Pamela Mead

Pamela Mead — SVP Global Design at SumUp. Talks and sessions delivered at UXDX.

Pamela Mead

Pamela Mead

SVP Global Design

SumUpSumUp

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.

Past talks

10 talks · 7 events
2026
UXDX EMEAMay 2026

Who Should Be the Most Nervous? Product Managers, Designers or Engineers?

AI isn’t coming. It’s already reshaping how products are built. It writes code, generates designs, synthesises research, and compresses workflows that used to span teams and weeks into minutes. It removes friction—and with it, many of the traditional boundaries between roles. But it doesn’t just accelerate output. It exposes it. When execution becomes abundant, the bottleneck shifts. From building → to deciding what’s worth building. From producing artefacts → to exercising judgment. From process → to understanding. This is not the end of product, design, or engineering. But it is the end of operating at the surface. In this session, we’ll examine what actually changes when AI becomes embedded in the way we work—not from a hype perspective, but from the realities teams are already facing. We’ll explore how roles evolve when tools can do the work, where depth still matters, and what differentiates teams that get better with AI from those that simply move faster. - Why AI exposes every discipline in product development - Why both shallow generalists and narrow specialists are increasingly vulnerable - How team structures shift when handoffs disappear and individuals can execute across domains - What “depth” really means when output is cheap and instant - How to rethink generalist vs specialist when AI fills capability gaps but not judgment - Which skills, mental models, and fundamentals compound, and which decay

Alex RaduAlex RaduPamela MeadPamela MeadAastha YadavAastha YadavRory MaddenRory Madden
2025
UXDX EMEAMay 2025

Design: The Solution or Part of the Problem?

- 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

Ricardo MarquezRicardo MarquezPamela MeadPamela MeadJeff ChowJeff ChowJaime Mariko McFarlandJaime Mariko McFarland

Design is Not Dead - But the Narrative Might Be

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”

Pamela MeadPamela Mead
2023
UXDX EMEAOct 2023

Human Centeredness At a Time of AI Amplified Business Metrics

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.

Pamela MeadPamela MeadRicardo MarquezRicardo Marquez
2022
UXDX EMEAOct 2022

Generational Leadership: How Our Careers Affect & Shape Our Children

Most of the discussion and advice for work-life balance tends to focus on individual, team or company contexts. But what if other factors, like our upbringing, mattered as well? This fireside brings to the stage the career journey of Pamela Mead, an executive leader and a mother. Joining Pamela on stage will be her daughter Claire, who is at the start of her career studying Astrophysics. This is an “Ask me Anything” interview with mother and daughter, diving into the nuances of leadership decisions and the personal cost of those decisions that burden all of us and how they impact family dynamics. More interestingly, this session will give us insights into how great leadership is perceived from the child's perspective and how that influences the working model they choose.

Pamela MeadPamela MeadClaire LarsonClaire Larson
UXDX USAMay 2022

Building an Organization Structure that works for you

Conways law states that organizations produce software that matches the organizational structure. Therefore the structure chosen affects an organization's success in carrying out its strategy and objectives to achieve maximum performance. In this session, Pamela will discuss what the leadership at SumUp looks for when planning around the organizational structure, and how the thinking and approach have evolved in the last 3 years: \- The impact of an organizations stage of development and organizational philosophy \- Moving from product-centric to customer-centric: the Evolution of SumUp from when I joined to what it is becoming today \- Org details that can make a difference in creating cohesive impact: Brand at SumUp

Pamela MeadPamela Mead

Culture and Process - Why One Without The Other Is Obsolete

Friction can occur even when teams have the same intended outcome. How do you make change happen when a project seems to be tied down with weights in terms of pushing forward and the obstacles as big as everest. This panel will provide a candid discussion with peers who will share what has worked for them for building great culture and process and why the two together are key to progress.

Mamuna OladipoMamuna OladipoPamela MeadPamela MeadBetina EvanchaBetina EvanchaMarcus AndrewsMarcus Andrews
2020
UXDX EuropeOct 2020

Aligning Product & Business Objectives

Distinguishing product objectives from business objectives is crucial in making sure your product delivers for your end users. - How do you keep your product objectives aligned with ever changing business needs? - How do you ensure that your product teams don't have their hands tied? Moderated by Snjezana Momic, join the conversation, share your insights and probe the speakers on the elements of their talks that left you wanting more.

Pamela MeadPamela MeadPete AndersonPete AndersonSnjezana MomicSnjezana Momic

Scaling Design at SumUp

As companies grow in scale with distributed teams around the world it is important to have embedded designers and researchers in your organisation. Keeping momentum, alignment and customer focus to maximise business outcomes requires scaling practices, frameworks and community. Join Pamela as she shares her journey in leading the scaling of design within SumUp.

Pamela MeadPamela Mead