The Challenge

In 2020, Razorpay decided to build a design system and needed one person to own it.

Harish Simha, who led design, and Farhath Bai, their HR partner, had a clear brief, and an unusual one. They wanted a senior product designer with a strong visual eye.

That person also had to write front-end code and work as closely with engineers as with designers. And they had to set the bar high enough that the system would become something other companies learn from.

Most designers are strong on one side of that brief. Razorpay needed both, at a senior level, in one person.

Our Approach

We started by understanding what “design system owner” meant to Harish and his team. That meant how the role would sit between design and front-end, and what good would look like a year in.

Then we went through our network for designers who had shipped both design and code, beyond simply listing front-end skills on a resume.

We shared four profiles. One of them we backed strongly: Saurav Rastogi, then a Product Designer at Atlan.

His track record matched the brief:

• At Atlan, he designed a mobile app for a data-collection tool with one design language across iOS and Android. He then built the same app himself in Flutter, and it worked offline.

• At Squareboat, he spent three years as Design Lead. He planned design work with stakeholders, built and mentored the design team, and took more than 30 projects from client requirements to front-end development.

• At inFeedo, he joined as a web design intern. He built the product’s front-end through three full pivots.

Our note to Razorpay said it plainly. Saurav was a full-stack designer who understood design systems, interaction design and front-end technology. He had a good eye for visuals and built simple, clean interfaces. He had also worked across iOS, Android and web.

Outcome and What Made It Work

Saurav was selected and joined Razorpay. He went on to work on Blade, Razorpay’s design system, which design teams now refer to and learn from. Today he is a Staff Product Designer at Razorpay.

What made it work:

• A precise brief. Harish knew he needed design and code in one person. That clarity let us screen hard.

• Four profiles, one clear recommendation. We told the team who we backed and why.

• Reading the work behind the resume. What set Saurav apart was more than knowing Flutter and VueJS. He had built the very app he designed.

I first spoke with Sanjay 2 years ago, and what began as an interview turned into a real conversation about my future. He helped me land the right role at Razorpay and has since been a mentor and friend.

Saurav Rastogi (Design Manager at Razorpay)