I bring energy, curiosity and care to complicated problems, and to the people I solve them with.
Across 15 years of very different rooms.. agencies, startups, freelance clients, colleagues.. the same two things keep showing up in how people describe working with me: that I turn messy, ambiguous problems into something clear and useful, and that I do it with a warmth and energy that makes the work, and often the person, better along the way.
I'm Jess, a product designer based in Melbourne with 15 years in design, the last ten of them spent as the founding or early design hire at five companies in a row.
A GP's frustration with how little he could support patients between appointments became CareMonitor. A founder's bloated, hard-to-use MVP at EngineRoom became something business owners could actually profit from. A recruiter’s frustration with Reejig's broken search became a value driver for new talent. A Monash spinout with no product yet became n0de, where I built a research practice from nothing. And now at TeamHiiv, I'm the design lead on an agentic collaboration product, working alongside two founders who handed me a vibe-coded MVP and told me UX would be a strategic lever.
I'm at my best as a founding design voice
I’m someone who can hold the strategic frame, build the research practice, and do the hands-on design work. Across five companies I've had to get fluent in genuinely different kinds of complexity, healthcare data, workforce and skills data, business analytics, sustainability data, and now agentic AI. That range is the evidence it's a transferable method, not a lucky fit in one industry. I also have an unquenchable thirst for learning, so new industries, new subject matter and new takes on a problem space really excite me.
I’m drawn to problems that are still being defined, not already scoped down into a checklist.
Products that need to turn complex, high-stakes information into something a people can actually use and trust. I've found purpose in climate and energy transition and I'm eager to be in values-aligned, impactful work again. I enjoy staying at the forefront of tech, working in AI-native products, helping solve for meaningful and critical problems of our time.
You might know me as a product designer, but my colleagues will tell you I am much more than one label.
I’m a person who learns fiercely and deeply across many disciplines. I know it’s this curiosity and thirst for growth that’s enabled me to be successful in solving complex challenges. Whether it’s in the product space learning more about product analytics, BI and data vis or upskilling research methods; or outside of product; supporting company transformation, people and culture initiatives and hosting webinars — I am eager to understand and explore.
I’m a systems thinker, always zooming out one layer to see unique relationships and opportunities for improvement
My brain loves connections, patterns and the big picture. This enables me to build and hold a solid understanding of business goals and how they connect to product design and development. It also supports me to explore unique and novel ideas, when the problem space is open to it.
I’m always looking to make positive impact
I'm open to founding, lead, principal, or staff product designer roles, ideally somewhere the problem is still being defined and the team is ambitious, keen and eager to make positive impact. I’m based in Melbourne, open to remote work. If that sounds like what you're building, I'd love to hear about it.
I am a full-spectrum human
Outside of the product design life, I do crazy things with hula hoops, run a femme-led art collective called Aunty Maria’s, and I love to make art and crochet.
I love a challenge, am deeply curious and enjoy pushing myself out of my comfort zone to continually grow.