Coaching for designers
Experienced support for every stage of your career.
Good Maven is the only place where design leaders and specialist recruiters come together to guide your career with honesty, insight, and care.

Our coaches are a rare combination of senior design leaders, consultants, and recruiters who are actively working in the field and hiring designers today. That means all our coaching is grounded in the realities of modern design practices, and connected to real opportunities moving through our recruitment network.
This isn't off-the-shelf coaching. It’s tailored to your story, your goals, and your pace. Whether you’re just starting out, preparing for a big leap, or redefining your path, you get the support of people who truly understand what it takes to thrive in today’s design world. 


We’ve spent decades hiring, mentoring, and developing designers at every level. We know how decisions are made, what great design talent looks like, and how to help you step into the next version of your career with confidence.
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Move your career forward.
Navigate a career transition, grow into a bigger scope, or prepare for a specific interview. We’re here to coach you through it. From single tactical sessions to full career coaching engagements, we help designers grow into bigger scope and move confidently into their next roles.
A high-touch six-session coaching engagement for designers who need to move their job search forward with clarity and confidence.
Career Inflection Point: for career transitions
Work with a team of senior design leaders and recruiters to:
Build a compelling career narrative.
Sharpen your portfolio, resume, and interview presentation.
Practice real interviews with expert hiring feedback.
Map your target market and outreach strategy.
Career Inflection Point is built for the realities of today’s design hiring market; for designers who are serious about making their next move count.
Level Up: for your next big step
A bespoke six-session coaching series for designers who want to deepen mastery and step into higher-impact roles.
We coach designers across a full spectrum of seniority, from emerging individual contributors to seasoned design leaders, to:
Master hands-on craft and product thinking skills.
Strengthen executive presence and strategic communication.
Navigate promotion pathways and leadership growth.
Build confidence influencing stakeholders and teams.
Single coaching sessions
Need focused feedback right now? You bring the work. We'll bring the guidance.
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Portfolio Review
Refine your case studies and storytelling so your work comes across clearly and convincingly. We’ll sharpen structure, tighten narrative flow, and strengthen how you communicate impact so you present your work with confidence and clarity.
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Career Narrative
Clarify how you talk about yourself and your work in your CV/resume, LinkedIn, portfolio, and interviews. We’ll distill your scope, leadership, and results into a cohesive narrative that reflects today’s market.
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Interview Prep
Practice real interview scenarios and refine the responses that matter most. We’ll strengthen how you structure answers, frame examples, navigate unexpected questions, and communicate leadership and decision-making with clarity and confidence.
Discover the right package or coach for you with our short guide.
Who you’ll work with
Good Maven coaches are senior design leaders and recruiters actively working in today’s hiring market.
They lead teams, hire designers, review portfolios, and run interview loops — which means the guidance you receive mirrors the standards shaping real design hiring today.
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Melissa Hajj
Melissa is a product and design leader with 25 years of experience at Meta, Instagram, Apple, and more. She’s led teams of 70+ designers, built products used by billions, and shaped hiring and leadership practices across global orgs. She helps designers strengthen their leadership skills, strategic thinking, and product impact.
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Meg Rye
Meg is the founder of Good Maven; she’s both coach and recruiter with two decades of experience. Formerly Meta’s first international design recruiter, Meg pairs hiring expertise with human-centered coaching to help designers grow and land roles that fit.
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Timothy Achumba
Timothy Achumba is a Design Director at Microsoft, leading a small AI-focused lab exploring how design practice changes when shaping the behaviour of intelligent systems. A former designer at Meta and Wunderlist, he works across product design, mechanical keyboards, and writing, practicing at the frontier while coaching others through it. His sessions are structured thinking together: helping designers find the clarity, logic, and confidence their work already deserves.
How coaching works
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Pick your package
Choose the package that matches where you are in your career now.
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Choose your coach
When it’s helpful, we’ll bring in additional design or recruiting expertise.
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Get your tailored plan
Clarify your goals, outline your sessions, and map out the focus of your work.
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Make real progress
Get focused feedback and leave with tangible improvements to confidently move into your next chapter.
Coaching FAQs
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Coaching is a specialized skill where people are trained to use supportive questioning methods to help you find your own answers and to develop your own action plan for career development. Our coaches are experienced designers, business leaders and recruiters so can offer insights based on their own experience as well. Past coachees have mentioned benefits like: "it helped me get unstuck", "I could see my problems in a different light" and "it gave me an external perspective". Find out more about coaching in this video.
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All of our coaching is bespoke - we don't work to any predetermined programs but do have tried and tested methodologies. We offer both CV and portfolio reviews that are intended to be focused on those specific developmental subjects - designed to help you in your career. Other than this, we are guided by your own wishes and experiences towards an outcome tailored for you.
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Our coaches come from a variety of backgrounds including international design recruiter Meg Rye who is our founder; business administration, leadership and change management; product design leadership; UX design and product design.
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Yes! Our coaching services are bespoke and we have a broad spread of skills, experience and personality types to offer.
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For up to date information on our fees, have a look at our scheduling page.
For corporate or team coaching packages, please contact us.
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Yes there is. All our coaches offer free chemistry chats before you commit. It's important to understand that these 30 minute chats are not the same as coaching but they will give you an idea of whether you can connect with your chosen coach. You can have a chemistry session with more than one coach if you need to.
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The best coaching candidates are those that are prepared to invest in themselves and will put in time and effort to do so. Showing up on time is a great start; being open to new ideas and to sharing your own thoughts and challenges is a major part of the process; working together on an action plan and following through with the tasks you set yourself will ensure you reach the outcomes you set out to.
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Welcome, you're in good company. Many designers are neurodivergent - it's what makes us come up with new and unique ideas! We are committed to working with people's neuro needs and to tailoring our services to ensure we are inclusive - this is an important part of our values. Feel free to speak with your coach or contact us at hello@goodmaven.com to make the most of your time with us.
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If you’re not sure where to start, this short guide will help point you in the right direction based on your goals, timing, and the kind of support you’re looking for.
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Yes, we support early-career designer who want practical guidance to navigate their career. Coaching is tailored to where you are and where you’re looking to go.
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Yes. We’ve designed our coaching service to be highly flexible. All of our coaches are encouraged to bring in colleagues when it’s helpful to you.
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Always. Everything discussed in coaching sessions is confidential. We will never share your work, conversations, or details of your coaching without your explicit permission.
Learn more at our Privacy Policy and Coaching Agreement.
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Yes. Many clients have coaching funded by their employer as part of professional development. We can provide receipts or documentation as needed.
The content of coaching conversations is confidential between you and your coach. What you choose to share with your employer is entirely up to you. Good Maven does not share the substance of coaching sessions with employers.
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Please give at least 48 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule a session. Late cancellations or missed sessions will be charged in full, except in cases of genuine emergency or circumstances outside your control.
Please view the terms and conditions of the Coaching Agreement to learn more about how we handle cancellations.
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Coaching sessions and packages are non-refundable once purchased.
Please view the terms and conditions of the Coaching Agreement to learn more about our policy on refunds.