Ariad × BNP Paribas Fortis: The right people behind Belgium's largest bank

Client challenge
Rebuilding a 32-person UX team following a major agile transformation, requiring profiles able to collaborate in cross-functional squads.

Ariad’s solution
Continuous engagement with the bank and deep understanding of the team’s culture, enabling targeted and relevant candidate proposals.

Result 
Over 20 consultants placed in 5 years within the Concept & UX team, contributing to the digital experience of millions of Belgian customers.

Belgium's largest bank. A major agile transformation. A 32-person UX team to rebuild from scratch. The right people had to be found fast and the right strategy had to be built to keep finding them. Ariad did both: a trusted partner that delivers at speed today and thinks ahead for tomorrow.

With 3.6 million customers, 8,500 staff members, and a hybrid network of branches and digital platforms, BNP Paribas Fortis is Belgium's largest bank. 

Its Concept & UX team (32 designers, researchers, copywriters, and prototypers) is responsible for the user experience across mobile apps, transactional platforms, and public websites for the BNP Paribas Fortis, Fintro, and Hello Bank! brands.

In recent years, the bank undertook a major reorganisation to embed agile ways of working across the entire business. Silos between UX, IT, and business teams broke down. Daily stand-ups, feature reviews, and cross-functional squads became the norm. 

The UX team evolved from an on-demand creative unit into a fully-integrated competence centre. One where collaboration, speed of delivery, and complementarity of skills define how work gets done.

Profiles that go beyond design skills

This new way of working fundamentally redefined what the ideal team member looks like. Technical ability remains essential, but so does the capacity to collaborate across disciplines, communicate clearly, and adapt to fast-changing priorities.

"The best team members are chameleons who adapt to whomever they work with," notes Thijs Degheldere, team lead Concept & UX and Ariad consultant.

The complexity of BNP Paribas Fortis's product and service portfolio adds another layer of challenge. Onboarding takes time and significant investment — which makes long-term fit and genuine commitment critical criteria in every hire. 

The goal is not just to fill a role, but to build a truly complementary team where each profile can excel in their area of expertise.

Where Ariad made the difference

Rather than only reacting to open vacancies, Ariad maintains continuous contact with BNP Paribas Fortis, building a deep, evolving understanding of the team's needs, culture, and strategic direction. 

When profiles are needed, Ariad moves fast, presenting candidates in clear and structured overviews that make assessment straightforward. Candidates are matched to specific roles rather than circulated broadly, because finding the right person for the right job is the only approach that works.

The result speaks for itself: over twenty consultants placed within the Concept & UX team over five years, each one contributing to the digital experience of millions of Belgian customers — and a recruitment partnership built to scale with BNP Paribas Fortis's ambitions.