Mark Caudell

15+ years of helping organisations turn strategy into products through design leadership, customer insight, and hands-on delivery.

Building and mentoring teams, aligning stakeholders, shaping product strategy, and translating complex business challenges into products customers value, all whilst remaining hands-on.

Design leadership that ships

"I've led design at LSEG, Aviva, Macrobond, and HSBC — across teams, products, and business models. I've built design functions, set the quality bar, and stay close enough to the work to know when we're hitting it."

Systems thinking at every scale

"From a token architecture for a new brand to an AI-powered research platform used by institutional investors — I work at the level of detail and the level of strategy, and I know how to connect the two."

Commercial fluency

"Design decisions are business decisions. I've worked with Sales, Product, Marketing, and Engineering to bring products to market, pivot business models, and translate research into roadmap. The work only matters if it moves the business."

Modern tools, mature judgement

"I was an early adopter of AI in my design practice, using it to accelerate research and close the gap between design and engineering. The judgement about when and how to use it comes from years of knowing what good looks like."

I help ambitious organisations build better products by leading design at the point where strategy, customer insight, and engineering delivery meet.

I've spent long enough in the design industry to have opinions on a few things along my path. Here's three of them, for free.


Collaboration

1.

I'm at my best when I'm working in cross-functional teams to create real bottom-line value. Collaborating across teams, not working in silos, is key.

Making good products is one thing, but ensuring business teams have everything they need to market, sell, support, track, and grow the product is another thing.


Empathy

2.

Context and framing is everything. Understanding who our users are is at the centre of being able to create meaningful products.

When people are on multiple devices, we need to appreciate that we're just part of their day, not the whole thing.


Experience

3.

A considered approach is key. AI is fast-tracking our ability to go from 0-60%, but balancing that speed with taking a moment to know what the right thing to build is, when, and who for can save time, energy (and tokens!).

Here's a few products and projects I've worked on recently to give you a sense of how I work.

Led product design for a 0→1 financial research platform, aligning customer needs, business strategy, and delivery teams

How did I do it?

Shaped the vision and design strategy for an AI-powered analytics experience used to explore complex financial datasets

How did I do it?

Leveraging customer research to create a space where future finances are as easy as today's

How did I do it?

Pulling the best services together for a fintech startup to create a PFM for the fragmented US market

How did I do it?

Understanding the full range of target customers, segments, and organisations through personas

How did I do it?