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I’m a design leader with 20+ years’ experience shaping complex digital products and services across government, telecoms, retail, fintech, and edtech. I untangle complex systems into clear, inclusive, scalable experiences, build and lead design teams, embed design systems at scale, and deliver measurable outcomes for services used by millions. I’m a passionate advocate for inclusive design and high-performing, empowered teams. I relish mentoring and growing design capability across organisations, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, driving design culture, and ensuring accessibility. I thrive on translating policy and operational requirements into intuitive user journeys and scalable services.…I’m a design leader with 20+ years’ experience shaping complex digital products and services across government, telecoms, retail, fintech, and edtech. I untangle complex systems into clear, inclusive, scalable experiences, build and lead design teams, embed design systems at scale, and deliver measurable outcomes for services used by millions. I’m a passionate advocate for inclusive design and high-performing, empowered teams. I relish mentoring and growing design capability across organisations, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, driving design culture, and ensuring accessibility. I thrive on translating policy and operational requirements into intuitive user journeys and scalable services.

Darren Cronin

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I’m a design leader with 20+ years’ experience shaping complex digital products and services across government, telecoms, retail, fintech, and edtech. I untangle complex systems into clear, inclusive, scalable experiences, build and lead design teams, embed design systems at scale, and deliver measurable outcomes for services used by millions. I’m a passionate advocate for inclusive design and high-performing, empowered teams. I relish mentoring and growing design capability across organisations, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, driving design culture, and ensuring accessibility. I thrive on translating policy and operational requirements into intuitive user journeys and scalable services.…I’m a design leader with 20+ years’ experience shaping complex digital products and services across government, telecoms, retail, fintech, and edtech. I untangle complex systems into clear, inclusive, scalable experiences, build and lead design teams, embed design systems at scale, and deliver measurable outcomes for services used by millions. I’m a passionate advocate for inclusive design and high-performing, empowered teams. I relish mentoring and growing design capability across organisations, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, driving design culture, and ensuring accessibility. I thrive on translating policy and operational requirements into intuitive user journeys and scalable services.

Available to hire

I’m a design leader with 20+ years’ experience shaping complex digital products and services across government, telecoms, retail, fintech, and edtech. I untangle complex systems into clear, inclusive, scalable experiences, build and lead design teams, embed design systems at scale, and deliver measurable outcomes for services used by millions.

I’m a passionate advocate for inclusive design and high-performing, empowered teams. I relish mentoring and growing design capability across organisations, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, driving design culture, and ensuring accessibility. I thrive on translating policy and operational requirements into intuitive user journeys and scalable services.

Skills

Product Design

Experience Level

Product Design

Expert

Work Experience

Lead Interaction Designer / Design Leader (Long-term programme contract via MadeTech) at Department for Education - Standards & Testing Agency

July 1, 2025 - Present

Leading the digitisation of the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) across 15,000+ primary schools; responsible for end-to-end interaction design of the Digital Assessment Planning (Develop) application, translating complex assessment and operational requirements into clear user journeys, features and reusable components in Figma; aligning with GDS and inclusive design best practice. Key impact: saved teachers over 30 minutes of paperwork per student by digitising the process.

Lead Interaction Designer at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

June 1, 2022 - July 1, 2025

Key member of the Making Tax Digital programme; directed 19 interaction designers across 8 product teams, embedding a consistent design language and accessibility-first mindset; introduced a pattern-first design approach, improving reuse and reducing design debt by 30%; enabled teams to translate complex legislative and operational requirements into intuitive, accessible services used by millions; mentored junior designers and evolved internal processes to streamline service handoffs and delivery cadence.

UX Consultant at Modu Digital

January 1, 2022 - June 1, 2022

Designed an omni-channel renewal experience enabling insurers to engage directly with customers; delivered user journeys and Figma prototypes aligning C-suite stakeholders on direct-to-consumer strategy.

Lead Product Designer at Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd (The National Lottery)

January 1, 2022 - May 1, 2022

Led on the design for License 4 bid, defining future omnichannel experiences across retail and digital; designed player journeys across mobile, desktop, and retail; conducted iterative user testing that informed key business decisions.

Lead UX/UI Designer at Pearson PLC

January 1, 2019 - September 1, 2022

Created and scaled the Material UI design system, driving UI consistency across global platforms; sole designer for Project Elm, unifying Pearson’s global learning tools serving 500M+ learners; partnered with dev teams across UK, US, and India to streamline design delivery; improved design-to-dev handoff efficiency by 40% through standardised components.

Lead UX/UI Designer at Tesco Mobile

June 1, 2015 - December 1, 2018

Re-platformed eCommerce site and app, achieving 80% drop in basket abandonment and 350% growth in handset sales; designed key features (Anytime Upgrade Flex, Insurance Upsell) increasing attach rate by 20%; scaled mobile app usage from 200k to 2M+ users and drove continuous optimisation using analytics and A/B testing.

Lead UX/UI Designer at Tesco PLC

April 1, 2013 - June 1, 2015

Led UX/UI across 8 international grocery markets, launching responsive platforms in 12 weeks; improved conversion rates by 6.4% across Central Europe; introduced innovations like same-day delivery, Click & Collect, and one-click basket building.

Lead UX/IA Consultant at Intelligent Environments (IE)

January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013

Worked on a fully responsive white-label bank platform; delivered UX/IA consulting and design direction for a scalable banking product.

Lead UX/UI Designer & IA Consultant at O2 (Telefónica)

January 1, 2006 - January 1, 2013

Worked on My O2, O2 Wallet, O2 Health app, and a number of other initiatives; long-term contract delivering IA/UX design across multiple services.

Senior IA & UX Designer at Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd

January 1, 2005 - January 1, 2006

Senior IA & UX Designer on long-term contract, shaping user experiences for National Lottery digital products.

IA & UX Designer at Hutchinson 3G (Three.co.uk) (Mobile)

January 1, 2002 - January 1, 2005

Long-term contract focusing on IA/UX design for mobile initiatives and digital services.