Søren Højland Boesen · Design Director · Copenhagen
Seven years as Design Director, then CEO, of the Copenhagen agency Kvalifik, leading a multidisciplinary team to award-winning work. Before that, innovation consultant for Mærsk, Carlsberg and Nilfisk. On the side I build with AI-native tools, most recently Desenma.
10+
years in digital design and innovation
7
years leading design at agency level, as Design Director and CEO
15+
designers, developers and strategists led
3
businesses started
Clients I have designed and led work for, as consultant and as agency lead
Selected work
How I lead design
I am a strategic designer turned design leader. DTU-trained design engineer, innovation consultant for Mærsk, Carlsberg and Nilfisk, then Design Director and CEO of a Copenhagen agency I grew to fifteen people and led through a turnaround.
I work where craft, user experience and commercial reality meet. Good design direction is specific, teachable and tied to an outcome. I give it in the room, in the review and in the pitch, and I still make things myself so the direction stays honest.
01
Craft vision, standards and the systems that carry them: identities, brand guides, design systems in Figma and Webflow. At Kvalifik I owned design quality across every client engagement.
02
Structured critique, clear feedback and room to grow. I turned a network of 70+ digital natives into a structured agency, recruited sought-after talent and ran the design team for seven years.
03
Pitches with a point of view, business cases that help clients prioritise, and P&L responsibility for the whole studio. I have sat on both sides of the table: selling the work and making it.
04
AI-native workflows, motion and new tools, tested on real products. I prototype with Claude Code, build sites with GSAP and Webflow, and shipped a WCAG 2.2 AA platform with an AI assistant.
Two ways to work together
Path one
Design Director or the equivalent: craft direction across accounts, standards that make quality repeatable, a team that grows, and a creative point of view in every pitch. I have done it for seven years and want to do it at a bigger scale.
Start a conversation →Path two
Through Højboe Consulting I take on focused engagements: design direction for a launch, discovery and concept work, or sparring with a team that wants to work AI-native without losing craft.
Describe your project →Experience
2019 — 2026
Copenhagen
Design Director Jan — Mar 2026
Led the design practice: concept development, product and service design, design quality across client work.
Managing Partner & Design Director (CEO) May 2021 — Dec 2025
Took over from the founders. Turned the company around from DKK 2M in debt to positive results, grew it to DKK 9M in revenue and a team of 15+. Delivered for Danica, DSB and Carlsberg. Made Kvalifik the first Webflow Enterprise partner in the Nordics and Webflow Professional Partner of the Year 2025. Recruited a business partner and handed over leadership in full.
Design Director & Partner Feb 2019 — May 2021
Built a consultancy unit for companies that wanted to prototype their way into the future. Turned a network of 70+ digital natives into a structured agency.
2021 — 2022
Kvalifik venture
CEO Part-time
A two-sided marketplace connecting businesses with screened young digital talent. Full ownership of financials, marketing, strategy and community. Sunset it in 2022 when the numbers said to.
2020 — 2022
Co-founder
Co-founder Part-time
Educational material on video and streaming, started during the pandemic. Ran the Shopify store, marketing, branding and design.
2014 — 2019
Copenhagen
Innovation consultant Intern → junior → strategic designer
Qualitative research, design sprints, concepts from sketch to clickable prototype, service blueprints. Clients included Mærsk, Carlsberg, DSB, Clariant, Nilfisk, MP Pension and the City of Copenhagen.
2010 — 2016
Design & Innovation
M.Sc. and B.Sc. Eng. in Design and Innovation Exchange at TU Delft and EAFIT
Teaching assistant in project management and product usability. Certified project manager (DS/ISO 21500).
Awards
Off the clock
Time with my son, running, reading, investing, and building small tools with Claude Code to keep up with where AI is going. Danish by birth, Spanish by exchange, and happiest when something I made is in someone else's hands.