Research, data-driven design, mentoring, management and product culture.
At Open Investments I worked far beyond interface design. I participated in product strategy, research, planning and goal setting, introduced the practice of documenting design decisions, and helped establish a culture where hypotheses were tested instead of debated.
The product I owned achieved a 750% increase in onboarding conversion, driven by continuous experimentation and close collaboration with talented product manager and product owner. Rather than treating design as a delivery function, we made it an instrument for discovering better business solutions.
I also pushed prototyping to a new level. Starting with advanced Figma techniques and later adopting ProtoPie, I created high-fidelity interactive prototypes that let us validate hypotheses directly with users. Thanks to my technical background, developers trusted me enough to invite me into implementation discussions, where we often solved technical and UX problems together.
What I value most, however, is the culture we built. I worked to create an environment where designers, engineers and product managers felt psychologically safe to challenge ideas, share ownership and continuously improve the product. Leaving the company, I received the kind of feedback every design leader hopes for: colleagues told me they would happily work with me again as a design director or product owner.
The business results reflected that culture. The mobile application has become the company’s primary investment channel, with 62% of all trades executed through the app and around 70% of clients with assets using it every month. The product has also been recognised by professional communities, including Tagline Awards, Markswebb Digital Investment Rating and other industry rankings for the quality of its user experience.
