Pamela joined SumUp in fall 2019 to head up Design – Product, Brand and User Research – with global responsibility. Since joining she has started building user research as a foundational practice for all product, marketing and design work; and laying the narrative for SumUp’s UX strategy.
Pamela has spent the last 15 years building design teams and practices in companies as diverse as Delivery Hero, HERE Technologies, Telefonica, and Yahoo!. Her work has always focused on working with emerging technologies to create meaningful products and services that have a positive impact on people’s lives. She is a passionate leader who empowers teams to finding ways to solve the right problems in ways that delight through their simplicity, effectiveness and integrity
As a design executive, Pamela has brought customer focus to innovation and agile product development practices, working in areas that include connected cars, urban mobility, video and communication services, financial services, and health care. She is currently exploring the intersection between design, research and data. She believes it is essential that designers participate deeply in building new practices that incorporate design ethics, as well as social and cultural implications in anticipating the future(s) we are creating.
Upcoming Talks
28 May 2026
We have been here before.
We have lived through waves of euphoria and dismay. First the computer. Then the web. Then mobile. Each time we believed everything was changing. Each time shallow practice was exposed. Now AI is not coming. It is here.
It drafts. It prototypes. It codes. It researches. It collapses handoffs. It accelerates output. It also accelerates mediocrity.
So who should be nervous?
This opening session revisits the role of the whole product team in an AI world, not from hype, but from history and fundamentals. It argues that this is not the end of design, product, or engineering. But it is the end of surface-level competence.
Drawing from past technology shifts and a return to hands-on learning in AI, machine learning and data science, this session explores and debates what actually survives disruption.
Our panelists will discuss:
- Why every discipline in product development is exposed by AI, not just Design
- Why shallow generalism and narrow specialism are both fragile in 2026
- How will team structures and ways of working change
- What “depth” really means when AI can generate output instantly
- The unique perspective Design brings when systems become intelligent, not just interactive
- How to think about generalist vs specialist in a world where AI fills skill gaps but cannot replace judgment
- What skills, mindsets and fundamentals will compound rather than decay
Past Talks
19 May 2025
- Explore the tensions between speed, quality, and cross-functional collaboration
- Hear real-world examples where design enabled, or hindered, business outcomes
- Learn how leaders are adjusting team structures and rituals to keep pace with change
- Walk away with practical tactics for aligning design more closely with product and engineering
19 May 2025
Design has gone from savior to suspect in many organisations, and now AI is accelerating the shift again. This talk will reflect on how the story of design needs to evolve, what practices are still relevant, and how to lead when the old narratives no longer apply.
- Identify which parts of design’s traditional playbook are still useful, and which to leave behind
- Learn how to lead design teams through time, uncertainty and shifting expectations
- Understand the impact of AI on product and design roles beyond the buzz
- Gain strategies for staying relevant when stakeholders think they’ve “seen it all before”
11 October 2023
We are catapulting into the era of AI automation - long in coming and now arriving with a bang. Design as a discipline has barely kept up with the good and bad of our product decisions. We have seen it in the scooters scattered around city centers, blocking pedestrians, or the recent podcast by Ezra Klein on the increase of teenage suicides and mental health closely linked to the increase in social media consumption.
We don’t believe it is solely the Designers’ role to think about the social responsibility or human impact of our product. Yet we do play a role and need to raise our voices if we think about the changes that are upon us.
The challenge we put forth: we - as Design - have drifted along with companies' short-term revenue focus, including processes around agility and automation. Design has adapted to it, but has rarely challenged it.
As we enter this AI future, Pamela and Ricardo will share their thoughts on embracing yet challenging AI with eyes wide open, while adapting to the rapidly changing reality of our day-to-day work.
