The project began by developing a deep understanding of the partner ecosystem and the challenges faced by both internal teams and external software partners. Through collaborative workshops, process mapping, stakeholder interviews, over 6 hours of user interviews, analysis of existing onboarding journeys, I explored how merchants were onboarded, where operational bottlenecks existed, and how different markets approached the same processes. This research highlighted inconsistencies across products, duplicated manual work, and opportunities to simplify the experience while supporting the company's wider embedded payments strategy.

Using the insights gathered during discovery, I worked with cross-functional teams to establish a clear product vision and define the key problems the portal needed to solve. The focus shifted from designing individual screens to creating a platform that could support multiple payment products, countries, and partner types through a consistent experience. Together, we prioritised the highest-impact opportunities, defined the core user journeys, and established design principles to guide future development while ensuring the platform could evolve as new business requirements emerged. The aspects were defined as being based on micro frontends and self-contained systems that would allow partners to embed the elements to their own tools. This presented some challenges in keeping domains separate, whilst keeping the experience meaningful and as holistic as possible.

With the product direction established, I led the design of the core experiences that would form the foundation of the portal. This involved translating complex operational processes into intuitive user journeys, iterating closely with engineering teams to balance usability with technical feasibility, and validating solutions with stakeholders throughout development. Alongside designing new features, I contributed to the evolution of the design system, introducing reusable components and interaction patterns that improved consistency across the platform and accelerated future product development.

The completed ISV Partner Portal provides partners with a unified platform to onboard merchants, monitor application progress, and manage payment services across multiple European markets. By simplifying previously fragmented workflows and creating a scalable design framework, the platform supports both operational efficiency and long-term business growth. Beyond the product itself, the project strengthened collaboration between design, product, and engineering teams, while establishing reusable foundations that continue to support the evolution of Nexi's partner ecosystem.