Jascha Goltermann

Design Leader & Strategist

Currently leading AI and Search Design at Booking.com, driving innovation through strategies with global impact

12+
Years in UX

Working in UX since 2012, from web design to the era of AI
8+
Years of leadership

Across a spectrum of roles, from Lead Designer to Head of UX
20B+
Visits impacted

Creating experiences used by millions of people every day
500M+
Unique users reached

Crafting for audiences in 40+ languages across 220+ countries

1700%
UX org growth in scale-up

Scaled and matured teams through high-growth stages
200+
Designers
mentored

Supporting UX talent on ADPList and beyond
40+
Designers
recruited

Building teams across design, research and content
10+
0-to-1 product launches

Thriving in the challenge of turning bold ideas into reality
3
Market-leading platforms built

In diverse ventures from e-commerce to SaaS
0
Shortcuts
on quality

Because design quality is not at odds with scale or speed

Focus Areas

Currently driving impact through design leadership, team empowerment, and UX innovation

Driving Impact Through Leadership

I’ve guided visions and strategies that empower teams to build impactful products for millions of users.

My approach fosters clarity, alignment, and focus, enabling products to meet real user needs and drive business impact.

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Building Teams, Systems, and Culture

I’ve led teams and organizations that enable high performance and elevate the quality and impact of design.

I focus on systems that scale, fostering environments where collaboration thrives and teams are empowered to succeed.

View Leadership Values
Passionately Engaged in Dialogue

I’m passionate about design leadership, management, and AI, and love exchanging insights and ideas.

Through writing, speaking, and teaching, I strive to contribute to the ongoing conversations shaping our industry.

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Selected Work

A short selection of projects that demonstrate my approach to leadership and the impact of my work

Redefining Travel with AI

I led the UX work streams for Booking.com’s primary Generative AI product, guiding dedicated teams with a clear, strategic vision.

This case study shows how orchestrating user-centric innovation can drive groundbreaking product launches that exceed market expectations.

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Transforming Search at Booking.com

I drove a transformative vision for Search at Booking.com, steering the company to reimagine how users discover and plan their trips.

This case study highlights how strategic leadership can align efforts across departments around a shared vision of a cohesive search experience.

View case study
Using AI to Empower Users

I led the UX teams behind diverse AI innovations, guiding strategic efforts to seamlessly integrate AI into Booking.com’s platform and services.

This case study illustrates how forward-thinking leadership and innovation can leverage AI to address existing user needs and unlock new opportunities.

In progress Watch preview
Building Leadership Communities

I initiated and led thriving design leadership communities, creating spaces that elevate the craft of design management.

This case study shows how fostering leadership connections at scale can drive impactful collaboration, improve efficiency, and elevate design excellence.
In progress

Leadership Values

These principles guide how I lead teams and shape strategies to deliver impactful results

Elevate Design’s Strategic Impact

Design needs to co-drive business strategy, not just execution.

By leveraging design thinking as a strategic tool in early decision-making, I position design as a partner to identify business opportunities and shape the product direction.

Champion Design Excellence

High standards of craft can be established at scale.

By defining what excellence looks like and building mechanisms to achieve it, I create the foundation for teams to push boundaries while achieving consistently high quality.

Lead Through Empowerment

Impact multiplies when others are empowered to lead.

By creating opportunities for growth and enabling individuals to take ownership, I leverage the cascading effect of mentorship and leadership that strengthens the entire org.

Foster Open Design Practices

Great design emerges through iteration and critique.

By building environments where sharing work early is the norm and feedback flows freely across levels and teams, I empower the best ideas to win regardless of their source.

Deliver Measurable Impact

User value and business growth reinforce each other.

By connecting the value of delightful experiences to measurable outcomes, teams see their tangible impact and become invested in driving business success.

Lead With Strategic Vision

Compelling visions inspire teams and align toward shared goals.

By aligning teams around ambitious but achievable goals, I connect inspiring future states to concrete metrics that demonstrate value for users and the business.

Transform Complexity Into Clarity

The mark of great design is making the complex feel simple.

By guiding teams to break down intricate challenges, I enable elegant solutions that are intuitive and delightful regardless of their technical complexity.

Build Without Boundaries

Great solutions transcend organizational boundaries.

By fostering collaboration across crafts, teams and departments, I ensure organizational structures never limit the ability to create the right solution.

Champion Continuous Learning

Innovation thrives in environments that embrace exploration.

By fostering environments where unplanned outcomes are seen as learning opportunities, I build cultures where teams confidently push boundaries.

Grow Organizational Maturity

Impact scales through systematic processes.

By transforming individual best practices into scalable processes, I foster cultures that enable teams to achieve more while maintaining consistently high quality.

Thoughts

Trying my best to share insights and reflections on design, leadership, and UX innovation

Beyond the Sparkle: Why the Best AI Doesn’t Announce Itself

As we continue to integrate AI into our products, let’s challenge ourselves to make its presence less visible while making its benefits more apparent.

The (R)evolution of Content Design in the Age of AI

The emergence of Generative AI is accelerating a transformation already underway: the evolution from UX Writing to Content Design.

From Commands to Intent: How AI Is Reshaping Our (Digital) World

AI is enabling hyper-personalized, real-time interactions by dynamically adapting to user intent and making digital experiences feel more natural.

The Gatekeepers We Never Meant to Create: Rethinking UX in AI Systems

Seemingly technical decisions in AI - like data flows and model constraints - often shape the user experience in ways we don’t immediately see.

Beyond the Double Diamond: AI’s Challenge to Design Thinking

The Double Diamond has shaped how we innovate. But in the era of AI, are linear processes still relevant? A critical look at how design thinking must evolve.

5 Learnings from Designing AI-powered Products

Practical lessons from designing AI products that tackle complexity, build trust, and seamlessly integrate into everyday user experiences.

Hatch Conference: The Impact of AI on UX Design

In the era of AI, UX design is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. In this talk, I share learnings and practices from developing AI-powered features.

Pranav Pathak Product Director - AI @ Booking.com

I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Jascha on several AI-driven initiatives, and I can confidently say he is one of the most visionary and strategic design leaders I’ve encountered.

Jascha has the rare ability to bridge the gap between AI technologies and real user needs, ensuring that innovation doesn’t just dazzle but delivers genuine value.

What sets Jascha apart is his relentless focus on making AI intuitive and human-centric. His depth of domain knowledge in AI and machine learning is matched by his commitment to solving meaningful problems in simple, elegant ways.

Michael Ward Head of Product @ Contesto

Jascha is a high flyer in his profession, an outstanding designer who thinks outside the box and beyond his role.

He is both hands-on and strategic, always keeping the big picture in mind and not afraid to take a lead. He is constantly critical of his own work and sets very high standards for himself.

Lisa Anderson Director Product Design @ Booking.com

Jascha is an impressive designer, design leader, and design manager. He is skilled, experienced, ambitious, and confident. However, Jascha is also humble, open to learning and feedback, hungry for big challenges. I found his portfolio, his ability to present and persuade, and his design accomplishments to be inspiring from moment one.

As a design leader, Jascha has tackled some of the toughest problems in the accommodations business unit, in the move to a more comprehensive approach to travel products and services, and into the adoption of AI into the customer experience.

As a design manager, Jascha is considered a strategic asset, one who can tackle complex, ambiguous problems, one who fosters growth and business contribution from his team, and one who promotes collaboration amongst the broader, multi-disciplined team.