Hello, I'm Hugo.
Designer and builder by heart, manager by design.

Running teams and operations never replaced being a maker. It always compounded it. Right now, I'm building an email client agent, called Cisma. Created and authored the AI Design Playbook, and founded Co_lab, a creative hub and multidisciplinary space.

10+

Products shipped across risk management, CX cloud, ATS and AI assistants.

8

Years leading design across fintech, CX, HR and creator industries.

156%

Weekly active user growth on the Talent Ops platform at Screenloop.

0→1

Manychat's first AI products, shipped in eight months.

Case Studies

Leading & Coaching

I lead through principles and culture, manage by outcomes.

Most of what I've built is the scaffolding a team needs before it can do its best work: the hiring bar, the design process, the standard people hold when nobody is checking. I've hired and developed more than fifteen designers across four companies, grown and helped scale a team from six to sixty, and founded a design function that started with a single designer.

Scaling a design practice across a 60 people design organisation

Inside Talkdesk, 2021. The first keynote the discipline had been given there, as the company grew to a $10B valuation.

From Collaboration to Co-Ownership — Hatch Leadership Ateliers Barcelona 2026 masterclass poster featuring Hugo Filipe Costa Hatch Leadership Ateliers · Masterclass
From Collaboration to Co-Ownership

Facilitated a masterclass for design leaders at Hatch Leadership Ateliers Barcelona on moving cross-functional teams from coordination to genuine shared ownership: decision rights, accountability gaps, and collective responsibility.

Let's talk.
Got a project, a role,
or an idea? I'm listening.