UX & AI Product Designer, Innovation Coach, Co-Founder at Krobar.ai

UX Designer building and teaching innovation with a human-first, AI-augmented approach. Helping teams and leaders develop the skills to test new ideas fast and make evidence-based bets. Currently taking on new projects and roles.

  • I've spent 15+ years across enterprise, startups, and digital learning.
  • At Kromatic, I designed and delivered innovation training for corporate clients and UK and US government bodies, in person and remotely via a proprietary learning platform.
  • At PMI, I designed a human-centered innovation operating model and coached teams and leaders to embed it across 70,000+ employees in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
  • Most recently, I co-founded the AI startup Krobar, leading UX & Design for its AI-native experience.
Manuel Guerrera Manuel Guerrera

TRUSTED BY GLOBAL TEAMS

Clients

  • ABN AMRO
  • Logitech
  • Unilever
  • Hilti
  • Pernod Ricard
  • UK Gov
  • News Corp
  • CommBank
  • Vogue
  • Save the Children
  • Sorgenia
  • Kromatic
  • Politecnico di Milano
  • Allianz
  • ABN AMRO
  • Logitech
  • Unilever
  • Hilti
  • Pernod Ricard
  • UK Gov
  • News Corp
  • CommBank
  • Vogue
  • Save the Children
  • Sorgenia
  • Kromatic
  • Politecnico di Milano
  • Allianz

How I help

Services

Build

Turn ideas into products and services people understand and trust, from discovery to launch.

  • UX & Product Design
  • AI Strategy
  • Qual & Quant Research

Train

Learn to test new ideas fast and make evidence-based decisions. Hands-on workshops and programmes on your team's real projects.

  • Lean Startup
  • Experimentation
  • Lean UX

Coach

Make innovation work at scale. Ongoing coaching for leaders and teams to remove blockers, run innovation boards and stage gates, and fund ideas on evidence.

  • Innovation Boards
  • Venture Governance
  • Innovation Ecosystems

CASE STUDIES

Projects

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There's more, let's talk

GIVING BACK

Community

Based in Milan, I've also lived in Australia and Switzerland for many years. Wherever I've been, I've given back to the local innovation community.


  • Mentor at IxDA Sydney and Lean Startup Machine Rome
  • Co-host of the Sydney UX Book Club
  • Member of AIPIA, the Italian Association of AI Professionals
  • Hackathons: organiser, participant and team coach in Milan and Melbourne
  • Speaker and workshop lead at Innov8rs and Corporate Innovators conferences

Let's talk

Contact