Ramona Furter.
See the engagement
Application · Publicis Sapient · Dubai

I turn customer insight into experiences that move the business.

For nine years I've sat between strategy and design, working with banks and insurers to find what customers actually need and build it into products that earn revenue. This site is my application for Director, Customer Experience & Innovation Consulting (FSI) at Publicis Sapient in Dubai.

See an engagement I'd lead Read the CV
FSIUBS, Baloise & Die Mobiliar work
+9% / +15%conversion & checkout via research
10 sitesscaled a venture, year one
2 roundsraised as founding team
Portrait of Ramona Furter

Ramona Furter · Zurich, open to relocating to Dubai

Why I fit

What this role needs, and where I've done it

This is a role about bridging strategy and design for financial-services clients, then leading the people and the numbers that turn it into growth. Here's how my nine years line up with what you're after.

01

Experience and innovation strategy

I work from the customer back to the business: research the real friction, frame the opportunity, then design the experience that closes it. I've done this from early product validation through to launch and optimisation.

Proof: ran the full customer-experience and conversion work at ifolor, a CHF 100M+ business, reporting to C-level; lifted conversion 9% and checkout 15%.

02

Financial-services clients

A good part of my work has been with banks and insurers, where trust, compliance and clarity decide whether an experience works. I know how these organisations make decisions and how to move them.

Proof: owned the UBS and Baloise partnerships at Brixel; ran new-product pilots inside Die Mobiliar, one of Switzerland's largest insurers.

03

Research, design thinking, systems thinking

Rigorous user research is how I de-risk decisions before money is spent. I run interviews, build personas and test my way to the answer, then connect the dots across the whole system rather than fixing one screen.

Proof: ran customer interviews to define personas and drive the roadmap at ifolor; CAS in Innovation; built go-to-market on a hypothesis-and-data approach.

04

Building teams and owning the numbers

I've hired and grown teams, set how they work, and owned budget and KPIs rather than just delivery. Scaling a practice and keeping good people is the part of leadership I genuinely enjoy.

Proof: built and led the marketing and sales team at WePractice after Series B, owning budget and KPIs; scaled the venture to 10 locations and 23 people in year one.

05

Business development and C-suite

I'm comfortable shaping the case, bringing the market intelligence into the room and influencing the call at senior level, then walking back to the team and making it real. As a founder I've raised twice and won clients from scratch.

Proof: drove the roadmap with C-level at ifolor; closed two funding rounds as founding team; win clients through my own studio, smedium.

06

Comfortable in new markets, building from zero

My best work has been standing up something new where there was no playbook, twice as a founder. Relocating to Dubai and building a practice across MENA is exactly the kind of challenge I'm looking for.

Proof: founding team of two ventures from scratch; build and run my own products and client work today through Pedal Peak and smedium.

Curriculum vitae

Ramona Furter

Customer-experience and innovation leader in Zurich, open to relocating to Dubai. I turn customer insight into products and revenue, with a track record across financial services. German and Swiss German native, English fluent, French conversational.

Jan 2026 to present

AI Project Lead, Business Development

Swiss Post, Advertising · Zurich

  • Lead AI-driven business models for Swiss Post Advertising, from spotting the opportunity to building and running the roadmap.
  • Turn ideas into go-to-market plans and new revenue, tracked with clear KPIs.
  • Run cross-functional work from concept to launch across product, tech, data and commercial teams.

Oct 2024 to Jul 2025

Senior Product Manager, Lead E-Commerce

Ifolor Group · Zurich

  • Owned the full customer experience and e-commerce ecosystem for a CHF 100M+ business, reporting to C-level.
  • Lifted conversion 9% and the checkout step rate 15% through user research, A/B testing and analytics.
  • Led a cross-functional team and external agencies, owning budget, resourcing and KPIs.

Jun 2023 to Sep 2024

Lead Project Manager

Brixel · Zurich

  • Owned the partnerships with financial institutions, UBS and Baloise, that drove growth.
  • Was the main bridge between senior client stakeholders and the internal product and design team.

Mar 2020 to May 2023

Marketing & Growth Lead, Founding Team

WePractice · Sparrow Ventures (Migros Group) · Zurich

  • Founding team of a mental-health venture. Closed two funding rounds and grew it to 10 locations, 23 people and 170+ customers.
  • Generated 1000+ client matches in year one and built the full go-to-market on a hypothesis-and-data approach.
  • Built and led the marketing and sales team after Series B, owning budget, KPIs and growth.

Sep 2019 to Sep 2022

Growth & Innovation, Venture Builder

Sparrow Ventures · Zurich

  • Built and ran growth and go-to-market for several internal startups, from early validation to scale-up.
  • Used research and experimentation to improve conversion, lower acquisition cost and raise customer lifetime value.

Jan 2017 to Aug 2019

Intrapreneur, Innovation

Die Mobiliar · Bern

  • Ran market pilots for new products (Smide, now BOND Mobility, plus XperCheck and Lizzy) from MVP to launch, inside one of Switzerland's largest insurers.
  • Coached cross-functional teams and explored new data and partnerships.
A worked example

An engagement I'd lead in my first quarter

Not a deck of theory. A real consulting engagement for a fictional Gulf retail bank, the way I'd actually run it: research the friction, set a bold experience vision, build the team to deliver it, and prove the value to the board. Click through the four stages.

Client · Gulf Union Bank (illustrative) · Retail FSI

Diagnose the experience, with evidence

Before any redesign, I'd run customer research and benchmark the journey. The pattern is clear: a young, mobile-first market is being let down at the very first step, opening an account.

Account opening time, branch-led11 days
Drop-off during onboarding63%
App store rating2.9 / 5
Customers under 35only 21%
Would recommend (NPS proxy)low
The insight

The bank isn't losing on price. It's losing on the first five minutes.

Digital-first customers compare the bank to the apps they use every day, not to other banks. Eleven days and a branch visit to open an account is the single biggest reason under-35s never start, or start and leave. Fix the first experience and the rest of the relationship opens up.

From day one

My first 90 days

A practice doesn't wait. Here's roughly how I'd spend my first three months, from learning the region and the clients to getting a first engagement moving.

Phase 1 Days 1 to 30

Learn the ground

  • Meet the CX and design team, the consulting and tech leads, and the existing FSI accounts across UAE, KSA and Oman.
  • Understand the current pipeline, the P&L, and where utilisation and margin actually sit.
  • Get out to clients early, listen to the market before proposing anything.
Phase 2 Days 31 to 60

Sharpen the offer

  • Shape a clear FSI experience-and-innovation point of view we can take to C-level clients.
  • Set the team's ways of working, fill the gaps, and start mentoring for retention.
  • Shape two or three concrete proposals and get into the room on the most promising one.
Phase 3 Days 61 to 90

Land a first win

  • Win or kick off one flagship engagement and staff it well.
  • Track it against value, not just delivery, and show leadership early signal.
  • Turn that win into a story for the next pitch and a plan for the practice's growth.