Open to design leadership roles, remote or across LATAM
Product design leadership for teams that ship, measure and learn.
I'm a Product Design Manager with 15+ years building complex digital products, and over a decade leading UX and design teams across travel tech, fintech, banking, telecom and gaming. I work in English and Spanish.
A quick intro. Fun fact: one of my dogs was asking for pets during this recording, so I was trying very hard to keep a straight face while petting him off camera.
- 15+ years
- building complex digital products
- 2 teams
- built from scratch, at iVisa (0 to 8) and B89 (1 to 5)
- ~20
- designers hired across my career
- 40+
- games and apps shipped by my own studio, Fun Box
Complex products.
Human outcomes.
Projects across experimentation, onboarding, behavioral UX and complex digital systems. Each one opens with the 30-second version, and the full process is there if you want it.
iVisa, 2022 to 2026
Conversion and experimentation
Introducing the right friction at the right moments, for people applying for visas under time pressure.
iVisa, 2025 to 2026
B1/B2 visa: designing for anxiety, complexity and trust
From field research outside the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá to fully redesigning a broken product.
B89, 2019 to 2021
Digital financial inclusion in Peru
Peru's first credit card you could get entirely through an app, approved in about 10 minutes and delivered to your door. I was the first designer on the core team.
Fifteen years of leading, learning and shipping
- 2022 to 2026Design Director (Global)iVisa, travel tech
Conversion, experimentation and onboarding across global visa products. Built the design team from zero to eight.
- 2022UX LeadAtlantic City Casino & Sports, B2C platforms
Heuristic audit and redesign of onboarding, login and payments. About 15% higher deposit success on key journeys.
- 2019 to 2021UX DirectorB89, fintech
First designer on the core team behind Peru's first credit card you could get entirely through an app. Grew the team to five.
- 2017 to 2019Partner, UX LeadAmable, UX consulting
Research, prototyping and product design for banking and telecom clients like Interbank, Mibanco, Scotiabank and Claro.
- 2013 to 2022InstructorISIL, Cibertec and UTEC
About five years of teaching, alongside the studio and product work. Game design and digital media at ISIL and Cibertec, then Lean UX and Service Design at UTEC, first as a mentor and later as an instructor.
- 2011 to 2018FounderFun Box Studio, games and apps
Founded and ran a studio that shipped 40+ games and apps for global brands. Sold, scoped and delivered the work.
- How I work today
- AI-native: Claude, Cursor, GitHub, Figma Make and agent workflows, from research synthesis to working prototypes.This portfolio is an example: designed with Claude, versioned on GitHub and deployed on Vercel.
What it's like to work with me
From LinkedIn recommendations by the people I reported to, managed and built products with at iVisa.
You could build from his specs with confidence, and the final product was always better for having gone through him.
Over the years I watched Mauricio build and scale iVisa's entire design function, the team, the workflows, the design system, the partnerships with Product, Engineering, and Growth that made design a real voice in how the company made decisions.
He excels at building high-performing teams while fostering a culture that feels both ambitious and down-to-earth.
Even during tough deadlines, he keeps things calm and the team stays collaborative. He's the kind of leader people respect and genuinely enjoy working for.
One of the most curious leaders I've worked with. Whether it was exploring new tools, testing AI workflows, or rethinking how we approached a problem, he leaned in with genuine interest rather than resistance.
Mau has a remarkable ability to keep a team motivated and focused even in high-uncertainty environments.
When he hired me, it was my first experience working within a team of designers, and it has been an incredible journey ever since.
He has the ability to balance business goals with genuine care for his team.
Thinking out loud
Essays on design leadership, hiring and the hidden skills of the job, first published on LinkedIn.
- Read on LinkedIn
If You Don't Ship It, Someone Else Will Ship It On Top Of You
When users build workarounds on top of your product, they're telling you what to ship.
- Read on LinkedIn
I Put AI In My Headline Too (and so should you)
On the AI hiring craze, and what still separates people when everyone has the same tools.
- Read on LinkedIn
The Friendly Interview Was Never the Test
Hiring senior designers: what's actually being tested in the room.
- Read on LinkedIn
I Wasn't Reviewing Portfolios. I Was Doing User Research.
What I was really looking for when I hired designers, from the other side of the table.
- Read on LinkedIn
My Anxiety Sees the Cracks. That's the Job.
Why the part of me that worries about everything turned out to be a design skill.
Before product design, I made games.
I spent years building games and apps through my studio, Fun Box, and another game company I used to work for.
It taught me fast iteration, engagement psychology, feedback loops, and how people learn systems through interaction. I still use those instincts all the time.
Games taught me to design for attention, not for approval. Every product I've shipped since has been a remix of those instincts. They also taught me the value of feedback loops, experimentation, and intuitive learning. The best old-school games rarely explained themselves. I love when players actually learn naturally through interaction.
The machine holds a small archive. Pick a game.
Seven games, 2009 to 2016.
When I'm not designing
- Music
- Drumming. Occasional DJ sets.
- Dogs
- Two rescue dogs. Structure isn't optional when someone depends on you.
- Cooking
- Slow process. Sharp tools.
- Curiosity
- I still like opening things to see how they work.
- Storytelling
- People follow what they understand.
Let's have a meaningful chat.
I'm open to Product Design Manager and growth-focused design leadership roles, remote (US time-zone friendly) or across LATAM.