leadership, actively facilitating design activities, tracking feedback, and maintaining team alignment while also brainstorming and presenting innovative ideas."
03 — Selected work
Four problems I
actually solved.
Designing Swoop as a product system
Turning separate AI capabilities into one product that understands the job someone actually came to do — intent modelling, context boundaries and an architecture of collaborating agents.
Everyone landed here. No one owned it
16% of users abandoned on their second visit. Reframing usability into entry architecture changed which jobs the dashboard made available first — and lifted activation.
Shipping coherent design at speed
Built AI-native design ops and tooling — including a design system delivered as an agent — to help the company ship coherent design at speed. Developed alongside the redefinition of the Prezi brand, aligning the design system with brand identity so campaigns and in-product experience read as one coherent whole.
What the agent can safely reach into
Owned workflow creation where Swoop meets everything outside it: how users connect, authorize, and recover from failures with third-party services. Defined with engineering which integration capabilities to expose, and where their limits sat.
04 — Selected Clients
Shaped experiences for
world-class brands.
05 — Perspectives
On leadership,
AI & the future of work.
06 — Experience
A track record
of impact at scale.
Director of Product Design and Research · Remote
Driving design AI transformation across Prezi & Infogram to translate user experience into business growth for 160M+ customers. Rebuilt the design and research function — standards, governance, and design systems — so designers contribute closer to shipping.
Manager for Customer Experience & UX Lead · Italy & Germany
Built and ran a design business unit — P&L, hiring, and client relationships. Delivered digital transformation for major players across EMEA, scaling the team from a handful of seniors to 30+ people across multiple countries. Led hands-on UX/UI for the Intesa Sanpaolo mobile app, which Forrester later ranked among Europe's leading mobile banking apps.
07 — Education & Certifications
Solid foundations.
Let's
connect.
Based in Munich. I spoke on the design panel at The Future of Product, Design & Engineering in the Age of AI — Tacto, Munich, June 2025 — and write on AI and design practice on Medium. Open to panels, partner conversations, and public-facing work at the intersection of AI, product strategy, and design leadership in EMEA.