A little bit about me 👀

Hello 👋🏼 I’m David , a product designer, currently working at Deputy in London 🇬🇧. I specialise in creating digital products that help people be their best selves. Whether that’s helping to improve someone’s wellbeing, save some extra money, learn a new skill or just have fun. I truly believe in the power of technology to have a positive impact in people’s lives.

My background is in games and product design, designing products that are simple for people to use, but most importantly, help them to achieve their goals. But what I really care about is shipping cool things, testing new ideas and making a difference to people’s lives. You can see a few of the products I’ve worked on in my Portfolio.

It me!

Work history

Deputy, Director Product Design

2019 – Present

Responsbile for all of Product Design at Deputy, a workforce management platform dedicated to improving the world of work one shift at a time. Deputy helps businesses manage scheduling, time tracking, and employee communication, empowering both employers and hourly workers. As we scaled the business to over 1.5 million daily users, I played a key role in shaping intuitive, user-centric experiences that drive efficiency and engagement across a diverse range of industries.

Play, Chief Product Officer

2014 – 2018

I co-founded Play with 2 friends from Mind Candy, we used our experience working in mobile games to create engaging products that help build positive behaviors. We grew the business to ~£4 million in revenue annually, while remaining profitable every year without any external investment. I was responsible for all Product and Design, directly managing and mentoring a team of eight. IWe also launched Totem, a platform to improve company culture, which was profitable from day one and grew to tens of thousands of paying users within its first year. Along the way, I helped ship numerous innovative products for some of the UK’s biggest companies, including Bupa, PwC, BT, Mars, and Sainsbury’s.

Mind Candy, UX Designer / Product Manager

2012 – 2014

I integrated UX into the game development process for Moshi Monsters, an online game with over 100 million registered users. Later, I product managed PopJam, a creative community for kids, growing the platform from zero to over a million users. PopJam’s success led to its acquisition by SuperAwesome in 2015.

Lasuni, Founder

2008 – 2015

Built and ran a free-to-play online community, growing it to over 25,000 players while studying at university. Used the profits to fund my university degree.

Cardiff University, Computer Science (BSc Hons)

2008 – 2011

I studied Computer Science at university, where I learned the foundations of building great software — an experience that continues to shape my approach as a product designer. Understanding how systems are built allows me to collaborate more effectively with engineers, make informed design decisions, and balance feasibility with quality.

Business friends

I've been lucky enough to have worked with these forward-thinking companies

Testimonials

Kind words from nice people

"I worked with David at first Mind Candy and then at Play - where he led product across both consultancy projects and internal IP, managing a growing team that figured out how gamified digital products could change the world of work. If you know him, or read the other recommendations (especially the ones from his Play team), you'll see that he's exceptional at what he does. Listening, making connections/ seeing patterns, focusing on users, conceptualising and defining products that are like no other - he can do it all.

What's even more unique though is his humility and positivity. He's enthusiastic about life and people and learning - and how digital products can unlock human potential and happiness."

Marcus Thornley

CEO, Play

"I've worked closely with David for 6 years. In that time we have created products for many big name companies and brands. He has an amazing understanding of what makes a product engaging. Without a doubt the success of every product we have worked on, has been a direct result of his insight and input into the process.

Over the years he provided mentoring and training to his team and has left behind a product team that follow his no nonsense methodology and appetite for excellence."

Daniel Atherton

CTO, Play

"David was my go-to person at Play as he brilliantly combined business knowledge, UX expertise and project management skills that I struggle to find in most agencies. I was very impressed on how quickly David grasped the business problem we were trying to tackle and bring a range of creative solutions to the problems. As a client of his, I always had the confidence that under David's direction, the team would deliver high quality UX solutions and designs and on time, something invaluable for me in the consulting industry. Highly recommend!

Seb Barsoumian

Senior Manager, PwC

"I had the pleasure of teaming up directly with him on many products and I was surprised how much I learned from him every time. Annoyingly, not that you'd expect with someone quite so professional and talented, he is also a bloody lovely guy too. Teams that work with him, respect him, his knowledge and like him in equal amounts. He impeccably gains insight about a problem and swiftly delivers a brilliant solution that not only nails all business goals, but never loses sight of the end user and their engagement.

Mid table Mario Kart player..."

Jez Fischer

Head of Creative, Play

"David did an excellent job for us on a sprint zero for a piece of culture work. I think it goes without saying that all of his technical skills are great and that he showed a real care for his work. What was important to Mars was that we found technology partners who understood people too- and David is great at this, taking a real interest in the diverse lives of our Associates and wrapping all of that insight into the app."

Damian Welch

Global Culture and Engagement Director, Mars

"It is rare to come across a standout like David. I had the pleasure working with him on various projects and teams at Mind Candy and witnessed him expertly design products and lead teams to high performance. His distinct creativity combined with acute product instincts made him a very effective Product Manager and UX designer. David has a bright future ahead of him and I look forward to seeing what he produces next!"

Tony Yang

Director of Product Management, Mind Candy

"In the 10+ years I have worked in product design, I have never met anyone quite like David. He has an amazing skill at instantly understanding business and customer needs and translating them into engaging products that everyone loves! He would bring huge value to any product or customer focused company.

David makes work fun. I hope I get the pleasure of working with David again! 👍"

Julien Cook

Head of UX, Play

"I have worked with David on a number of different projects and clients, and have always found him a pleasure to work with. David is able to quickly grasp business problems, and come up with novel and interesting design ideas that address these. David is a consummate professional - organised, diligent and hard working, and has a real 'can do' attitude. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend David for any product manager/UX design/scrum master roles - and hope to work with him again in the future. Many thanks David!"

David Fowler

Director, KPMG

"I’ve had the pleasure of working with David for the past 3+ years at Play. His ability to distil complex business problems and user needs and translate them into a set of simple and understandable experiences is amazing.

One of his core strengths is articulating his vision of a particular product and getting early stakeholder buy-in and support which is key to the success of any project! I’ve personally learned so much from him over the last few years and he really helped mentor me to be a better and more well-rounded designer."

Michael Sarpong

Senior Designer, Play

"David showed complete commitment to our project from day 1 and provided an excellent product and project management service throughout. He managed his team of developers well throughout and met all of our deadlines. He provided that key function of interfacing between our business requirements and technical development, providing pragmatic options for development to create the right balance between time, cost and product outcome.

David was great to work with, professional, engaging and fun!"

Colin Mann

Director, PwC

"I was in David's team, and had the opportunity to work with him for nearly a year, across several projects - his sharp personality, intelligence, and willingness were a game changer for clients, projects and myself. I learned a lot from my experience working with him and feel he helped me to be a better designer and work better with clients.

But he is way more than just a great Team Manager - David proved to be a great team player, always supporting not only people in his team but everyone at Play."

Daniela Picão

Designer, Play

"David is a master at product design and delivered huge value to us when we explored options for a global engagement app to over 100K people. He effortlessly navigated the demands of a great user experience with the technical requirements in a complex stakeholder environment. Experienced, talented, dedicated and fun to work with - I couldn't recommend David highly enough."

Arthur Pugh

Programme lead - Global Culture, Mars

"Everything he touches becomes beautiful. I’ve been friends with David for almost 15 years, but I’ve also known him as my creative partner. Since the age of 17 we’ve worked together on all types of projects ranging from branding, to UX/UI, to creating entire virtual worlds. David has the ability to take assets and a vision and turn it into something that feels like it should have existed all along. I love working with David and I can’t recommend him more highly to anyone. My mum loves him!"