CharlieMcKenzie
Sr. Digital Product Designer
01 — About
I'm a Senior Digital Product Designer who gets equal parts excited about elegant UX logic and the people behind it. I've been told my skills form an upside-down T — deep expertise in UX and product design, with working knowledge across research, front-end development and team leadership.
I'm open, curious, enthusiastic, and very much a people person. I'm drawn equally to creative challenges and analytical ones — which is probably why design made so much sense. It lets me flex both sides.
I'm an ENFP-A (a Campaigner), which means I tend to show up energised, collaborative, and always looking for the next interesting problem to solve. Outside of work I'm big on games, camping, hiking, and being near the ocean.
I've worked across financial services, not-for-profit, agency, and startup environments — and I've led teams through rebrands, platform builds, and the kind of ambiguity that comes with fast-moving organisations. I've been working remotely since 2018, and I thrive in that environment.
How I think about design teams
I think a lot about what makes design teams great — not just the craft, but the culture, the processes, and the conditions that let people do their best work. Over the years I've developed a view of design team maturity across five areas: people & culture, design practice, design systems, stakeholder collaboration, and delivery. It's a lens I use to ask 'where are we now, and where are we headed?'
02 — Skills & Education
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Interactive & Visual Design — Queensland University of Technology
Tools & Technologies
Key Competencies
UX Principles & Analytics
Translates business, regulatory and member needs into clear design. Defines priorities, aligns design initiatives to organisational goals, and shapes roadmap planning to ensure experience decisions support measurable outcomes.
Team Leading & Mentoring
Culture is the most important thing. Teams that can rely on trust produce their best work. Leadership and mentoring have been core throughout my career — and improving team culture is always a priority.
Governance & Risk
Works in highly regulated environments, proactively considering compliance, risk and accessibility requirements — ensuring solutions meet stakeholder obligations while remaining intuitive and member-focused.
Stakeholder Management
Manages varying stakeholder needs, creates effective and professional relationships, and engages and influences senior stakeholders — collaborating, presenting and managing projects with clarity.
Product Design
From planning, research, UI design to development and delivery — constantly thinking of ideas and researching in fast-paced tech environments. Thrives on innovation and collaboration with team members and stakeholders.
Prototyping & Testing
Extensive experience creating low and high fidelity prototypes — in Figma and in code. Tests in person or online depending on the use case, ensuring solutions are validated before delivery.
Problem Solving
Problem solving is the core of UX. Through competitor research, systems planning and information architecture, I find and innovate new ways to tackle complex issues.
Design Systems & Accessibility
A big fan of atomic design and its principles for creating scalable design systems. Experience creating and governing systems in Figma, with a keen interest in weaving accessibility throughout the process.
03 — Experience
12+ Years
Industry
Digital Product Designer
Australian Retirement Trust
Leading digital product design across ART's digital offering, helping guide product owners to maximise digital product value and user experience. Working with cross-functional teams to develop a range of digital products and features — including web and native mobile applications — while leading design team experience and quality components aligned with strategic objectives.
Co-Founder — UI/UX
Ulak — Collective Digital Agency
Co-founded a collective of digital specialists to help purpose-driven organisations increase their impact. Led UI/UX and front-end development across multiple projects on both project and ongoing bases. Highlights included building the Climate200 website — working to elect independent candidates across the nation.
Head of UI/UX & Design
Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience
Worked with all key stakeholders to deliver a working design system, internal portal, onboarding flows, data management tools, website, campaigns, and marketing collateral. Working directly with the CEO and COO. In charge of leading the design team, responsible for hiring new staff, and actively mentoring throughout.
UI/UX Lead
Orange Digital
Worked with a small team servicing a broad range of clients (20+). Responsibilities included client communication, scoping and quoting projects, research, creating low and high fidelity prototypes, testing, and working with marketing and development to deliver projects that exceeded expectations. Part of the hiring team and managed an internship programme.
04 — Work
Work
Samples
That's it!
Thanks for looking.
Say hello
…Charlie McKenzie
