Advocating for the right team is part of the job, and doing it well takes the same rigor as any other business case.
The stakes
In April 2026, a company-wide reduction in force eliminated AudioEye's entire product design team, along with my own UX/UI designer and video editor, leaving me with one full-time, mid-level designer. Marketing, brand design, and product design all fell on me to drive and own, including a discipline I'd never formally practiced.
That fall, a review cycle promotion to Sr. Director formalized what had already been happening since the RIF, brand, marketing, and product design running as one org under me. Then came the real test of that structure: a GTM launch where I was designing both the product and the marketing for what I was building, while migrating our design system from Joy UI to Material UI, with no in-house UX/UI resources left to share the load. A gap that size doesn't resolve itself, someone has to name it before it becomes a missed deadline.
The solution
After getting budget approved, I brought back the UX/UI designer who'd been let go, on contract. This was strategic, they were already familiar with our brand and systems, which cut ramp-up time when speed mattered most. That freed up my own bandwidth to drive the GTM content directly and keep the MUI migration moving. The launch also called for 2 to 3 videos, and with our in-house video resource gone, I came up with a new creative direction that needed minimal budget, got it approved, and extended my part-time video editor's contract to cover the work.
The results
The GTM launch shipped on time. With a PTO trip to Japan already planned to overlap the launch window, I got everything set a week ahead of leaving, and the team carried it across the finish line without me in the room.
Key takeaway
The lasting result wasn't just an on-time launch. It was a team structure resilient enough to run without me, and a case for resourcing I can make again the next time the gap shows up.
The team
Manager | Sojin Rank |
Executive Stakeholders | CMO, CEO |