Mailton Lima
Mailton Lima
Design & Research Manager · Fortaleza, CE
Sharing about design, product and leadership
About

12 years in Fintech —
where design and business
need to work together.

I'm Mailton Lima — from Ceará, father of a curious boy, and a product design leader based in Fortaleza. I work at the intersection of research and execution — understanding what people need and building from that with intention.

Over 12+ years in the Fintech and SaaS B2B ecosystem, I've built products that impact the financial lives of millions of Brazilians — with teams, systems and processes that scale beyond any single individual.

As a leader, I build capabilities, not just deliverables: rituals, design systems as products, and a culture where research and strategy speak the same language.

Get in touch → LinkedIn ↗

How I got here.

I grew up in Ceará and found in design a language for solving real problems for real people. I started at the intersection of visual communication and digital product — quickly realizing that what drove me wasn't the artifact, but the impact: the moment a well-designed experience changes someone's behavior for the better.

That pull took me into the Fintech and SaaS B2B ecosystem, where the context is concrete: money, trust, and access. I've spent the last several years building products that touch the financial lives of millions of Brazilians — from KYC onboarding to payments, credit and management.

In leadership, I learned that building product means building people first. Teams, systems, rituals — these are the assets that make great design repeatable and independent of any individual. Being a father reinforced this: what you build to work without you is what truly scales.

Today at Remessa Online as Design & Research Manager, I lead the high-complexity B2B/B2C strategic redesign — connecting research, behavioral data and design execution with speed and intention.

Experience

2024–
Design & Research Manager
Remessa Online · Fortaleza, CE
High-complexity B2B/B2C transactional strategic redesign. Reduced TTV, increased B2B CSAT, reduced lead time 25%, Design System accelerated dev 15%.
2022–26
Design Leadership & Product Design Mentor
Awari
+50 students, +70% effective skill application, +40% took on design leadership positions.
2022–24
Head of Product Design
meutudo.
+36% efficiency via DS, +29% time-to-market, –25% support contacts, +20% CSAT, +50% insights via Research & Ops.
2021–22
Senior Design Manager
Conta Azul · SaaS B2B
DesignOps in SaaS B2B. Design processes that accelerated delivery and reduced rework.
2020–21
Design Manager
Accenture Brasil
Major financial institutions. Service Design. +20% team efficiency.
2019–20
Design Lead
Instituto Atlântico
Dell and HP clients. Tomorrow Lab framework. ~90% CSAT co-creation, +12 PoCs, ~25% concept-to-product conversion.

Expertise Areas

Product Design StrategyDesign SystemsDesignOpsCross-Functional LeadershipUX ResearchAI-Augmented WorkflowsWCAG Accessibility

What I believe in

Outcome over output
Every design decision is traceable to a business metric or a human need.
Systems thinking
Great design at scale requires infrastructure, not just talent.
AI as collaborator
Judgment remains human. AI compresses cycles, not responsibility.
Visible decisions
Show the reasoning, not just the result. Documented decisions build trust and knowledge that outlast any individual.

Education

Executive MBA — Digital Product Design
Unifor — University of Fortaleza
2016–2018
B.Sc. Digital Systems & Media, UX
UFC — Federal University of Ceará
2010–2015

Languages

Portuguese — Native

English — Full Professional

Spanish — Elementary