Hugo Mejia — Digital Product & Design Leader & Consultant

Who am I

Product and Design leader with 15+ years of building digital products and the teams behind them.

I have driven, executed and delivered many succesful initiatives in close partnership with Product, Research, Analytics, Design and Engineering partners while elevating product and design craft through large-scale transformation initiatives across enterprise platforms. I’ve built a reputation for shaping 0-to-1 product strategies and translating complex user and business needs into scalable, accessible solutions that deliver measurable results.

I partner with enterprise and growth-stage teams as a leader and consultant. Recently, as Head of Design at Scotiabank, I led the strategy, execution, and delivery for the Digital Platforms channel with a mandate covering the banking web portal, mobile Apps for Android and iOS, and Design systems; delivering experiences including product acquistion and management, transactions, payments, self-service, settings and preferences, and the enablement of many other client flows on web and mobile, operating within a highly regulated environment with strict privacy, identity, security, and accessibility requirements.

I bring to my teams a clear, achievable product strategy; encouragement and coaching to think strategically; and practical approach to digital experiences that simplify use and help the business thrive.

0 Managed teams size
(research / service / product / content / ui)

0 Supported Product Squads

0 canadian clients served

0 Caribbean and Central America clients served

How I help

Fractional design leadership

Senior design leadership without a full-time hire. I help setting strategy, building and coaching teams, and raising craft. Ideal for scale-ups establishing design maturity or enterprises in transition.

Design systems & design ops

Establishing scalable, accessible systems and operating models that lift quality, velocity, and collaboration across product and engineering.

Product strategy & advisory

Turning complex problem spaces into aligned vision and shippable direction, plus advisory and coaching for design leaders and teams.

Let's talk:

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Leadership Philosophy

Product development teams are best supported by servant leadership

Design is a discipline rooted in empathy

Design must prioritize outcomes over outputs

Design is a natural partner to Product, Engineering and Executives

Experience

2026 — CURRENT

Program Manager - Legacy Banking Platform Decomission

Scotiabank (Contract)

Leading the program to retire the legacy web banking platform front-end. This is the final stage of the modernization that my former design team helped start. I coordinate product, engineering, architecture, and risk partners to move every remaining customer journey to the modern platform and shut down the old one without disrupting the clients who bank on it every day.

2023 — 2025

Head of Design Digital Platforms

Scotiabank

Led and scaled a multidisciplinary design team of 20 (Product, Research, Content, Service).
Owned the design vision and strategy for retail banking platforms and design systems, partnering with senior leaders across the enterprise to shape roadmaps, guide decisions, and embed design thinking into our CX and customer journeys.

2020 — 2023

Product Design Director, Web and Mobile Digital platforms

Scotiabank

Directed the design strategy for core mobile and web platforms, defining multi-year product roadmaps across transactional and self-service flows, onboarding, settings and preferences, help and support, and inclusive design improvements.
Mentored and coached senior designers into lead roles by implementing a career progression framework that improved team engagement and retention, with minimal turnover over five years.

2019 — 2021

Product Design Director

Scotiabank Caribbean and Central America

Led the Digital Design vision and execution for regional customers, enabling 3.5M clients across 7 markets and 8 currencies to interact with their bank on web and mobile platforms.
Scaled a distributed, multidisciplinary design team from 3 to 12 members across Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica, including Product, Service, Content Designers, and Design Researchers.

2007 — 2019

Previous roles

Scotiabank - Bell Mobility - Masterfile Corporation - Universidad de los Andes

Lead and individual contributor roles covering product design and strategy, UX research and service design across financial services, mobile apps design, e-commerce portals and academic sites.

Case studies

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