María Mora

For me, good design leadership is about creating clarity, trust and direction. People should understand what we’re trying to achieve and why, while still having the autonomy to decide how to get there.

My role is to remove ambiguity, challenge the thinking when needed, raise the quality bar and create the conditions for the team to make strong decisions and do their best work.

I’ve spent a significant part of my career in iGaming, and it has given me a strong foundation in complex, highly regulated products.

I’ve worked across customer-facing and back-office experiences, covering both B2C and B2B contexts, multiple markets, regulatory requirements, accessibility standards, payments and cashier experiences across real money and sweepstakes, and complex operational flows.

That experience has taught me how to design within constraints, understand complex systems and balance user, business and compliance needs. Those skills are valuable in iGaming, but they also translate naturally to other complex products and industries.

I influence through clarity rather than authority. Strong communication is key: being able to explain what the problem is, why it matters, and how we can solve it in a way that people across different teams can understand.

My design decisions are grounded in evidence, combining user research, competitive analysis, and behavioural data from tools like Amplitude and FullStory.

For me, good design isn’t just about creating polished experiences. It should help users achieve their goals while driving meaningful product outcomes, from conversion and engagement to retention.

I try not to give designers all the answers. I’d rather help them develop the judgement and confidence to make strong decisions, explain their thinking and stand behind their ideas.

That means understanding where each person needs support, giving clear feedback, creating opportunities for ownership and helping them present their work in a way that connects design decisions to user and business value.

Seeing someone become more confident, independent and influential is one of the parts of leadership I enjoy most.

I use AI deliberately, not by default. I use it when it helps me explore ideas, research, challenge assumptions, prototype faster or remove repetitive work, but I also pay attention to unnecessary iterations and oversized context. Part of using AI well is knowing when not to use it.

I also use it in visual production: videos, motion pieces and campaign banners. I art-direct the result rather than accept the first output: I define the key frames, write the prompts and refine the motion in tools such as Higgsfield, and finish in After Effects when a piece needs more precise VFX. The opening of this site was made that way.

I’m currently most comfortable working with Claude and Codex, for deeper thinking and building, and for connecting the apps I work with so that as much of my workflow as possible runs on its own. I’m not attached to specific tools, though. The tools will change; what matters to me is understanding how to apply them to the right problem and adapting as the technology evolves.

A portfolio can show the work, but not always what it’s like to work with someone. Beyond my experience in Product Design, visual craft and leadership, I’m a strong communicator and someone who takes a lot of ownership.

My background in Audiovisual Communication has shaped the way I present ideas, listen to different perspectives and bring people together around a direction. I care about the work, but also about the people doing it, and I tend to get deeply involved in the projects I believe in.

Those qualities are probably easier to see in a conversation than on a screen.

I enjoy international environments with a healthy culture, where people are treated with respect, trusted and given the support they need to do good work. I believe companies get better results when they take good care of their people.

I’m also drawn to companies that are actively exploring AI and evolving the way they work as the technology moves forward. I don’t expect all the answers to be there already, but I value curiosity, responsible adoption and a willingness to keep learning.