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Open to work
"Designing financial products for the next 100 million users across MENA"
About
Design leader with eight years of experience building financial products for emerging markets. Currently leading design systems at Finesse, a Series B fintech serving 2M+ users across eight MENA countries. Previously at Careem and Tabby where I led cross-functional design teams through zero-to-one product launches and scaled design systems across five product lines. My work has been featured at Config 2024, Dubai Design Week, and in A Book Apart's regional design annual. I care about making financial products feel human — especially for users who've historically been underserved by banking infrastructure. Most of my portfolio reflects that focus.
Currently focused on
Leading design systems at a Series B fintech, shaping how 2M+ users manage their finances across 8 countries
Looking for
Design leadership roles, selective consulting engagements, conference speaking opportunities
Experience
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Senior Product Designer
Aug 2023 — Present
Finesse · Dubai, UAE
Leading design systems and consumer-facing product work at a Series B fintech serving 2M+ users across eight MENA countries.
- Rebuilt the design system from scratch, reducing engineering cycle time by 34%
- Led the redesign of the onboarding flow, lifting first-week activation by 22%
- Manage a team of three product designers and one design researcher
- Partner with product leadership on quarterly roadmap prioritization
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Lead Product Designer
Mar 2021 — Jul 2023
Tabby · Dubai, UAE
Led design for the merchant-facing platform during Tabby's scale-up phase (Series B → unicorn).
- Owned end-to-end design for the merchant dashboard serving 10,000+ businesses
- Launched three new merchant products, each hitting adoption targets within 90 days
- Established the design operations function as the team grew from 4 to 14 designers
- Shipped accessibility improvements bringing WCAG AA compliance across core flows
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Product Designer
Sep 2018 — Feb 2021
Careem · Dubai, UAE
Cross-functional design across Careem's super-app — rides, food, and payments.
- Designed the Careem Pay wallet onboarding and KYC flow used by 500K+ users
- Led design research studies across five MENA markets, informing product strategy
- Mentored three junior designers through Careem's internal growth program
- Contributed to the transition from Uber acquisition to independent brand identity
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Freelance Product Designer
Jun 2016 — Aug 2018
Independent · Dubai, UAE
Freelance work across fintech, e-commerce, and SaaS clients in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the UK. Built early product design expertise shipping to production under tight timelines.
Portfolio
Finesse Design System 2.0
Rebuilding a multi-product design system from 47 inconsistent components to a unified 120-component library.
Onboarding Redesign
Redesigning the first-run experience for a MENA-focused consumer fintech — lifting first-week activation by 22%.
Tabby Merchant Dashboard
End-to-end design for a BNPL merchant platform serving 10,000+ MENA businesses.
Careem Pay Wallet
Wallet onboarding and KYC for 500K+ users across Careem's super-app.
MENA Design Research Study
Cross-market research synthesising financial behaviour patterns across Gulf, Levant, and Egypt.
Education
Bachelor of Design, Visual Communication Design
2016
American University in Dubai
Certification, Human-Computer Interaction
2019
Interaction Design Foundation
Certifications
Accessibility in Design — Certified
Interaction Design Foundation
Jun 2022
Design Leadership — Bootcamp
Meetup Design School
Mar 2023
What people say
"Aisha is the rare designer who operates at both the system level and the pixel level without losing either. Her design system work has fundamentally changed how we ship product."
"The best hire I made in three years at Tabby. She left our merchant platform ten times better than she found it."
"Working with Aisha was the first time I felt design was actually leading, not following. She made my job easier by making hard decisions early."