Head of Design · 15+ Years · Brisbane · Sydney · Remote

MATIAS
RODRIGUEZ

Product Design Manager · Kindred Group · FDJ United

I lead product design where customer behaviour, commercial performance, and technical delivery need to work together. Complex problems with no obvious answer — the kind that sit at the intersection of competing constraints — are where I do my best work. Over the last 15+ years I have helped teams improve conversion, reduce delivery friction, scale design systems, and turn complex regulated journeys into clearer product experiences.

My value is not domain-specific. I specialise in regulated, high-volume digital environments where small UX decisions affect conversion, operational cost, compliance risk, and product margin.

Kindred Group · FDJ United · 2022–Present

THE NUMBERS

Delivered
Modelled w/ analytics team
Benchmarked
Team / Org impact
📈Commercial
Delivered
BetBuilder usage — placement change alone
Repositioning the Popular BetBuilder widget to a primary surface doubled usage without changing the product. The intervention was placement, not features — a commercial argument built from add-to-betslip data across 80+ eligible matches.
Modelled
BetBuilder usage — next phase target
Event page expansion combined with a social proof mechanism — a popularity counter surfacing real add-to-betslip volume — modelled at 4× current usage. Business case benchmarked against Betfair A/B results (+7% CTR, 96% confidence) and Qubit/PwC meta-analysis of 6,700 experiments.
Modelled
48×
Story point efficiency vs comparable widget build
The social proof counter at ~10 story points is projected to deliver significant incremental gross win. The previous comparable widget consumed ~60 story points and generates ~40 clicks per week. That ratio was the centrepiece of a formal decision review document challenging business pushback.
Benchmarked
80–85%
Carousel engagement concentrated in positions 1–2
Production analytics showing positions 1–2 driving 80–85% of clicks regardless of how many items are shown. Used to reduce options from 7–8 to 3–4 — cutting DOM load, improving page speed. A UX simplification that became a technical performance and commercial argument simultaneously.
⚙️Operating Model & Delivery
Delivered
1 Qtr
Design ahead of engineering — sustained
Arrived with design 2 weeks ahead. Embedded into leadership planning cycles — now one full quarter ahead. Dual-track swimlanes protect the pipeline while current-quarter work ships. Creates space for technical feasibility conversations before architecture is locked.
Delivered
Full system
Design operating model built from scratch
Jira-first source of truth. Epic to 3-ticket standard (Discovery / Design / Dev Support). Gate A/B/C quality checkpoints. Stage 4 production impact loop as part of definition of done. Context · Link · Ask async protocol adopted across AU/SE/FR/RO timezones. Not a process document — a working system adopted org-wide.
Delivered
–20%
Handover time reduced
Discovery to Test to Spec to Dev Support model keeps design active through build. Fewer defects, less rework. Structured ticket model separates exploration from build-ready work — engineering always knows exactly what stage design is at.
Delivered
First
WCAG embedded in Acceptance Criteria
Accessibility requirements in ACs for the first time — closing years of accumulated debt. Makes a11y a delivery gate, not a retro audit. Targeting 50% app coverage as baseline. Practical spot-check protocol at Stage 3, not theoretical compliance.
📊Measurement & Systems Architecture
Delivered
L0–L3
Depth-stratified analytics framework
Defined how the organisation measures design ROI — a surface taxonomy anchored to navigation depth (Discovery to Sport to Event to Market) rather than static pages. Separates Template effectiveness from Widget effectiveness in attribution. Reusable across any sport or featured event with a metadata filter only. No rebuild per event.
Delivered
5 pillars
Promotions engine — engineering once, CRM-operated forever
Designed a five-pillar promotion architecture separating token mechanics (engineering-once, versioned, locked) from audience segments, qualification missions, bet targeting, and promo assembly (CRM-operated, zero code per campaign). Removes engineering from every new promotion after the initial token build. Live across GB, FR, RO, NL.
Delivered
Decision Map
Design authority held at exec level — formally
During a high-stakes FR market launch, presented a formal Decision Map to Heads of and Exec — four open topics, stakeholder ask vs PD position vs proposed v1 decision on each. Held: single card template, MoTD vertical, density via token over variant sprawl. Trade-off rule documented in writing: if something is added, something else is removed or the date moves.
Delivered
Live
Bet type capability matrix & friction event taxonomy
Mapped which bet types can be placed natively at each depth vs where they require lateral navigation. Defined friction events and cross-level shortcut instrumentation requirements. Handed to Experience Analytics as the instrumentation brief — design defining how the organisation measures itself.
👥Customer & Research
Delivered
10+
Research studies launched — never done before for UK
Spearheaded the first structured research program for the UK sportsbook product — equivalent to what existed in FR, built from scratch. 10+ unmoderated studies in the year since launch, each running 100+ participants. A capability that did not exist before, now a standard part of how product decisions are validated.
Delivered
100+
Participants per study — cross-market agreement on tooling
Before any study launched, drove formal agreement with teams across all markets on Maze as the shared testing platform — faster execution, consistent methodology, comparable data across GB, FR, RO, NL. The infrastructure agreement came first; the research scale followed.
Benchmarked
25%
Users adding to betslip from homepage
Analytics showed homepage was already a conversion surface — 15% placed a bet directly from it. Reframed page priority across product and content teams without a lengthy research cycle. Data already existed — the work was making it visible and actionable to the right people.
Team impact
9
Hero journeys → PCTs — design drove product strategy for the first time
Survey with internal Trading, Ops, and Risk teams identified 9 hero journeys across the back-office platform. Ran 3 workshops (3 journeys each) writing PCTs directly from real user problems — not assumptions. Design had never driven PCTs for this platform before. Problems became the backlog.
🛣️Pipeline — Commercial & Operational Value
In progress
Event Card PCT
Component consolidation — reducing isolated build debt
Unifying fragmented event card variants into a single canonical component model. Fewer isolated components means less parallel maintenance, faster cross-market releases, and design changes that propagate rather than require per-variant rework. Commercial value: reduced time-to-market for content and promotional surfaces.
In progress
Persistent Betslip
Web redesign — reducing operational and design dev overhead
Persistent right-hand betslip on web removes the current open/close interaction model, reducing the surface area for operational edge cases and eliminating a class of design and engineering rework that recurs with every betslip change. One canonical pattern, one maintenance cost.
In progress
Betslip Simplification
Functionality consolidation — reducing error edge cases
Simplifying betslip interaction model to reduce the number of conditional states and error edge cases in production. Fewer states means fewer defects, faster QA, and a more predictable experience across bet types and markets. Operational cost reduction framed as a design decision.
Delivered
0→12
PCTs driven by design in 3 quarters
Design was not writing PCTs. Three quarters of stakeholder influence work — hero journey surveys, structured research, cross-functional workshops writing from real user problems — shifted design from delivery function to roadmap contributor. 12 PCTs in, more in pipeline.

Proof of leadership,
not just strategy

Head of Design roles ask whether you can lead people, build systems, and hold a position under pressure — not just own a product surface. Here is the direct answer.

20+
Designers mentored
Across sportsbook, telco, and wagering. Multiple promotions to Senior and Lead roles. Skill matrices, tailored progression plans, and structured performance assessments run against defined benchmarks — not just annual reviews.
0→1
Design operating system — not just templates
At both my current role and NBN I arrived without delivery infrastructure. What I built was a complete operating model: Jira-first source of truth, 3-ticket standard, dual-track swimlanes, Gate A/B/C checkpoints, Stage 4 production impact loop, and an async protocol across AU/SE/FR/RO timezones. Adopted org-wide. Now the default way design work moves.
3
Delivery swimlanes introduced
Discovery, Design Delivery, and Dev Support — a structured ticket model giving engineering, product, and design shared maturity expectations across the pipeline. Reduced handover friction and made design work visible to leadership at the right granularity.
6
Regulated markets governed simultaneously
GB, FR, RO, NL and beyond. Each with different regulatory constraints. Maintained a single design direction while adapting research framing, ACs, and feature scope per jurisdiction — without slowing delivery cadence.
Held
Design authority on commercial decisions — with numbers
On Popular BetBuilder, the business didn’t want the social proof counter. I presented the modelling — add-to-betslip data across 80+ matches, projected gross win uplift, 48× story point efficiency vs the last comparable build — triaged against financials until the decision changed. On the FR launch, a formal Decision Map to Heads of and Exec held four design positions in writing. Scope-for-scope trade rule enforced: if something is added, something else is removed or the date moves.
0→12
PCTs driven by design in 3 quarters — from none
Design was not writing PCTs. After 3 quarters of stakeholder influence work — hero journey mapping, structured research, cross-functional workshops — design now drives 12 PCTs from real user problems. The shift from order-taker to roadmap contributor, measurable.
0
Team turnover during app redesign
Full-scale app redesign at Tabcorp under a fixed launch deadline across multiple squads. Zero team turnover — maintained morale, output quality, and cross-squad alignment throughout a high-pressure multi-month programme.
Designers are the glue — this is what that looks like in practice
Customer layer
  • User researchers
  • CRM teams
  • UX specialists
  • Unmoderated / A/B testing
  • Behavioural analytics
Commercial layer
  • Heads of Growth
  • Product leadership
  • Analytics / metrics teams
  • CRM strategy
  • Gross win modelling
Technical layer
  • Back-end engineering
  • BFF / API teams
  • CMS / platform architects
  • Firebase / feature flags
  • Tech feasibility sessions
Risk layer
  • Compliance teams
  • Regulatory advisors
  • Responsible Gambling
  • Legal / market requirements
  • Research framing for sign-off

How I lead

Four principles that run through everything above — and explain why the work holds up across different domains.

01
Connect the dots between people who don’t naturally talk to each other

I see design as the glue between commercial strategy, technical delivery, customer behaviour, and compliance. None of those teams have the same language or the same incentives — and most of the time, nobody is connecting what they know into a single product direction. That’s the job. Not just running workshops, but synthesising what comes out of them into something engineering can build and leadership can stand behind.

02
Take things from 0 to 1 in real environments, not ideal ones

The best design work I’ve done has happened inside constraints — regulatory, technical, organisational. I don’t wait for the perfect conditions. I work out the smallest thing that can go live and prove value, phase the rest, and use each release to generate the evidence that earns the next one. A/B tests, overnight unmoderated studies, staged rollouts — the method fits the environment, not the textbook.

03
Let the evidence earn the next phase

I don’t pitch big design visions and ask for trust. I design the first phase to generate the data that justifies the second. When stakeholders see real metrics moving — conversion, drop-off, gross win, time-on-page — the conversation shifts from “should we do this” to “how fast can we scale it.” That’s when design gets a real seat at the table.

04
Build the measurement model before the product ships

I don’t wait for analytics to tell me what to track. I define the surface taxonomy, the friction events to instrument, and the conversion logic per bet type before the first sprint starts. Design decisions should generate evidence — but only if you set up the measurement architecture in advance. That’s what makes the next decision faster and the next proposal harder to dismiss.

Work History

CAREER

Detail for the conversation — enough to verify the numbers above and generate the right questions.

2022 – Present
Kindred Group · FDJ United
Product Design Manager

Design operating system, measurement architecture, and commercial design across a global sportsbook

Six regulated markets · Betslip · BetBuilder · Promotions Engine · Analytics Framework · Event Cards · Distributed international team (AU, SE, FR, RO)
Commercial & Product
  • BetBuilder placement change delivered 2× usage increase. Next phase designed at 4× via event page expansion and social proof mechanism — business case from production data, 48× more efficient per story point than comparable widget build
  • Social proof counter: challenged business pushback with Betfair A/B result (+7% CTR, 96% confidence) — formal decision review document separating value, implementation, and prioritisation questions
  • Promotions engine: five-pillar architecture removing engineering from every new campaign after initial token build — live across GB, FR, RO, NL
  • FR market launch: formal Decision Map to Heads of and Exec holding single card template, MoTD vertical, density-via-token — scope-for-scope trade rule documented and enforced
  • Homepage reframed as conversion surface: 25% add-to-betslip, 15% bet placement from analytics evidence alone
Operating Model & Systems
  • Built full design operating model from scratch: Jira-first, Epic to 3-ticket standard, dual-track swimlanes, Gate A/B/C, Stage 4 production impact loop
  • Design runs one full quarter ahead of engineering, up from 2 weeks on arrival — –20% handover time, fewer production defects
  • Authored depth-stratified analytics framework (L0–L3 taxonomy, Template vs Widget attribution, Bet Type Capability Matrix, friction event taxonomy) — handed to Experience Analytics as the instrumentation brief
  • Fluent across BFF, CMS/Playbook, Firebase, and feature flags — in tech planning rooms before architecture is locked
  • First WCAG a11y in Acceptance Criteria across the product — targeting 50% app coverage
People & Research
  • Distributed team managed (Lead + Senior designers) — skill matrices, progression frameworks, design-ahead rhythm
  • Spearheaded the first structured research program for UK sportsbook — 10+ unmoderated studies (100+ participants each) launched in year one. Drove cross-market agreement on Maze as the shared testing platform before any study launched
  • Multiple studies including n=166 on Related Bets placement — comprehension failure rate reframed as RG concern, escalated to stakeholders with formal recommendation
  • Survey with Trading, Ops & Risk teams identified 9 hero journeys — 3 workshops (3 journeys each) wrote PCTs from real user problems. First time design drove PCTs for this platform
  • AI tooling embedded across documentation, synthesis, and stakeholder communication
iGamingBetBuilderDesignOpsAnalytics Frameworka11yRegulated MarketsBFF / Back-endPromotions EngineAI-augmented
2023 – 2025
NBN Co
Lead Digital CX Designer

Built the design practice for Australia’s national broadband network

Token design system · Journey benchmarking · B2B2C ISP/RSP · Technology, Product, CX, Marketing
Commercial
  • DSAT 25% → 19% by redesigning key digital touchpoints and aligning UX with CX priorities
  • Key contributor to Product Playbook — personalisation incentives and API triage for ISP/RSP B2B2C journeys
  • Most Sparks awarded in the cohort for business impact and cross-team leadership
Technical
  • Token-based design system — +25% delivery speed, –50% inconsistencies, component changes from two sprints to hours
  • Python script audited all CSS colors — 200+ variants against 6 core colors, used to secure stakeholder buy-in
  • Embedded design into Technology Feasibility Studies — influencing direction at the planning layer
Customer
  • Benchmarked 4 customer lifecycle journeys — uncovered 40% task completion rate
  • Ease-of-use score lifted 3.5 → 5/5 on NBN installation journey by pivoting within CMS constraints
  • External research partner oversight — briefed, managed, and synthesised into internal roadmap
Design SystemTelcoWCAGJourney BenchmarkingB2B2CPython
2019 – 2023
Tabcorp
Lead / Senior Product Designer

Design leadership across Australia’s largest wagering company

Multi-squad · App redesign · Racing Feeds · ARPU improvement · Figma org migration
Commercial
  • Racing Feeds: video CTR +185%, Popular Bets 10×, Tips & Rankings +385% post-repositioning
  • Racing Key Stats: ~20% ARPU increase in targeted segment by surfacing stats at peak betting intent
Technical
  • Scaled Figma company-wide — replaced Sketch, InVision, Miro; standardised tooling and governance
  • Staged rollout process (research → prototype → production) defined and implemented across all squads
People
  • Full-scale app redesign under fixed deadline — zero team turnover across multiple squads
  • MoSCoW and SWOT used to resolve competing roadmap priorities across squad leads without escalation
WageringARPUApp RedesignFigma OrgMulti-squadA/B Testing
2012 – 2019
FoodMatters · Canstar · Orange Digital
Lead / Senior Designer

Conversion, acquisition, and agency design across health, fintech, and retail

FoodMatters · Gaia (2016–2019)
  • +25% mobile conversions — platform redesign and SVD product. Platform acquired by Gaia Inc.
  • A/B testing across every funnel — design and copy congruency from top-of-funnel to conversion drove highest rates
Canstar (2019–2020)
  • Improved outbound CTR with Head of Optimisation — revenue-tied UX experiments
  • GA, Evolv/Ascend, Hotjar used for data analysis and decision support
Orange Digital (2012–2016)
  • 18-month credit union redesign — branding, UX, retail, and in-store experience
  • RACQ, Your Town, National Tiles — executive stakeholder collaboration
SaaSA/B TestingConversionFinancial ServicesAgency

If this resonates,
let’s go deeper.

The numbers on this page are a starting point. The work behind them — the methodology, the stakeholder conversations, the decisions that didn’t make the page — is a better conversation in person than on a screen.

Case studies, process detail, and work samples are available on request. I’d rather walk through them with context than leave them unattended on a page.

Brisbane · Sydney · Remote · UAE open

Australian · Argentine · Italian citizenship — eligible to work in AU and EU · open to relocation