Dr. Talke Hoppmann-Walton
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Building a portfolio career since 2022 - as a Facilitator, Product Design & Ops Consultant.
If the right full-time role comes along or an interim engagement extends - I’m open for it.
11+ years in various Product Design roles in PayPal EMEA and Global, as both IC and Manager, in my last role as Global Lead Design Operations
3 years leading UX & Research teams in Digital agencies in London
PhD in Communication Science
Hyper Island “AI for Business” graduate
Accredited Lego©️ Serious Play©️ facilitator
I usually work with international and globally dispersed teams to build customer-centric products and ways of working across silos - so the customer experience is not impacted by internal org structures.
I live in Hamburg, with my British husband and three kids and usually work in English - but since German is my native language and I’m very happy to work in German as well.
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At my core I’m a systems thinker with a love for both data & creative problem solving. I believe in strong cross-org collaboration and joint sense making through well facilitated deep dives. Helping teams see structure and clarity by mapping complex problems out together is where I thrive.
Connecting Sales & Product-led growth while never loosing sight of customer centricity is what I focus on.
According to Myers-Briggs I’m an ENTJ profile, which might explain why I’m pragmatic and goal-oriented. As a mum of three, holiday home host, and through my solopreneur experience - I’m always multitasking and never without a project.
Oh, and I love coffee, unagi & pistachio ice cream (but who doesn’t?).
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01/22 - now - UX, MY DEAR, Senior Consultant & Facilitator
Product Strategy & Design Operations consultant. Solving diverse product and experience challenges for various clients. Facilitating Design Sprints, Discovery or leading interdisciplinary pilot teams.
2023 - Coach in the Creative Business Academy, organised by Hamburger Kreativgesellschaft
08/20-01/22 - PayPal Global, Design Operations Lead
Creating a standardised Design to Dev Hand-off. Supporting the global migration to Figma; establishing best practices and templates to facilitate standards for delivery.
2017-2020 - CEO @ The Walton family
Responsible for 3 young kids, raising them, dealing with logistics and life full-time.
02/16 - 09/16 - PayPal Global, Sr Manager International Credit
Managing 3 cross-disciplinary design teams across Europe, responsible for all credit design experiences outside the US – e.g. buy now, pay later products, rate pay, revolving lines.
VARIOUS EMEA-WIDE DESIGN ROLES
12/10 - 09/16 - PayPal Europe, London
Leading teams in Berlin, Paris, London focusing on merchants and white-label/out-of-the-box solutions for checkout. Prior to that designing the first European PP credit solutions.
UX CONSULTING & RESEARCH
Various Digital Agencies, London
08/2010 - 12/2010 - Team lead @Possible UK (formerly Fortune Cookie), clients included e.g. NetJets, Aviva
01/2009-08/2010 - Deputy Head of User Experience @Cimex Media Ltd, clients included e.g. BBC Comedy, London Olympics
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EDUCATION & RESEARCH
Doctorate - Communication & Media Studies, Hamburg University 2006-2009
Research Fellow Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research, Hamburg 2007-2009
Fulbright Scholar, Temple University, Philadelphia 2002-2003
PUBLICATIONS
Citizen perceptions of the European Union. The impact of the EU Web site. 2010, Cambria Press
Examining the point of frustration. The think-aloud method applied to online search tasks. International Journal of Methodology, Quality & Quantity. 2007
Information seeking and provision online: Revisiting the dynamic-transactional approach. 2007, Proceedings ICA, San Francisco, USA
Enabling Customer-centricity –
people first by design
Key interests |
Human digital transformation, Product Design, Design thinking, Co-creation
Superpowers |
Pattern Mapping & Systems Thinking
Working in |
English & German
LATEST PUBLICATION
Building a user-segmentation matrix to foster cross-org alignment
Many organizations prioritize internal structures and services over customer-centricity, hindering effective decision-making. Through a case study, Talke Hoppmann-Walton advocates for a shift towards an outside-in perspective and proposes the use of a user segmentation matrix to foster alignment across departments and …
PODCAST
Talking to leadher.
Speaking to Merlene Vrielmann about #womenintech and lessons learned throughout my career and work life to date, in the first episode of the leadher podcast.
Note: This podcast is in German.
Core beliefs
Understanding your business, your products and services outside-in, requires a wide angle lens.
I help you start looking at your business, your customers, your competitors and the market perspective to drive long lasting business value.
Through design thinking and cross-team collaboration you can focus on the whole end-to-end experience, and go beyond just delivering features.
Customer-centricity is what drives innovation
Interdisciplinary teams can solve the hard problems
With AI part of everyday work and product development, reducing bias and solving the right problems becomes ever more important. Interdisciplinary and diverse teams are best placed to solve these complex problems. One key way is to build strong N-in-a-box connections and team agreements that enable Product-led growth, and get the whole Product team working together as ONE.
Design as the facilitator of co-creation
Design work enables creative problem solving and is most effective when done across departments and disciplines, helping to visualize complexity and understand challenges as a team.
Once you’re focused and aligned as a team, you can solve any challenge with clarity. This helps teams get into action mode, test early to reduce risk and costs and build products that are best-in-class. All while focusing on what has real impact and value for your customers.
Product thinking starts with curiosity
Curiosity for your users and customers, for other ways of looking at problems and for the different ways of communicating in a company. Getting to a shared understanding is key to moving work forward and that includes questioning your own assumptions, beliefs and terminology.
To get to that ability to question and get away from saying the most expensive eight words for a company “but we’ve always done it that way” - you need to foster a culture of trust and curiosity.
Trusted by companies across industries. Working globally, regionally and locally.
