Our digital design recruiters began working with leading dental software company, Dentally, in 2024. Long-term partners to their Global Head of Product Design, Francesca Granato, Yasmin Vachet recently supported their appointment of a Design Systems Specialist.
Following an extended search, Yasmin stepped in as an advisory talent partner to deliver an exceptional hire for the business. This hire has allowed the company to achieve their growth goals.
Dentally is a fast-growing SaaS platform serving the dental sector. Part of Henry Schein One, Dentally is available in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, with over 50,000 users worldwide.
After a decade of product evolution, the business hit a key moment in their growth. The product had scaled rapidly, but without a formal design system. Over time, this created significant UX/UI debt, with no reusable component library, inconsistent patterns, duplicated work, and increasing engineering friction.
At the same time, Dentally was maturing into a serious challenger brand with ambitions to continue international expansion and meet higher accessibility standards. The business needed to modernise its design foundations to enable scale.
This was not a “nice to have” hire. Dentally urgently needed a Design Systems Specialist capable of:
Unfortunately, the internal recruitment process had stalled. After months of advertising, there was no viable shortlist. Given the highly specialised nature of the role and the time-intensive portfolio assessment required, additional dedicated resource was needed to move the process forward.
The biggest challenge for talent teams without a specialist lens was the ability to differentiate between designers who had contributed to a system and specialists who had built and rolled one out from scratch
The market was fatigued, and many candidates had already been approached.
The business needed more than a recruiter. They needed a partner who genuinely understood design systems and could operate strategically. Specialist design recruiter, Yasmin Vachet, was engaged because:
The engagement quickly evolved into a strategic partnership. The search began with a deep diagnostic briefing to define:
Because the role had been open for so long, the market required a full reset. To achieve this, Yasmin delivered a complete market remap:
The search ran approximately 12 weeks due to the scarcity of true specialists and global candidate availability.
At multiple points, Yasmin acted as a sounding board, advisor, and advocate. Through her efforts, Dentally successfully appointed a seasoned Design Systems Specialist capable of building and embedding a full system across the product organisation.
The hire now:
Internally, the design systems squad now acts as an accelerator for all other product teams.
For Francesca, the process was also a leadership milestone. She built her first design function from scratch, strengthened her strategic influence, and elevated design as a business-critical capability.
I’ve never seen Yas as a consultant. I’ve always seen her as my strategic partner in building this team. She’s the first recruiter I’ve met who truly understands design, the industry and the skill sets. She’s been a secret weapon.
Candidate Thought Count: 1
Yasmin has been a real breath of fresh air in recruitment. She took the time to understand my circumstances, kept me fully informed, and made the process seamless. I’m genuinely excited to start my new role.Design Systems Lead
Start your talent search with the UK's leading recruitment agency today.
