Lead UX & AI | Innovation Coach

Hi! 👋 I'm Manuel

Manuel Guerrera Manuel Guerrera

I connect customers & businesses
through design & innovation

15+ years across S&P 500, corporate and government innovation, and startups.


I help organizations turn customer insight into products that work in the real world. I design and shape digital experiences end-to-end — from early concept and experimentation to shipped product — connecting user needs to business outcomes.

I’ve done this inside AI startups as part of the founding team, inside global enterprises leading innovation and Lean transformation, and alongside government and corporate teams validating new ideas under uncertainty. My work spans strategy, UX design, experimentation, and product delivery — always grounded in evidence, not opinion.

If you need someone who can both think strategically and design hands-on — someone who can structure innovation, coach teams, and ship real products — I’m available to partner on UX design, innovation initiatives, or enterprise transformation work.

TRUSTED BY GLOBAL TEAMS

Clients

What can I do?

Skills

Strategy & Discovery

  • Define product strategy under uncertainty.
  • Validate ideas through research and testing.
  • Support go / no-go decisions with evidence.

Design & Delivery

  • Design end-to-end web and mobile products.
  • UX, prototyping, systems in Figma and AI tools.
  • Deliver in agile teams with engineers and product.

Coaching & Enablement

  • Run workshops that unblock teams and decisions.
  • Coach cross-functional teams on innovation.
  • Embed experimentation and evidence-based learning.

WHAT HAVE I MADE?

Work

1 Built and Launched a fintech AI startup from zero to first customers +

Overview

Krobar.ai is an AI fintech startup helping SMEs make faster, better financial decisions by turning complex data and models into clear, actionable insights.

My role

Founding team · Head of UX & Design

What I worked on

Led product and UX from early concept through production, shaping discovery, interaction design, design systems, and product narratives used with customers and investors.

How I added value

  • Designed and launched core AI-driven assessment flows
  • Established UX, research, and design-system foundations
  • Partnered with founders on roadmap, pitch decks, and demos
  • Aligned product and commercial conversations around user needs

Impact

  • Took product from zero to first paying customers
  • Validated early product–market fit
  • Enabled clear communication of complex AI capabilities

Status

Live product with early commercial traction.

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2 Designed a digital innovation platform for large government teams +

Overview

A digital innovation platform developed for a U.S. government organization to upskill internal teams in modern innovation practices, combining structured learning with hands-on innovation games.

My role

Designer · Innovation Coach

What I focused on

Translating abstract innovation principles into practical, repeatable learning experiences that could scale across a large, non-digital-native organization.

How I added value

  • Designed the platform UI for structured, self-guided learning
  • Conceived and launched five hands-on innovation games
  • Developed curriculum and learning materials
  • Bridged innovation theory and day-to-day practice

Impact

  • Validated early product–market fit through sustained use
  • Three-year collaboration with continued adoption
  • Learning materials adopted by UK government organizations
  • Innovation games released publicly

Status

Live product in active use within a government innovation department.

3 Defined the innovation strategy for a new no-/low-alcohol category +

Overview

Pernod Ricard engaged our team to explore and validate opportunities in the emerging no- and low-alcohol market. The work focused on understanding consumer behavior, assessing strategic readiness, and supporting leadership decision-making around whether and how to invest in this space.

My role

Innovation Consultant · Design & Discovery Lead

What I focused on

Navigating high uncertainty across consumer behavior, market maturity, and organizational readiness. Grounding strategic discussions in real consumer insights while helping the innovation team structure exploration and executive decision-making.

How I added value

  • Designed and facilitated discovery workshops to frame hypotheses and decision questions
  • Conducted field research and in-context interviews with early adopters in London
  • Synthesized qualitative insights to inform positioning and opportunity framing
  • Supported executive communication alongside financial market sizing
  • Helped define an internal innovation process and platform (“HUB”)

Impact

  • Informed investment decisions in the no-/low-alcohol category
  • Increased alignment between innovation teams and executives
  • Defined an internal innovation platform concept

Status

Exploration and validation completed; insights used internally to guide strategy and capability building.

4 Embedded experimentation and venture governance at enterprise scale +

Overview

PMI engaged in a multi-year transformation to modernize how innovation initiatives were conceived, funded, and scaled across a global organization of 70,000+ employees. The effort focused on shifting from traditional, plan-driven innovation to evidence-based experimentation and venture-style decision-making.

My role

Lead Design Strategist → Head of Lean Enterprise Strategy
I led design, experimentation, and Lean Enterprise strategy across headquarters and regional teams, working closely with innovation leadership to design frameworks, coach teams, and influence how innovation decisions were made at scale.

What I focused on

The core challenge was not tooling or process, but behavior and governance. Innovation teams were operating with high uncertainty inside a highly structured enterprise. My focus was on designing systems—practices, decision forums, and learning loops—that enabled teams to experiment responsibly while giving leadership confidence to fund, stop, or scale initiatives based on evidence.

How I added value

  • Led global adoption of Lean Enterprise practices across headquarters and regional teams
  • Co-created corporate venture frameworks inspired by GE FastWorks to support evidence-based funding and scaling decisions
  • Introduced Lean UX and modern product design methodologies into global innovation programs
  • Designed and delivered frameworks and playbooks to support experimentation, validation, and portfolio decision-making
  • Trained and coached cross-functional teams, Innovation Boards, and internal venture teams across the US, Europe, Asia, and Oceania

Impact

  • Reshaped how innovation initiatives were funded, validated, and scaled across the organization
  • Increased alignment between innovation teams and executive decision-makers through shared evidence and governance models
  • Enabled teams to move faster under uncertainty while reducing risk at leadership level

Status

Transformation completed; Lean Enterprise practices and venture-style governance embedded across global innovation programs.

5 Redesigned web and mobile banking experiences used by millions +

Overview

Commonwealth Bank of Australia undertook a large-scale digital transformation to modernize its web and mobile banking experiences. The work focused on improving customer journeys, increasing product clarity, and supporting adoption across millions of customers interacting with complex financial products.

My role

Senior UX Designer
I worked as a senior UX designer embedded in agile product teams, collaborating closely with product owners, engineers, and researchers to design and deliver customer-facing banking experiences at scale.

What I focused on

The core challenge was simplifying complex financial products within a highly regulated, high-traffic environment. My focus was on improving clarity, consistency, and usability across key journeys—particularly discovery and acquisition flows—while operating within the constraints of enterprise systems and compliance requirements.

How I added value

  • Designed mobile and web banking experiences used by millions of customers
  • Contributed to the definition of a new web design system for commbank.com.au to improve consistency and scalability
  • Led UX work on the Home Loans “House” pillar, simplifying product discovery and acquisition flows
  • Worked within Scrum-based agile teams alongside product owners, engineers, and researchers to deliver iteratively

Impact

  • Improved onboarding flows and customer journeys with material impact on product adoption
  • Increased clarity and usability across key banking journeys in a high-traffic environment
  • Supported the bank’s broader digital transformation through consistent, scalable UX patterns

Status

Shipped to production; designs used across live web and mobile banking platforms.

Outside of work

Life

Outside of work, I gravitate toward a simple setup: a van, a pair of skis, a long ascent. Trail running and ski mountaineering keep me in environments where decisions matter and feedback is immediate; long hours in motion become time to listen, reflect, and learn through podcasts about the world and how things work.


Current home: Milan, Italy. Previously based in Australia and Switzerland.

Let's get in touch

Contact