Evidence, not opinion.
Designing for users. Accountable to the business. Nine years at platform scale inside Flutter Entertainment and JD Group, now looking for the next Senior or Lead role, permanent or contract.
Exhibit 01JD UP, Manchester 2026
Case studies
View all →-
JD · NAV
JD Sports — Main Navigation
Lead Designer · sole owner of the redesignNobody asked me to audit the navigation. I did, wrote the findings up as a brief myself, and took it to the PM, turning it into a full architectural redesign before any design work began. CTR from 18% to 32%. £300k+ revenue uplift across a 28-day A/B test.
-
JD · ACCT
JD Sports — My Account
Lead Designer · self-initiated from a pattern in CS dataNoticed a pattern in the CS contact reports nobody had been asked to investigate. What started as an IA fix grew into four workstreams: restructured navigation, a new delivery-tracking integration, an in-store QR returns flow, and future-vision concepts tested with the business. 12% drop in WISMO contacts against an 8% target.
-
JD · BNPL
JD Sports — Scalapay Integration
Lead Designer · negotiated directly with an external payment partnerHeld the line against a payment partner's request for default checkout prominence. Backed the position with research, not opinion, against commercial pressure to ship their version. Checkout completion and revenue both rose once the decision shipped.
-
JD · CUST
JD Sports — Product Customisation
Lead Designer · worked directly with the print floor and brand teamFound a confidence gap beneath a capability problem, not a design problem, a trust problem. Visited the distribution centre myself and built a brand safety framework that reached all the way to the print floor.
-
JD · AUTH
JD Sports — Customer Authentication
Lead Designer · platform-wide authenticationRequested direct AWS environment access before accepting the brief's constraints as fixed, found several were negotiable, and reopened the scope conversation on that basis. Delivered without measurable drop-off across 12 regional rollouts and 2.1 million customer accounts.
-
PPB · AML
Paddy Power Betfair — Customer Verification Experience
Sole Designer · worked with the AML and compliance teamChanged my own initial design position after a workshop with the AML team surfaced the real cost of under-warning customers. Suspensions dropped 82%, reported honestly alongside a real customer cost.
From the people I've worked with
View on LinkedIn → (opens in a new tab)He was a highly valued member of the team, working across several high-profile projects and helping shape the strategic direction of our function and ways of working. Richard has a strong eye for innovation and developed a clear view on how AI can support great product delivery, and built trusted relationships across the business as a strong role model in building personal brand and influence.
Richard had a big influence on my growth as a Product Designer at JD Sports — someone I could regularly turn to for advice on UX challenges and navigating stakeholder conversations. He was generous with his time and knowledge, especially during my onboarding, and took the initiative to introduce and improve our design processes, helping streamline the way we worked and bring greater consistency across our team.
Richard has an exceptional ability to combine strategic thinking with genuine user empathy, consistently creating experiences that are not only visually polished but also intuitive and impactful. What really sets him apart is his collaborative nature — he works seamlessly across teams and brings a calm, positive energy even in fast-paced environments. He's the kind of person who elevates everyone around him, whether through mentoring, problem-solving, or simply leading by example.
I worked with Rich on many projects for Safer Gambling. He is a great designer and a very good, supportive colleague who does great under pressure — proactive, always asking the questions to understand the customer problem, and always searching for the best solution.
Richard has been a key asset to our Product function. He has had a key focus on understanding customer problems and championing the use of customer data to find opportunities to test and learn iteratively — a big advocate for experimentation, supporting delivery whether that was rapid testing or a full feature build. He was on the journey the whole way.
Richard and his team hosted a "UX Taster for Aspiring Juniors" event at the Paddy Power offices in London — excellent teachers, running through the day-to-day workings of UX within a business environment. I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking to get a taste for UX but with little knowledge of how to take the first leap.
Built to repeat
Developed at Flutter Entertainment by watching what actually held up under pressure, then formalised at JD Sports into a documented process and Figma system. Ten designers now work to it.
For hiring managers.
Looking for Senior and Lead Product Design roles where design has genuine influence and the work connects to real outcomes. Permanent or contract.
Open to opportunities Get in touch →- A senior or lead role with real design influence
- High-traffic products at platform scale, the kind where bad decisions hurt
- A culture that debates the problem before jumping to the solution
- North West hybrid, London two days a week (I keep a base in Watford), or fully remote
Doesn't need to tick every box, but the more it does, the better the fit.
Senior designer.
Strategic lens.
I didn't start in design. Recruitment came first, then UX, then nine years of platform-scale products across two of the UK's biggest digital businesses. The non-traditional route turned out to be useful.
More about me →Books & guides for
product designers.
Playbooks on AI, stakeholder work, and design leadership, including a first-90-days plan and hiring toolkit written from actually running a team.
Browse the library → (opens in a new tab)