13. October 2022
Blending Design, Tech, and #CustomerEmpathy in Personio’s Product Design
Leyla Jafarli, Senior Product Designer in the Dublin office, is a true Personio: impact-driven, passionate about the future of the company, and focused on our value of #CustomerEmpathy. We spoke to Leyla to find out more about how she got into product design, what a typical day looks like for her at Personio, and the impact she’s able to make in her role.
Born and raised in Azerbaijan, Leyla has loved design and being creative for as long as she can remember. This carried over into her professional life, working as a designer for multiple companies while studying for her Information Technology degree. It was this experience that exposed her to the business-oriented design space, which ultimately led her to Personio.
Now her role offers what she calls “the perfect blend” between creative design and a scientific approach. Each day she works in close collaboration with a cross-functional product team that includes product managers, engineers, researchers, and more. The domain Leyla works within – Core HR – is responsible for streamlining foundational and central HR experiences for our customers. Her team in particular focuses on document management. “Most document processes might sound pretty straightforward, but finding all the complexities and opportunities hidden in these flows is so satisfying!”
Recently created, Leyla’s group has teamed up with their product manager and researchers to discover what customers in different organisations and markets need, and what the problem space looks like. When it comes to the solution space, Leyla says, one of the most exciting aspects has been designing for scalability. “To put it simply, a certain solution might work perfectly when it comes to helping HR to create 5 documents, but will it still be viable when they want to create 500 documents? How can we approach this so that it takes the same amount of time to create 5 or 500 documents?” It’s the type of challenge she loves to solve. And it’s not the only challenge she faces as a Senior Product Designer at Personio. As both the team and product offering continue to expand with Personio’s hypergrowth, roadblocks and changes to project plans are not uncommon. But her department’s focus on finding success in failure means she can continue to grow through it all. “The healthy, team-first environment at Personio has allowed me to take challenges as opportunities to improve and grow, which has been extremely rewarding.”
This supportive culture is a hallmark of Personio, informed by the company values and operating principles, which Leyla sees played out on a daily basis. “Our value of #Ownership means that each of us is empowered to own and invest in our projects. It really makes me feel like a valued part of the team.” It should come as no surprise that the PDE department is also highly focused on the principle of #DrivenByImpact. As Leyla says, “I appreciate that with the transparency from upper management and autonomy given to product triads, we are always clear on what we are aiming to achieve and how the smallest project contributes to the future. Creating such valuable and impactful work is something I really enjoy about my role in Personio. I know that not every company provides their people with autonomy and transparency, both of which are quite essential for feeling empowered.”
Interested in joining the product design team here at Personio? We’re hiring Senior Product Designers, Design Managers, and more roles in various locations such as Munich, Madrid and Dublin. Visit our careers page to learn more!
