Strategic Product & Design Partnership
Turn technical possibility into better product decisions.
You know what your team can build. I help you decide what matters, shape experiences customers value, and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
From defining direction to working alongside your team, I bring strategic product thinking and hands-on design expertise where they’re needed most.
A 30-minute call, booked directly in my calendar.
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The challenge
Building is only part of the challenge.
Technical teams are good at solving complex problems.
But a technically sound solution isn’t automatically the right product decision.
Sometimes the opportunity isn’t clear enough. Sometimes the customer experience doesn’t match the technical ambition. Sometimes the team needs more than advice—but not another permanent hire.
That’s where I come in. I help technical leaders and teams connect product direction, customer understanding, and design execution so they can make better decisions and create stronger products.
What I do · Areas of work
Where I can help.
Product Direction
Find the right direction.When there are competing opportunities, unclear assumptions, or difficult product decisions, I help bring structure and evidence to the conversation. Together, we clarify the problem, explore the options, and identify a credible way forward.
Embedded Product & Design Partnership
Shape a stronger product.When important product work needs senior product and design expertise, I work alongside your team. From understanding customer needs to shaping flows, interactions, and experiences, I connect strategic decisions with the details that make a product useful and coherent.
Product & Design Capability Building
Build the capability to keep moving.Strong products depend on how teams think and work—not just what they deliver. I help teams strengthen their product and design practices through focused guidance, collaborative work, and practical capability development. The goal is progress that continues after our work together.
Ways to work together · Engagement formats
Different challenges call for different ways of working.
The right engagement depends on the decision you’re facing, the work ahead, and the capabilities your team needs.
Focus
A clear decision. A defined scope.Short, focused engagements to resolve a specific product challenge or investment decision.
Explore
Understand the opportunity before committing to a direction.Structured discovery to investigate customer needs, frame the problem, and identify promising product opportunities.
Partner
Senior product and design expertise, working alongside your team.A deeper, hands-on collaboration to move important product work forward while strengthening the team’s ability to continue independently.
A focused place to start
The Product Investment Decision Sprint
One feature.One decision.Four weeks.
Your team can build it. Should they?
Before you commit engineering capacity to a major new feature, understand whether it solves a problem your customers actually care about.
In four weeks, I help you examine the customer evidence and make an informed investment decision.
Key details
- One major feature or capability · one primary customer segment
- One evidence-informed recommendation: build, rethink, stop—or pause for more evidence
- Practical 90-day action plan
- Four-week engagement
€2,500 + VAT, fixed scope
About
Build capability, don’t create dependency.
An independent partner for complex product challenges.
I’m Sónia Gomes, a product strategist and designer working with technical leaders and teams to turn complex possibilities into clearer product direction and better experiences.
Through Close to the Sun, I bring together product strategy, design expertise, and collaborative ways of working to help teams make meaningful progress.
I can help frame the direction, work alongside your team to shape the experience, or strengthen the capabilities that make good product work repeatable.
The engagement changes depending on what you need. The principle stays the same: leave the team better equipped than I found it.
Let’s talk
Let’s make progress on what matters.
Whether you’re facing an important product decision, shaping a new experience, or looking for a senior product and design partner, I’d be glad to hear what you’re working on.
A focused conversation to understand your challenge and see whether working together makes sense.