Fractional Design Consulting
Senior design leadership, without the full-time commitment
Most consultants start with answers - I start with curiosity…
I work with organisations that need experienced design leadership but don't want — or can't yet justify — a permanent hire. One to three days a week or month, embedded within your team, I can lead the discovery, set the strategy and build your internal capability so the practice keeps growing after I leave.
Why fractional?
Many organisations know they need design thinking and service design — to fix broken journeys, reduce failure demand, or understand where AI and automation can genuinely help — but hiring a full-time design lead takes months, costs more than the budget allows, and often delivers more capacity than the immediate work requires.
A fractional design lead gives you the seniority and momentum of a 25-year practitioner for a fraction of the investment. You get the strategy, the artefacts and the stakeholder alignment — and because part of my job is coaching your people, you finish with a team that can carry it forward without me.
I work across private and public sector — federal and state government, member organisations, financial services, retail and energy — and I'm baseline cleared for secure environments.
How I can help…
Fractional Design Lead
Embedded 1–3 days a week (minimum 3 months), I act as your design lead: running discovery, framing problems, mapping current and future states, guiding delivery teams and lifting your team's design capability along the way. Suited to organisations building their first design function or needing senior cover during a transition.
Strategic Design Sprint
A fixed 4–6 week diagnostic for a service or program that's stuck, launching or underperforming. I'll map the current state, talk to customers, staff and stakeholders, and deliver a prioritised opportunity backlog and future-state recommendations — clear enough to inform a business case, pragmatic enough to start next week.
AI & Automation Opportunity Review
Most organisations know AI could help them — few know where it actually pays off. Using service evaluation techniques I've applied at RACV and VCAT, I analyse your service journeys to find failure demand, friction and automation opportunities, then deliver a costed business case for what's worth doing — and what isn't.
Advisory & Mentoring
Board-level or executive advisory on design strategy, digital experience and transformation, plus 1:1 mentoring for your designers and leaders. I've mentored 700+ professionals over 6 years at RMIT Online, with three Outstanding Contribution Awards for the Design Thinking for Innovation course.
Who this is for?
Government agencies (federal and state) needing design maturity on a fixed engagement window
Small to Mid-size organisations who want senior design leadership but not a permanent hire
Member organisations, banks and insurers tackling contact centre costs and duplication
Teams with an AI mandate but no clear picture of where to start
Leaders who need an experienced, independent pair of hands for a specific program
Work Examples
RACV
Contact Centre Failure Demand
Led a service design initiative focused on AI and automation, generating 30 current state member intent journeys and identifying 300+ opportunities to reduce failure demand — contributing to significant savings.
VCAT/RDRV
Residential Dispute Resolution Victoria — Tribunal Intake
Led a strategic evaluation of the tribunal's intake service, delivering service blueprints and system-level recommendations with embedded performance metrics and automation — prompting executive approval of a formal Cost to Serve enquiry.
Department of Health
Aged Care Reform
Helped establish the strategic service design approach for the Aged Care Reform program, mapping current and future state journeys to inform business cases and requirements across Support at Home and the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications programme.
"A wonderful person to have in your team, because he self manages, is such a powerhouse in the theoretical as well as the practical and just knows how to get things done."
Liz Blink — Product Manager
Let's talk
The best engagements start with a 30-minute conversation about what you're trying to change. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
Get in touch to discuss a project, request a resume or arrange a scoping chat.