Executive Collaboration
Framework
Throughout my tenure at a global financial services firm, I evolved from Product Designer to trusted advisor collaborating directly with C-suite and VP-level leadership across Strategy, Finance, Operations, Product, and Marketing.
LinkedIn recommendations, live platforms, and third-party recognition are publicly accessible below. Detailed project materials are available during interviews under standard NDA.
What You Can Verify Right Now
Before discussing confidential materials in interviews, here's what's publicly accessible for immediate verification.
From managers, engineers, product leaders, and marketing directors. Publicly visible on LinkedIn — click any recommendation below to verify directly.
Publicly accessible production systems demonstrating unified design language, compliance architecture, and enterprise-scale delivery across multiple product lines.
ACY.com submitted to Awwwards and publicly listed as a nominee — a score-based evaluation by the Awwwards jury. Included here as a verifiable third-party quality signal. Verify on Awwwards →
ACY Securities holds an active ASIC licence (AFSL 403863), verifiable on the ASIC public register. Zero design-related compliance incidents across 8+ regulatory updates over 2+ years — confirmed by Legal and the compliance team. The company's regulatory standing reflects the platform I helped build.
Why This Matters: In financial services, "trust but verify" is the standard. I provide verifiable public evidence before asking you to trust claims that require NDA. This is the same rigor I'd expect from institutional design teams.
Strategic Design Outcomes
Concrete deliverables from C-suite collaborations — confidence levels marked per the verification framework.
Regulatory directive requiring platform-wide UI changes. Modular compliance architecture enabled single-component update propagating across all 5 platforms. Zero redesigns. Zero violations.
Lead designer on C-suite investor deck, financial projection frameworks, and pitch materials for institutional capital raise. Deck delivery and presentation are confirmed. Detailed artifacts available under NDA.
Institutional FIX 4.4 Protocol platform for prime brokers and hedge funds — clients managing $10M–$500M in daily order flow. Designed the end-to-end developer experience, API documentation architecture, and credential management. 67% support ticket reduction post-launch (40 → 13/month, production telemetry). Publicly verifiable at acyconnect.com →
ASIC leverage cap changes, ESMA inducement ban, FCA disclosure updates, FINRA suitability rule revisions — all absorbed by the compliance component architecture. Confirmed by Legal and Engineering: no platform redesigns required across the entire compliance update cycle.
Internal communications and strategic materials remain confidential — standard practice for any designer at a regulated firm. Redacted versions are available during interviews.
Cross-Functional Executive Partnership
What I can share publicly about my executive collaborations — without violating confidentiality agreements or professional ethics.
The CEO assigned investor-facing presentation design directly — no brief document, no PM layer. The working relationship was simple: a design need was identified and routed to me, I delivered. Work included capital markets presentation materials produced across multiple revision rounds, with financial content reviewed by the CFO before final sign-off and distribution. Both English and bilingual editions were produced.
Beyond presentation work, I was also asked to conduct an operational efficiency analysis — a licence cost review across the organisation's software subscriptions. That kind of cross-functional trust — a CEO routing an operational task through design — reflects the scope of the working relationship beyond the screen.
Anthony and I worked directly on the financial data visualisation layer of the investor decks — Cash Flow Summary (FY24–FY26), Revenue Analysis with EBITDA margin overlays, and multi-year growth projections. The collaboration scope extended to validating financial accuracy: Anthony would review projection charts, flag number discrepancies, and request chart type changes in direct calls and messages.
A notable process moment: I introduced Figma as a shared working environment so Anthony could annotate the exact data cell containing a discrepancy rather than describing it textually across email. Once onboarded — with a brief walkthrough of frame navigation and inline commenting — the revision cycle compressed from multi-day turnaround to same-day, with full CFO sign-off achieved in a single review session.
Posted a company-wide announcement on January 16, 2025 recognising Ed by name as the designer responsible for the Awwwards nomination, citing the ACY.com design upgrades and commitment to user experience as the reason for the nomination.
Verify nomination on Awwwards →Posted a company-wide announcement on July 19, 2024 marking the acy.com homepage launch and publicly crediting Ed Chen by name as one of the key contributors. The homepage reflected a complete brand direction change — a design decision that was organisation-level, not a cosmetic update.
Key Insight: C-suite collaboration at this level — CEO assigning investor materials directly, CFO onboarding into your design tool, COO and Marketing VP naming you publicly — reflects trust earned through consistent delivery and domain credibility, not seniority. For a Goldman Sachs or J.P. Morgan hiring manager, this is the evidence that "Senior" means something: I've operated at the level where the audience for my work is institutional capital, and the cost of getting it wrong is a failed fundraise.
Public LinkedIn Recommendations
The following recommendations are publicly visible on LinkedIn and can be verified by anyone. These represent feedback from direct reports, cross-functional partners, and academic mentors.
You will notice that several of these recommendations were written within the same 3-day window (March 25–28, 2026). This is because I solicited them simultaneously when I began actively preparing this portfolio for institutional outreach — a common and transparent practice, not an attempt to manufacture social proof.
Two independent data points span a longer timeline:
- Claudia Dallendörfer (2021) — MFA Professor recommendation written 5 years ago, long before any job search
- White Chen — Lead Software Engineer (March 28) — independently reached out after I mentioned I was updating my LinkedIn, without a specific request for a recommendation on the same day as others
In financial services, proactive disclosure beats discovered inconsistency. If recommendation timing or provenance requires deeper verification, I am happy to arrange a live reference call with any of the individuals listed above.
These recommendations come primarily from direct reports, cross-functional peers, and an academic mentor. They are genuine and verifiable — but I want to be honest about what they prove:
- ✓ Cross-functional collaboration quality — Engineers, PMs, and Marketing leaders describe specific working patterns
- ✓ Team leadership and mentorship — Direct reports describe management style, not generic praise
- ✓ Design system effectiveness — Engineers cite specific velocity improvements they personally experienced
- ⚠ Upward leadership endorsement — I have fewer manager-level recommendations because I consistently write them for others rather than soliciting them for myself. Former direct managers are available for live reference calls upon request.
If institutional background-check requirements call for a direct manager reference, please contact me to coordinate a call with my former Head of Product at ACY Securities.
"Having worked directly under Ed Chen's leadership, I have witnessed firsthand his exceptional team management skills and strategic vision. It is my pleasure to provide the following observations regarding Ed's performance as a manager for your reference…"
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Exceptional Resource Integration and Decisiveness
Ed demonstrates a highly proactive management style. Throughout the design process, he possesses a keen ability to identify team needs and provide constructive solutions and resource support at critical moments. Under his guidance, the design team has established a highly efficient communication framework, significantly shortening the cycle from conceptualization to final execution.
Stakeholder Recognition and High-Quality Deliverables
Under Ed's leadership, our team's output and business impact have consistently exceeded expectations, earning high praise from the Head of Product. He has successfully aligned design value with core product goals, elevating the design team's influence and strategic importance within the company.
Forward-Thinking Leadership in AI Transformation
In response to the evolving AI landscape, Ed has been a pioneer in driving team transformation. By proactively introducing AI-assisted design tools and providing essential learning resources, he has not only optimized our internal workflows but also ensured that every team member remains at the forefront of industry technology.
Culture of Empowerment, Trust, and Talent Development
Ed has cultivated a passionate and selfless team culture. He consistently empowers team members by providing opportunities to lead new projects, favoring "Empowerment" over "Micromanagement." This approach has significantly enhanced our professional value and overall sense of achievement within the team.
"Working with Ed at Zerologix has been a genuine highlight. As a UI/UX designer, he brings something rare to the table: exceptional taste, technical creativity, and an almost unsettling ability to ship beautiful work fast. Ed has been at the forefront of using AI to accelerate and elevate the creative process — not in a way that cuts corners, but in a way that amplifies his already strong design sensibility."
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AI-Accelerated Design Leadership
The results speak for themselves: clean, compelling, and crafted with care. Beyond the output, what I appreciate most is how Ed's presence genuinely lifts the aesthetic standard of everything around him. Products look better. Flows feel smoother. The bar rises.
Strategic Impact
If your company is serious about design quality — and you should be — Ed is exactly who you want in your corner.
"Ed's implementation of a centralized design system was a game-changer for our team's output. Working in an environment where requirements from the CEO and Marketing team moved at a rapid pace, we needed to deliver high-quality results almost instantly…"
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How the Design System Impacted Team Velocity
By establishing a consistent design system — standardizing typography, color themes, and motion effects — Ed eliminated the need for "reinventing the wheel" for every new request. This systematic approach allowed us to move from concept to final Figma sign-off much faster, consistently meeting aggressive timelines.
"I'm very grateful to Ed for quickly understanding product needs. He reduces communication gaps between designers and product managers by deeply understanding user needs. He is also a great colleague and a thoughtful friend who is always open to discussing the future and sharing valuable industry insight."
"Ed is a UIUX designer who consistently puts users' needs first and delivers thoughtful, high-quality design solutions. He approaches experience challenges with creativity and always focusing on solving the right problems."
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Cross-Functional Collaboration
During my time working with him, I was continually impressed by his professionalism, passion for design, and willingness to bring forward bold, innovative ideas. Together, we delivered several high-impact products, and he was always a great partner when collaborating closely with engineering teams.
I highly recommend Ed to any team looking for a designer who combines strong user empathy, creativity, and effective cross-functional collaboration.
"I had the chance to work with Ed on a SaaS investment service product, and it was honestly one of the smoothest cross-team collaborations I've experienced. As a frontend engineer, I've worked with designers who just throw designs over the wall and expect magic to happen — Ed is not one of them."
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Engineering-First Design Approach
He would join our standups, ask how we structure components, and adjust his design specs so they made sense from an engineering perspective. That alone saved us a ton of back-and-forth. When we ran into tricky edge cases during implementation, he was always quick to jump in and figure things out together instead of just saying, "follow the mockup."
Team Velocity Impact
Working with Ed made our team move noticeably faster — not because we worked harder, but because there was far less guesswork involved. He made that happen. I'm really glad I got to work with him.
"I had the chance to work with Ed when he was a Product Designer supporting the marketing team. He's easy to work with and always open to feedback, which made collaboration smooth across teams."
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Design-Marketing Partnership
Ed has a good eye for design and understands how to balance user experience with practical product needs. He's reliable, thoughtful in his work, and someone the team could always count on.
It was great working with him and I'm sure he'll continue to do well in his product design career.
"I am very pleased to recommend Ed. He is a thoughtful, hard-working and a very motivated student and has risen to the intense challenge of developing his thesis project in my class in 2020 and in his time in the MFA program. His talent, positive attitude and friendly nature will make him a strong asset to any team in the industry."
What I'm NOT Good At (According to Feedback)
Most portfolios only show successes. Here's what I've learned from constructive criticism during my time at previous employers — and how I've worked to address each weakness.
Early Career: Speed vs. Perfection (Over-Researching)
The Mistake: Early in my FinTech career (2022), I spent 3 weeks researching button color variations for a low-risk marketing page. I ran A/B tests, usability studies, and competitor analysis — for a feature that could've been validated with a simple live test in 4 days.
The Feedback: A product manager pulled me aside: "Ed, this level of rigor is great for compliance features, but we're blocking ourselves on low-impact decisions. Not everything needs three weeks of research."
How I Fixed It: I implemented a Risk-Tiered Research Framework:
- High Risk (legal liability, money movement): 3-week research cycle minimum
- Medium Risk (UX changes affecting core workflows): 1-week validation
- Low Risk (marketing copy, button colors): Ship → A/B test → iterate (4 days max)
Mid-Career: Stakeholder Alignment Failure (Legal Skip)
The Mistake: In 2023, I designed a "Recommended Signal Providers" feature for a copy-trading platform. I validated with Product, Engineering, and Marketing — but forgot to involve Legal until final review.
The Consequence: Legal flagged it as "financial advice" under ASIC regulations. We had to scrap the entire feature after 6 weeks of work.
How I Fixed It: Created a Legal-First Design Checklist for high-risk features:
- Before wireframes: Legal approval on concept (Does this trigger regulatory review?)
- Before prototypes: Legal review of copy/disclaimers
- Before dev handoff: Final Legal sign-off on implementation
Ongoing Challenge: Overestimating User Technical Literacy
The Pattern: I come from a technical background (MFA in Digital Design, 5 years working with engineers). I sometimes design interfaces assuming users understand concepts like "API credentials", "leverage ratio", or "liquidity pools" without explicit tooltips/onboarding.
The Feedback: Usability testing revealed 40% of users didn't understand "API Key" terminology in onboarding — they thought it meant "account password."
How I'm Addressing It: This is an ongoing improvement area:
- Mandatory usability testing with 3–5 non-technical users for every new feature
- Tooltip/glossary for any term that appears in 2+ support tickets
- Ask engineers: "Would your parents understand this label?"
Most portfolios only show polish. But at Principal/Staff level in financial services, hiring managers care about: Can you recognize your own blind spots? Do you learn from mistakes or repeat them? Can you handle critical feedback without defensiveness?
Transparency about weaknesses demonstrates the same intellectual honesty I'd expect from institutional design teams. If I'm not willing to share constructive criticism with you, how can you trust me to accept it when I join your team?
Why Multi-Executive Collaboration Matters for Private Bank Roles
Private banking serves UHNW clients ($10M+ AUM) who interact with multiple specialists: relationship managers (strategy), wealth advisors (finance), investment counselors (portfolio), and estate planners (operations).
My experience earning trust across CEO/CFO/COO/VP Product/VP Marketing proves I can design for complex stakeholder ecosystems where:
CFO can reject financial visualizations, Legal can block compliance UI, Marketing controls brand standards.
Marketing wants brand consistency, Product wants conversion optimization, Legal wants regulatory disclosure.
Just as I protect ACY's internal communications, I understand the absolute necessity of protecting UHNW client data in private banking.
Bottom Line: Private bank relationship managers serving UHNW clients expect designers who understand executive-level expectations. My track record of C-suite collaboration — verified through proper professional channels — proves I can deliver institutional-grade design quality under the highest scrutiny, while maintaining absolute confidentiality.
Evidence Verification Process
I understand that claims of C-suite collaboration require verification. Here's how we can validate this experience through proper professional channels.
After mutual NDA execution, I can screen-share redacted evidence (communications, project timelines, strategic materials) during interview. Sensitive financial data removed, but collaboration patterns clearly visible.
With appropriate notice and consent, I can facilitate reference checks with former executives who can verify my contributions and collaboration scope (subject to their availability and comfort level).
Cross-reference executive LinkedIn profiles, Awwwards public nomination, and company marketing materials that validate platform scale and my design role.
Contact me to discuss verification approach: ed@edwson.com
Ready to Discuss Executive Collaboration?
You've seen the public evidence. During interviews, I can share additional materials under NDA to validate C-suite collaboration and design system impact.
All confidential materials shared under mutual NDA only. Public