Tobias Oberpaul

From components to culture. I enable teams to ship digital products people love.

About

I’m Tobias — Design Lead. At the intersection of technology, people, and business, I build design systems, run design operations, and grow communities — turning standards into efficient, reliable, and scalable delivery.

At Deutsche Bahn I scaled DB UX from a simple style guide to a company-wide design framework and operating model for 200+ designers and 1,000+ engineers across B2C & B2B.

Built and led the DB UX teams (Design System, Design Ops, Community) — defined roles and responsibilities, scaled the team (recruiting/onboarding) and secured a recurring budget.

Set governance & cadence — use → extend → propose, RFC/PR reviews with SLAs — and embedded funding & ownership in enterprise architecture.

Launched the central platform (docs, starter kits, sandboxes, onboarding, libraries, migration playbooks) to drive adoption at scale.

Activated the community engine — advocates in product teams and open feedback via GitHub; built a cross-company peer network (SAP, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bank; SBB, NS, ÖBB,...).

Experience

Lead @ DB UX — Deutsche Bahn · 2024–present

Lead the company-wide UX capability (Design System, Design Ops, Community); set standards & governance, run release cadence, and operate the central platform.

Lead @ DB UX Design System — Deutsche Bahn · 2022–2024

Scaled the system from style guide to enterprise DS (tokens, components, patterns); established contribution workflow and predictable releases with designers & engineers.

CEO / Co-Founder — SOVYY · 2020–2024

Independent studio delivering brand, websites, and campaigns; end-to-end from strategy to shipped digital experiences.

UX Designer — Techpilot (Dynamic Markets) · 2019–2022

Co-created a new design system and rebuilt web UX/UI; improved consistency and design-to-dev flow across site and platform.

Art Director — Fidor Bank · 2017–2019

Drove rebrand and website redesign; produced multi-channel campaign assets (email, social, landing pages, motion).

Projects

Adapting Design at Scale

Consistency at the core, flexibility at the edges.

Community-based Standardization

From multi-layer DS to contribution at scale.

Design Identity in a Decentralized Company

Coherence without centralization.

Skills & Values

Expert:

Design systems — tokens, components, patterns
Design ops — governance, workflows
UX design (Figma) — libraries, variables
Enablement — docs, training

Proficient: HTML · CSS · Git/GitHub · Jira/Confluence · Community building & facilitation · Communication · Accessibility

Working knowledge: · Git/GitHubJavaScript · React/Next.js · User research

Languages: German (native), English (professional)

Think big, start small

Aim for company-scale impact; deliver in safe increments. Learn in weeks, not quarters.

Systems, not one-offs

Standards, tooling and training that make good work repeatable – across teams and time.

Open by default

Share playbooks, office hours, communities of practice. Teach what you build so adoption sticks.

Enable autonomy

Clarity → guardrails → cadence. People do their best work when expectations are explicit and ownership is real.

Media & Events

UX Logistics @ KLM/NS

Amsterdam (2024) · speaker

UX Titans: Insights from the World of UX Thought Leaders

Book (print interview; eds. Dr. Benjamin Franz & Dr. Michaela Kauer-Franz, 2025)

Design System Leadership Summit (SAP × Figma)

Frankfurt (2024) · participant

Config (Figma)

London (2025) · invited attendee

The Design System Guide

Interview (online; Romina Kavcic, 2023)

World Usability Day @ DB

Frankfurt (2023) · speaker

Adobe MAX

Los Angeles (2023) · invited attendee

Hack4Rail (SBB)

Bern (2025) · participant

Open Source Day @ DB

Frankfurt (2023) · speaker

Tobias@Oberpaul.com • 2025

From components to culture. I enable teams to ship digital products people love.

About

At Deutsche Bahn I scaled DB UX from a simple style guide to a company-wide design framework and operating model for 200+ designers and 1,000+ engineers across B2C & B2B.

Built and led the DB UX teams (Design System, Design Ops, Community) — defined roles and responsibilities, scaled the team (recruiting/onboarding) and secured a recurring budget.

Set governance & cadence — use → extend → propose, RFC/PR reviews with SLAs — and embedded funding & ownership in enterprise architecture.

Launched the central platform (docs, starter kits, sandboxes, onboarding, libraries, migration playbooks) to drive adoption at scale.

Activated the community engine — advocates in product teams and open feedback via GitHub; built a cross-company peer network (SAP, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bank; SBB, NS, ÖBB,...).

Experience

Lead @ DB UX — Deutsche Bahn · 2024–present

Lead the company-wide UX capability (Design System, Design Ops, Community); set standards & governance, run release cadence, and operate the central platform.

Lead @ DB UX Design System — Deutsche Bahn · 2022–2024

Scaled the system from style guide to enterprise DS (tokens, components, patterns); established contribution workflow and predictable releases with designers & engineers.

CEO / Co-Founder — SOVYY · 2020–2024

Independent studio delivering brand, websites, and campaigns; end-to-end from strategy to shipped digital experiences.

UX Designer — Techpilot (Dynamic Markets) · 2019–2022

Co-created a new design system and rebuilt web UX/UI; improved consistency and design-to-dev flow across site and platform.

Art Director — Fidor Bank · 2017–2019

Drove rebrand and website redesign; produced multi-channel campaign assets (email, social, landing pages, motion).

Projects

Adapting Design at Scale

Consistency at the core, flexibility at the edges.

Community-based Standardization

From multi-layer DS to contribution at scale.

Design Identity in a Decentralized Company

Coherence without centralization.

Skills & Values

Expert:

Design systems — tokens, components, patterns
Design ops — governance, workflows
UX design (Figma) — libraries, variables
Enablement — docs, training

Proficient: HTML · CSS · Git/GitHub · Jira/Confluence · Community building & facilitation · Communication · Accessibility

Working knowledge: · Git/GitHubJavaScript · React/Next.js · User research

Languages: German (native), English (professional)

Think big, start small

Aim for company-scale impact; deliver in safe increments. Learn in weeks, not quarters.

Systems, not one-offs

Standards, tooling and training that make good work repeatable – across teams and time.

Open by default

Share playbooks, office hours, communities of practice. Teach what you build so adoption sticks.

Enable autonomy

Clarity → guardrails → cadence. People do their best work when expectations are explicit and ownership is real.

Media & Events

UX Logistics @ KLM/NS

Amsterdam (2024) · speaker

UX Titans: Insights from the World of UX Thought Leaders

Book (print interview; eds. Dr. Benjamin Franz & Dr. Michaela Kauer-Franz, 2025)

Design System Leadership Summit (SAP × Figma)

Frankfurt (2024) · participant

Config (Figma)

London (2025) · invited attendee

The Design System Guide

Interview (online; Romina Kavcic, 2023)

World Usability Day @ DB

Frankfurt (2023) · speaker

Adobe MAX

Los Angeles (2023) · invited attendee

Hack4Rail (SBB)

Bern (2025) · participant

Open Source Day @ DB

Frankfurt (2023) · speaker

Tobias@Oberpaul.com • 2025

From components to culture. I enable teams to ship digital products people love.

About

At Deutsche Bahn I scaled DB UX from a simple style guide to a company-wide design framework and operating model for 200+ designers and 1,000+ engineers across B2C & B2B.

Built and led the DB UX teams (Design System, Design Ops, Community) — defined roles and responsibilities, scaled the team (recruiting/onboarding) and secured a recurring budget.

Set governance & cadence — use → extend → propose, RFC/PR reviews with SLAs — and embedded funding & ownership in enterprise architecture.

Launched the central platform (docs, starter kits, sandboxes, onboarding, libraries, migration playbooks) to drive adoption at scale.

Activated the community engine — advocates in product teams and open feedback via GitHub; built a cross-company peer network (SAP, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bank; SBB, NS, ÖBB,...).

Experience

Lead @ DB UX — Deutsche Bahn · 2024–present

Lead the company-wide UX capability (Design System, Design Ops, Community); set standards & governance, run release cadence, and operate the central platform.

Lead @ DB UX Design System — Deutsche Bahn · 2022–2024

Scaled the system from style guide to enterprise DS (tokens, components, patterns); established contribution workflow and predictable releases with designers & engineers.

CEO / Co-Founder — SOVYY · 2020–2024

Independent studio delivering brand, websites, and campaigns; end-to-end from strategy to shipped digital experiences.

UX Designer — Techpilot (Dynamic Markets) · 2019–2022

Co-created a new design system and rebuilt web UX/UI; improved consistency and design-to-dev flow across site and platform.

Art Director — Fidor Bank · 2017–2019

Drove rebrand and website redesign; produced multi-channel campaign assets (email, social, landing pages, motion).

Projects

Adapting Design at Scale

Consistency at the core, flexibility at the edges.

Community-based Standardization

From multi-layer DS to contribution at scale.

Design Identity in a Decentralized Company

Coherence without centralization.

Skills & Values

Expert:

Design systems — tokens, components, patterns
Design ops — governance, workflows
UX design (Figma) — libraries, variables
Enablement — docs, training

Proficient: Accessibility/WCAG · HTML · CSS · Jira/Confluence · Community building & facilitation · Communication · Adobe CC

Working knowledge: Git/GitHub · JavaScript · React/Next.js · User research

Languages: German (native), English (professional)

Think big, start small

Aim for company-scale impact; deliver in safe increments. Learn in weeks, not quarters.

Systems, not one-offs

Standards, tooling and training that make good work repeatable – across teams and time.

Open by default

Share playbooks, office hours, communities of practice. Teach what you build so adoption sticks.

Enable autonomy

Clarity → guardrails → cadence. People do their best work when expectations are explicit and ownership is real.

Media & Events

UX Logistics @ KLM/NS

Amsterdam (2024) · speaker

UX Titans: Insights from the World of UX Thought Leaders

Book (print interview; eds. Dr. Benjamin Franz & Dr. Michaela Kauer-Franz, 2025)

Design System Leadership Summit (SAP × Figma)

Frankfurt (2024) · participant

Config (Figma)

London (2025) · invited attendee

The Design System Guide

Interview (online; Romina Kavcic, 2023)

World Usability Day @ DB

Frankfurt (2023) · speaker

Adobe MAX

Los Angeles (2023) · invited attendee

Hack4Rail (SBB)

Bern (2025) · participant

Open Source Day @ DB

Frankfurt (2023) · speaker

Tobias@Oberpaul.com • 2025