I've been a developer, designer and product manager at the leadership level
That used to be difficult to explain, but the lines between building something, designing it and deciding what to build are blurring, and I’ve spent twenty-five years on all three sides of them. This helps me build strong relationships and make sound decisions in building the best products.
I started as a graphic designer and taught myself how to be a web developer, eventually moving into UX and design, then into product leadership. For most of my career, that route looked messy, too broad, and hard to put a title on. It has turned out to be useful
With the industry shifting under the introduction of AI, building, designing, and deciding what to build is back in one conversation. I use these tools daily, and I'm more interested in what they do to the shape of a company and working practices than in how fast they produce a screen. I am well positioned to help lead projects and teams through another era of change within digital products, and I've navigated through plenty before: broadband, social web, responsive design, voice and spatial interfaces.
The work I'm proudest of, though, is the teams I've led and built. I joined eBay's Manchester design function when it was two people and helped take it to ten — my boss hired three alongside me, and I built the culture the rest were hired into. That culture held through two product pivots and redundancy rounds, and outlasted the product it was built for. People stayed because of what it was like to work there.
I've done a version of that at most sizes: three different teams at the BBC, a product practice built in AND Digital's Manchester club, and supporting the creation of the UX offering within the business. Right now I work independently, consulting, contract, or by the project, alongside a fractional Chief Product Officer role at Original Version.
I am open to the right full-time roles where a great product problem or a team waiting to be built is present. I am at ease performing a product management or design function role, ideally in leadership but more than happy to be on the tools and in the details too.
Experience
Where the twenty-five years went
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Jan 2023 — Apr 2026
Head of Design at eBay
Web3, authenticity and digital product passports — I arrived through the KnownOrigin acquisition. Helped take the team from two people to ten across product, service and content design plus research, and built design operations from scratch. Directed digital product passports into buyer and seller flows, the blockchain-backed Authenticity Guarantee, and the Certilogo design system. Left due to the closure of the Manchester office.
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Jan 2020 — Jan 2023
Managing Consultant · Product Principal at AND Digital
Helped build the product culture in AND's Manchester club - community of practice, skills framework, line management, coaching. Then consulted on transformation: operating models, agile ways of working, strategy and OKRs. Clients across fast-fashion e-commerce, funeral care, SAAS products, arts and culture. Held a consulting role for 1.5 years, mainly working as an engagement lead to establish teams and projects with new clients.
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Jan 2016 — Dec 2019
Exec Product Manager · Creative Director at BBC
UX and design for TV Platforms, then product leadership on iPlayer. Grew Red Button's connected service to around a million in a year, and BBC Sport's IPTV app from 80k to 600k weekly users in six months. Largest audiences the BBC had ever had for Glastonbury, Wimbledon and the 2019 Women's World Cup.
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2014 — 2015
Creative Lead at RetroFuzz
Led creative and development teams for Sony Music, Universal Music, Lee and Wrangler. Built a new streaming service under the Now That's What I Call Music brand.
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2008 — 2014
Senior Experience Designer at magneticNorth
Google, the Co-operative, the BBC, Kellogg's, Manchester City and the City of Manchester. NOMA's digital strategy, BBC Radio Player, BBC Olympics and Sport Mobile, Desert Island Discs, Visit Manchester. Started as a front-end dev, became a full-stack tech lead before moving into strategy and UX design.
EarlierDesigner and developer at I.M.P.L. from 2004 - branding, client handling and pitch work, with front-end and PHP across CMS, e-commerce and booking systems. Before that, web developer and designer at Staffordshire Students' Union from 2000, building everything they published on the web and in print.
What other people say about me
Our design team stuck around through lots of challenges because the binding glue of us all was Ray. Everyone should be able to have a manager like him at least once in their career.
He's by far the best manager I've ever had. He's given me confidence in my ability and recognised my strengths in a way no other manager ever has.
One of the best minds at thinking about product problems and how to solve them outside of just the traditional ways. You push for innovation and for people to think really hard about how to build a product that isn't just good but great.
Very good at knowing what is worth doing versus a waste of time, putting out cross-discipline fires that no one else wants to deal with, and helping us make difficult decisions quickly.
Trying to get something off the ground?
Happy to talk it through, even if you're not sure what it is yet.
Get in touch