Omar Idris

Omar is a public designer with over a decade of experience leading design-led change across complex public and social systems. He is a strategic and delivery-focused practitioner who specialises in helping organisations make sense of messy, systemic challenges and translating strategy into tangible action through practical learning, experimentation and evidence-informed delivery. His work is grounded in user-centred design, systems thinking and a strong focus on measurable outcomes.

Before joining Perago, Omar worked at Nesta, where he shaped and led place-based innovation programmes across the UK. His work spanned central and local government, with a particular focus on family support, early years and public service reform. This included a secondment providing design leadership within the Cabinet Office’s Test, Learn and Grow programme, where he supported teams to design, test and scale interventions that combined strategic intent with hands-on experimentation.

Omar’s background spans both public and private sector roles in design, innovation strategy and social impact. Earlier positions at Macmillan Cancer Support and Procter & Gamble gave him a strong grounding in mission-driven change alongside commercial rigour. Based in Wales, he is passionate about building organisational capability as well as delivering outcomes for the public, and brings this dual focus into all of his work at Perago.