About me,
I’m based in Seattle but originally hail from the tiny town of Perth, Australia. I have a big love for travel and care deeply about social impact, healthcare, and clean energy.
Over the course of my now 18+ years career in design, I've worked with teams of varying sizes, interviewed, hired, grew, and observed how designers work in various industries around the world.
At present, I view my role as a creative leader, mentor, designer, and father of an 11 months girl. Working with me means working authentically, collaboratively solving problems while biased for action, and framing problems as opportunities. I make an effort to favor collaboration above individual work because I really believe that working with people is the only way to accomplish anything worthwhile.
Previously, I spent 3 years at Amazon-Alexa working across several ecosystem-level roles. My projects included Alexa App, Alexa on FireTV, Alexa in cars, Alexa voice shopping, Alexa entertainment, and various voice-forward smart home video experiences.
Before Alexa, I was a design lead at Commbank where I work with a small team to deliver an award-winning smart banking assistant experience and designed Australia's first instant mobile payments. Before that, I worked at FoxSports where I led designs on their mobile sports platform and defined their global navigation system. Before FoxSports, I co-led the design for Australia's IPART digital service and created WebMD's new health portal.
Fast-forward to today, I'm a Lead Product Design Manager at Rakuten, a San-Mateo company striving to create a smarter way to shop. I provide UX direction and strategy to product partners and mentoring to design teams while ensuring the solutions we deliver connect with members in a meaningful way.
I strive to foster the ideal climate so that teams may think broadly and influence what great design may look like. My ethos is to design inclusive technologies that reflect the diversity of the users who experience them. I’m also highly motivated to build diverse design teams that are inspired to create better technologies for everyone.
Testimonials
“It's rare you meet someone with both the positive attitude and thoughtfulness that Derrick possesses. I was lucky to work with Derrick on a three-week client project that had both a tight timeline and ambitious goals. Derrick's ability to juggle both client needs and user needs, and to continually delight both, was remarkable. He's an asset to any team or project!”
-Maren Hotvedt · Senior Experience Designer at Atlassian
“Derrick is a skilled & professional UX designer. Having worked with Derrick on various projects I have seen and used his knowledge and expertise to create useful and intelligent products to enhance people's lives. Derrick always has a professional yet easy-going attitude which makes him a pleasure to work with. His unique combination of skills also makes him an asset to many organizations. It is without hesitation that I recommend Derrick as an outstanding professional.”
-Julio Castellano · Lead Product Designer at WooliesX
Derrick is an exceptional talent and a pleasure to work with. Technically gifted, he has a proven track record of high performance, especially across UX and Analytics. Beyond this, he is an inspiring team member with genuine enthusiasm and has played key roles in important projects with reputable brands.
-Aaron Bruce · Director of Digital Products
Having worked with Derrick for over 3 years has a wonderful way of driving marketing results while building a cohesive team and having fun at the same time. He can uplift a team, upgrade the company profile, expand business relations with customers, and bring innovation to the boardroom with a great professional attitude.
-Stella Pang · Corporate Affairs Director
Awards
- Best Chrome Extension of the year 2021
- EOS Hackathon “Best UX 2018”
- Ceba Virtual Assistant “Most Innovative Channel Experience of the Year”
- GovHack 2015 “The UX Spirit of GovHack”
- CAN Award 2013 “DDM Productivity”
- CAN Award 2012 “DUF Project”
