Product Trios
Designing and launching the cross-functional operating model that runs Pushpay modernization across nine trios spanning UX, Product, and Engineering.
Role: Architect and launch lead
Currently a design leader at Pushpay
James Rutherford
Outcome-driven design leader.
Senior UX Manager building the operating model, frameworks, and team craft behind Pushpay's modernization, from product trios and AI-native workflows to a measurable design impact framework.
At a glance
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20+ years
practising UX since usability testing at Aquinas in 2003, with 15+ years leading design teams across enterprise SaaS, fintech, and global services.
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1 → 8
grew the Pushpay UX function from a single contractor to seven designers and a researcher.
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9 trios
designed and launched the Product Trio program at Pushpay. Currently the design representative at the Group Leadership Trio level for five of them.
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6 workstreams
concurrent UX delivery across the Staq platform modernization programme.
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1 in 4 years
voluntary departure across a peak team of eight direct reports, retained through a post-layoff period.
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AWS AI Practitioner
completed the 8-hour AWS AI Practitioner learning plan to support AI product conversations with engineering.
Selected work
Three pieces of evidence for the operating model, the delivery, and the strategy work it enabled.
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Staq platform modernization
Initiating the click study audit, designing the process pipeline, and acting as the AI-assisted prototyping lead across multiple modernization workstreams.
Role: Concept designer and UXPM
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AI transformation
Two parallel tracks: shifting how design gets done through Inflect and Design Forge, and shaping AI product strategy from Sidekick to NaLa.
Role: Track lead
Frameworks
Reusable thinking I've built and applied. Each one is an artifact other teams now use.
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Product trios model
The operating-model pattern for cross-functional UX, Product, and Engineering trios that elevate design to an equal partner in product decisions.
Architected for Staq modernization, FY26
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Jobs to be Done
The research, design, and prioritisation framework that became the standing vocabulary for product design at Pushpay, backed by a database of more than seven hundred catalogued jobs.
Researched, launched, and trained from FY22; in active use
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Outcome-Driven Agentic Design
A design and delivery methodology for eliminating the gap between intent and implementation, co-authored and rolled out across engineering and product teams.
Pushpay engineering and product practice, FY26
How I lead
I lead through systems, not heroics. The work I'm proudest of is rarely a screen. It is the operating models, decision frameworks, and cross-functional ways of working that help teams consistently make better decisions. Whether establishing product trios, creating prioritisation frameworks leadership plans against, or facilitating workshops that align teams around customer needs, my goal is always the same: create clarity, reduce ambiguity, and help organisations move with confidence.
I believe strong teams are built through ownership rather than dependency. I invest heavily in coaching, creating opportunities for designers to lead research, facilitate workshops, present strategy, and expand their influence beyond execution. My role is not to have all the answers. It is to build an environment where talented people can make great decisions, grow in their careers, and increasingly lead without needing me in the room.
At the same time, I stay close to the work. In FY26 I shipped vision prototypes that secured programme funding, ran an eleven-participant usability study end-to-end, and helped establish AI-assisted near-front-end development as a new operating model for the team. I have always been a player-coach leader. I believe the best strategic decisions come from staying connected to customers, craft, and delivery realities while helping teams see the bigger picture.