top of page

i'm fil

a product design lead

In my 10+ year career, spanning roles at industry leaders like Spotify, British Sky Broadcasting, Virgin Media, Nokia and HSBC, I led transformative initiatives, steering cross-functional teams to deliver impactful products.

I champion a people-first, outcome-oriented leadership style, fostering collaboration and innovation. My strategic approach focuses on user-centric design principles, consistently delivering products that resonate with users and drive sustained business success.

portrait of Fil, product design lead

leadership philosophy

As a design leader, my focus is squarely on outcomes rather than mere output, fostering a culture where team success and well-being take precedence. I trust my team implicitly, providing guidance and feedback when needed, but ultimately empowering individuals to make decisions in the best interest of both the company and our audience.

​

past work

Here you will find some examples of my recent work, both as an individual contributor and as a design lead.

work experience

Apr 2019 - Nov 2022

Spotify

Senior Product Designer

Worked within several cross-functional teams to lead and contribute to high profile projects.

Led the design for a key company bet, crafting an intuitive onboarding experience for podcast listeners, leading to a substantial rise in discoverability and consumption.

Delved into localized search strategies in emerging markets, tailoring experiences to cultural nuances and enhancing user engagement. 

Jul 2018 - Nov 2018

Cognition X

Senior Product Designer

As a consultant, spearheaded a 0 to 1 project to design the user experience of an AI advice platform, working very closely with the engineers within rapid, 1-week long sprints

Nov 2022 - Feb 2024

Spotify

Product Design Lead

Shaped Spotify's Messaging Platform strategy, overseeing 500 million quarterly messages.

Led cross-functional collaboration, fostered a culture of innovation and psychological safety, mentored junior designers, and promoted transparency for continuous improvement.

Nov 2018 - Apr 2019

Kindred Group Plc

Senior UX Architect

Led a redesign of the Unibet product, collaborating with user research to boost live betting engagement during sports events. Unearthed insights to inform the redesign and enhance the overall user experience.

Nov 2016 - Jun 2018

HSBC Corporate Bank

Lead UX Consultant

Led design on a project that aimed to draw data from multiple back-end systems to provide Relationship Managers/ Account Managers with an end to end visibility of all their clients' dealings

Feb 2016 - Nov 2016

Virgin Media

Senior UX Consultant

Redesigned the account management portal for Virgin Media's  premium subscribers.

Led a research-based project for Virgin Media to support and shape the implementation of VM's Design System.

Sept 2015 - Feb 2016

Google

Senior UX Consultant

As a consultant, I worked on a project that aimed to optimise the way the marketing department of Google operates, enabling closer collaboration between different teams across the world.

Sep 2014 - Sep 2015

UBS Investment Bank

UX Consultant

Contributed to projects within the UBS Neo Investment Trading platform, including the development of the UBS Neo Research Android app, delivering research and insights to bank customers. Also, played a key role in redesigning UBS Neo's authentication process, ensuring adherence to rigorous security and legal guidelines.

Sep 2013 - Sep 2014

British Sky Broadcasting

UX Designer

Collaborated on diverse projects with developers, designers, and stakeholders on mobile, web, and TV products. Highlights include contributing to Sky Q,, focusing on the set-top box's self-service section. Led Service Design efforts across all BSkyB platforms and defined information architecture and interaction patterns for Sky.com's Help & Support section through research and workshops.

Mar 2013 - Sep 2013

Nokia

User Research Intern

At Nokia, I was part of a team tasked with conducting competitiveness reviews of Nokia products compared to direct competitors. Engaged in hands-on testing and documentation of mobile UX across various products and platforms, ranging from phones, tablets, and wearables to music streaming and map navigation applications.

Oct 2012 - Feb 2013

Global Personals

UX Designer

End to end UX on a number of projects for the company’s white label platform

Jul 2012 - Oct 2012

Pancentic Digital

UX Design Intern

Assisted the Lead UX Designer with User Testing, Wireframing and Research

my testimonials

In addition to setting strategies and executing design in complex problem areas, like campaign tooling at Spotify, Fil shines in how he leads teams. His approach to people management leaves people feeling seen and cared for, and set up to do their best work. Fil provided great support to me as I led 18 designers across the studio, and his input was imperative in how we organized the broader team. Fil cares deeply about the people he's designing for and the people he's designing with, which makes him an excellent person to work with.

Niamh Parsley

Senior Design Manager @ Spotify

bottom of page