Joining Tobias

In 2023 I moved to Australia from New Zealand and joined Sydney based award winning design agency Tobias as their first Head of UX. This was part of more than a decade-long relationship with Tobias that included working for Simon Tobias at his UK agency Tobias & Tobias and working on Tobias' first UX project when they opened their Australian office.

Supporting a high performing design culture

Recognising the importance of team culture, I designed and implemented a mentoring and capability-building program that paired team members with senior practitioners. This approach empowered designers to take ownership of their career development while fostering knowledge sharing and collaboration. As a result, the team developed a positive and high performing culture demonstrated through the growing confidence of our UX designers and the quality of the design work that was delivered during that time.

Impact

Soon after joining, I contributed to turning a research project into a series of UX and product design projects. This solidified our relationship with the client, who become the agency’s largest UX client and its second-largest overall.

During my 10 year+ history with Tobias Australia, as well as leading their UX team, I directly worked on several projects. Highlights include design strategy and UX design for the Department of Education, research to help Westpac better understand the FX experience of SMEs, running an augmented design team in collaboration with the Australian Sports Commission, and leading a team (and contributing design work) defining the future state UX of a financial services organisation.

From my Team

Matt is an ambitious and creative UX designer with a relentless focus on balancing the needs of the end users with those of the business and the latest developments in his field. Matt's drive for innovation and attention to detail makes him a great asset for any design team. Over the years I've worked with Matt across a diverse range of projects including: detailed interaction design for business critical systems; defining vision and UX strategy in support of organisational transformation; leading client co-design workshops; and developing high quality design 'blue prints' and build guides for corporate and offshore technology teams. Matt is also a great guy I would unreservedly recommend him for any UX or customer experience engagement he pursues.

Simon Tobias

I’ve worked with Matt on numerous projects. He brings a wealth of experience to every meeting and always finds time to check in with his team and help out where needed. I’ve learned a lot from Matt over the years; his ability to make sense of really complex systems is impressive. Matt is an asset to any project you throw at him. He’ll not only deliver high-quality outputs, but he’ll do so with a few laughs sprinkled in between.

Victor Mancini

He's an incredible mentor and great leader! Matt is extremely patient and has always answered to all my silly queries about the design process. He's one of the reasons for me to successfully switch my career to interaction design. I have never had a dull moment thanks to his great witty sense of humour. I would 100% recommend him as your mentor / leader, you cannot go wrong!

Girivarshan Balasubramanian