EP 213 . 01 Sep 21

Building mature design teams

With Srinath Rangamani

In the episode

How long have you been in design, and when was the first time you got started with hiring designers?
How do you guys hire at Swiggy? Does HR create the pool or you have your pool? What happens from identifying a candidate to actually rolling out an offer? How do referrals play a role in your hiring?
Have you seen any pattern in portfolios out in the market? Somehow they look similar with more eye candy stuff than explaining the process and impact. Do you agree? Is it a function of experience of designer or trends and waves
Swiggy has had it’s equal share of ups and downs. Fast paced environment etc… Do you encourage internships? How useful have they been for both the sides?
What are the 3 qualities you look for in a designer while hiring? What has been your success rate?
How do you maintain diversity? Is it a conscious effort or you find right balance of talent organically?
You have built a great team, and you have quite a few senior folks as well. So, let’s talk about more senior talent now. What are your 2 biggest challenges while hiring senior designers? Why?
What according to you are aspirations of designer in India. From Junior to Mid to Senior level talent?
What promises you make them, so they work with you and for your organisation? How important is being good pay masters? Are ESOPs good incentive for mid to senior level folks.
I remember you talking about India will very soon have lot of Super apps and we might not have the required talent w.r.t maturity to handle design systems, business perspective and more… Can you talk about it a little more and what are your thoughts on developing and nurturing the upcoming talent of lead designers who will mature into design leaders of tomorrow.

About Srinath Rangamani

Srinath Rangamani has been a guest on Audiogyan back in Jan 2019, where we spoke about Swiggy’s design philosophy. Srinath heads Design at Swiggy and previously at Myntra, store mate and Adobe. He is a digital designer with over 15+ years of experience in creative, interaction, and product design for mobile apps & web.

Abhinit Tiwari is a co-host for this series. He works at Gojek.

This is part of a series Where are the designers with IVM Podcast? It is a 12 part series featuring few of the top influential Design leaders in India, talking about their process of hiring, challenges in finding and retaining talent and some tips for young designers to make a cut after they apply.