- Digital development partner, xDesign has appointed its first chief strategy officer as the business continues to expand following a year of record growth and a commitment to add more than 150 staff by the end of 2022.
- Robin Baird will be based at the company’s Edinburgh headquarters and will help to create a long-term vision for the next wave in the business’ growth.
- The organisation has also appointed former AND Digital communications lead, Andy Shaw to bolster the marketing team.
XDESIGN, the owner-operated digital development partner, has hired Robin Baird as its first Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) as the business looks to strengthen its brand and market position as well as its Strategy & Design offering, while continuing to deliver on its ambitious growth plans.
Robin, who will be based in xDesign’s Edinburgh headquarters, will join the company’s executive leadership team and lead its brand and market strategy, with an initial focus on helping to strengthen and amplify xDesign’s product, design, and engineering propositions to drive new market opportunities.
His more than a decade’s experience in brand, strategy and creativity, includes spells co-leading Deloitte Digital Scotland and Market Gravity’s Scotland studio. Robin’s extensive expertise will directly contribute to building on xDesign’s strong heritage of software and product delivery to become the leading digital delivery partner in creative and design led transformation for many of the UK’s leading and most ambitious brands.
Euan Andrews, CEO, xDesign, said: “At xDesign, our people are our greatest asset and incredible talent is a core part of building great products. Over the last six months alone we’ve seen tremendous growth meaning we’ve had to hire an additional 100 people – this ensures our expertise keeps pace with our rapid growth and future ambitions. Robin’s appointment is not only a fantastic addition to our leadership team, but I also know that he will contribute considerably to the company’s accelerated growth. He brings a wealth of experience in brand and strategy, and when combined with our focus on high-quality, UK-based engineering, design and product teams, he is the perfect match. This new appointment will also help to shape our future and target growth in new markets, whilst still delivering an exceptional product and experience for our customers.”
Robin Baird, CSO, xDesign, said: “The work xDesign has delivered for some of the UK’s biggest and best-known brands has been outstanding and its bold and ambitious growth plans – balanced with its focus on people – is what really attracted me to the company. I believe that great things happen when creativity, culture, and technology collide – particularly when you can see first-hand how they can be fused together to create meaningful change. xDesign’s incredibly strong heritage in building great products creates a unique opportunity to really help aspirational companies do digital differently. Not not only does xDesign want to build great products, but it also wants to help create the amazing new businesses that both customers and the world want to see – and for me that’s what’s most exciting.”
In addition, xDesign has hired Andy Shaw as communications lead. With extensive experience in the PR and comms sector, Andy joins the business from AND Digital where he helped to shape the company’s external profile. He will be based out of xDesign’s Leeds office, which opened last summer.
Both appointments follow news that the company has formalised its partnership with FanDuel, the premier sports gaming platform in North America, to support new entrants into the technology industry. The new partnership will create 400 high-value jobs, 150 of which will be created across xDesign’s Edinburgh and Leeds offices by the end of 2022.
xDesign works with clients including NHS 24 and MoneySuperMarket. More information on the services xDesign provides to its clients is available here: https://www.xdesign.com/our-work/
