Luke Searson
Product and design leadership that turns operational complexity into products that actually make sense.
Right now I’m Head of Product Design at IVC Evidensia, one of the world’s leading veterinary groups, where we’re turning technology from a back-office cost into what actually differentiates our healthcare. I’ve grown the design practice from the ground up whilst shipping both B2B and B2C experiences.
Before IVC, I was founding designer at Beacon, putting design at the centre of how a supply-chain scale-up went from seed to Series B. Earlier, I was Head of UX at Altus, bringing design to a multi-billion-dollar real estate firm, and my leadership journey started at Derivco, shipping mobile titles across 17 regulated markets, working with AAA content from Universal. (full timeline below)
I thrive in complex environments that demand strong product and systems thinking, and the same three patterns show up in my work…
Selected work
Modernising medical note-taking to unlock our veterinary expertise at scale
One connected platform for every pet owner, across every market
Supply-chain visibility, built through the crisis
As founding designer, I helped take Beacon from Series A through B across the most disruptive period global supply chains have faced, leading the skunkworks bet (end-to-end PO-to-warehouse tracking) that became the company’s entire business.
Spearheaded the tracking product that outlasted the core freight-forwarding business and now Beacon’s sole platform, used by Fever-Tree, Tata and Tilda.
Designed the connective core: multi-carrier, multi-modal and supplier data in one view.
Onboarding in days, not the months legacy products require.
→ Case study coming soon
Growing the club through our leading pet health plans
Where I've led
2022 — Present
IVC Evidensia (ivcevidensia.com)
One of the world's largest veterinary groups, serving 40,000+ clinicians and millions of pet owners across the UK, Western Europe and Canada. I've nurtured and led the product design function through a multi-year, PE-backed digital transformation, partnering with executive leadership to make technology the differentiator in how we deliver expert care.
Scaled the product design practice from 4 to 17, distributed across IVC's UK, Sweden and Portugal technology hubs, building hiring, craft and operating practices from the ground up.
Advocated for a technology-wide career framework and built the design discipline's pathways within it, growing leaders from within with promotions into Principal and Senior roles.
Set design strategy across the full estate (clinical tooling, customer-facing health plans, and the insurance and payments platforms beneath both) as a peer to Product and Engineering leadership.
Built the investment case for design-led transformation and won executive backing, turning it into delivered proof inside a PE-owned, multi-market business.
2020 — 2022
Beacon (beacon.com)
Joined as a founding designer as the Series A round closed, replacing contractors who'd built a proof of concept, with a mandate to scale both the design function and the product. Took Beacon from Series A to Series B through global supply-chain disruption and the launch of a regulated trade-finance product, and real-time multi-modal tracking and analytics.
Built and led a multidisciplinary team of 12 across product design, research and brand, reporting to the CEO
Led the skunkworks bet, real-time tracking and analytics, that outlasted the core freight-forwarding business and became Beacon's entire company.
Kept the business operating through global supply-chain disruption, tracking container flows from suppliers across East and South Asia into UK and European markets.
Shipped a regulated trade-finance product in six months, cutting KYC from days to hours.
2016 — 2019
Altus Group (altusgroup.com)
Stepped from senior IC into Altus's first dedicated design leadership role, introducing design thinking into a multi-billion-dollar global real estate services firm.
Consolidated Altus's first design function, around 10–15 designers across London, Toronto and Hyderabad, through active offshoring and the merging of teams from acquired businesses.
Led the design of the legacy valuation suite's move to cloud, the early foundation of what's now ARGUS Intelligence, Altus's flagship platform.
Launched the firm's first SaaS product, a dealroom and acquisitions tool that replaced manual data transfers with live scenario modelling, simplifying portfolio analysis for investors managing $20B+ in assets.
2010 — 2016
Derivco (derivco.com)
From 2010, I was promoted into a player-coach role leading UI engineers, game designers, and 3D artists shipping mobile titles for iOS and Android. The role that taught me to lead through craft, not just process.
Led a tight five-person craft team across UI, game design and 3D art, shipping mobile titles hands-on as player-coach
Designed registration and payments infrastructure, localised per market, serving 1M+ monthly active players across 17 regulated markets and territories.
Shipped mobile titles in partnership with Universal Studios, including Jurassic Park and The Dark Knight, which both won ICE Gaming Innovation Awards.
Built game pipelines and design systems across LibGDX, Unity and Unreal Engine.
Luke knows what good looks like, and is always looking for opportunities to improve our ways of working. He’s pragmatic too, reasonable about when to push vs. when we need to meet our customers where they’re at - he has built deep respect among his peers, direct reports, and cross-functional business leaders.
~ VP Product (manager)
(Luke) ..built a team that’s equal parts creative, curious, motivated and introspective, supporting through collaboration and mentorship. It’s a complex and challenging problem we’re solving, but under his leadership we’re excited to take it on every day!
~ Product Design Manager (direct report)
There is an empowered culture of ‘do’ in the Product Design team. The support is genuine for being able to follow your instincts and expertise, with support for personal growth and working alongside world class talent!
~ Senior Product Design (direct report)
A Head of Design, Product Design, or Director of Product Design role at a business where design has room to be a strategic function. Open to VP scope for the right team and remit.
I'm motivated by teams that show care through their work — the small details, the frictionless moments where technology makes magic. Always seeking the sweet spot between purpose, people and practice.
If anything here sounds like your jam, I'd love to connect!