Head of Product Design (via Novoda)
Germany's largest real estate platform with 12M+ monthly visitors. I brought a research-first approach from day one — testing with real people at train stations in week one, running usability sessions every week after that, and shipping improvements every two weeks based on what we learned.
ImmobilienScout24 helps millions of people in Germany find their next home. I led design across multiple product squads — each focused on stability, growth, or customer satisfaction — working closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and Data Analysts every day.
When I joined, design, product, and engineering worked fairly independently. I changed that — getting everyone into research sessions together, running ideation workshops as a team, and making prioritisation decisions collaboratively. When people see the same user problems first-hand, they make better decisions together.
We released to users every two weeks. Every feature was tested through A/B experiments, and the whole team — Product, Engineering, and Design — reviewed results together and decided what to do next.
I also built the design team from scratch — hiring designers, setting up critique, and mentoring people while staying hands-on with the work myself. That combination of caring about the team and staying close to the craft is what made the difference.
In week one, I took the whole team to a local train station to test with real people — alongside focus groups with active users. We wanted to understand the problem properly before anyone started building anything.
Through conversations, interviews, and testing, we heard what was actually frustrating people: confusing location entry, unclear pricing (does the rent include bills?), no way to filter for things that matter (like whether pets are allowed), and no sense of what the local area is like.
We pulled these insights into a customer journey map that got everyone — Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders — looking at the same picture. I ran ideation workshops with the full team, designers and engineers and PMs working side by side, going from rough sketches to testable prototypes.
Research wasn't a one-off phase — we ran weekly interviews and usability testing throughout the project, with paper prototypes, interactive flows, and native builds. Each week we learned something new, and each week it shaped what we did next.
Simplified search & filters — Property searchers struggled to filter effectively and find relevant listings. We redesigned the experience to simplify location entry, clearly indicate whether rent included bills (warm vs. cold), enable pet-friendly filtering, and surface local amenities like parks, schools, and transport on the map.
Flexible location entry — Research revealed a wide range of needs: from specific address searches to broader exploration. We designed four distinct modes — address entry, district search, draw-your-own area on the map, and visual browsing.
Split-view results — User preferences varied between map, list, or both. We designed a flexible split-view that defaulted to a combined layout, allowing users to scroll up for a full list or tap the map to explore specific properties — keeping filters easily accessible throughout.
User control & trust — To address frustration around irrelevant or suspicious listings, we introduced the ability to hide unwanted properties and report fraudulent content — giving users greater control over their experience.
We built a design system that worked across Android and iOS — keeping the experience consistent no matter what device someone was using.
We broke every concept into phases so we could get it in front of real users as quickly as possible. The goal was always to learn from actual usage, not just our own assumptions.
Testing helped us learn and improve before going all-in. When we felt confident, Design, Product, and Engineering planned the rollout together — shipping every two weeks and measuring what actually changed through A/B testing.
I worked closely with engineers on interaction details and animation, making sure what shipped looked and felt the way it was designed to. Because we were working together so closely, quality didn't get lost between the design file and the real product.
"Great App! The search update has made house-hunting so much easier!"
— Property Searcher"Best app in Germany for house hunt. Multiple options with very nice owners to connect with. Totally loved it. Thanks team."
— Property Searcher"Solid & reliable app, has been a great help for finding a flat in Berlin"
— Property Searcher