Matthew Mandravelis
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
New York, NY, United States
Toptal member since April 26, 2016
Matthew is an award-winning design leader with 15 years of experience, who excels at creating impactful digital experiences that drive significant growth and measurable business value. He has worked with leading Fortune 500 brands and startups, including Disney, Samsung, Sony, and Lufthansa, to create impact through innovation. He brings a hands-on, self-starter approach to leadership, characterized by a high degree of ownership and initiative.
Portfolio
Cryptocurrency iOS App and Web
JetBlue Airlines | New App Design C.S.
Travel Booking Engine
Work Experience
Design Director, Enterprise
Director of Design
- Collaborated with diverse clients, from Fortune 500 enterprises to early-stage startups, to solve complex business challenges through design as director of design within a leading global network of design and technology professionals.
- Recognized as one of the top-performing team members.
- Recognized and nominated as a culture ambassador and acted as culture advocate during the final stages of the interview process, ensuring that all candidates hired for the core team demonstrated the organization's cultural attributes.
- Built an extensive portfolio of clients, actively managing 15-30 projects in any given month.
- Excelled in a high-communication environment, collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams to translate client needs and business objectives into tangible outcomes and successful customer strategies.
- Focused on strengthening the end-to-end strategic relationship with partners, creating trust and loyalty, and developing lasting business relationships.
Senior UX & Product Design Lead
Toptal Client
- Delivered 21+ high-impact UX and product design projects across fintech, SaaS, healthcare, and retail sectors, consistently achieving 100% client satisfaction and driving measurable business outcomes.
- Led end-to-end UX design for a fintech mobile banking app, reimagining the digital account opening journey, and conversion-optimized flows, resulting in a 40% increase in new accounts and improved user acquisition and onboarding effectiveness.
- Led the development and implementation of scalable personalization systems for one of the retail clients, enhancing average cart size by 12% through refined UX flows and strategic content placement aligned with business goals.
- Led UX design for a brain aging and dementia health platform in collaboration with scientists from Harvard University, successfully balancing HIPAA compliance requirements with a user-friendly interface.
- Established experimentation frameworks and defined UX success metrics, enabling data-driven prioritization of roadmap initiatives and continuous optimization of customer experiences.
- Coached and mentored a diverse global design team, fostering a culture of creative excellence, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver high-quality results consistently.
- Delivered award-winning mobile user experiences for a talent marketplace, earning two silver Mobile Excellence Awards in 2019.
UI/UX Team Lead | Creative Director
Generation Y
- Built and led the largest and most acclaimed design practice in Europe, scaling the team and operations alongside the company’s expansion to nine global offices, culminating in a $1 billion valuation.
- Recruited as the first Head of Design to elevate design quality and customer satisfaction by leveraging NPS scores, client feedback, and data-driven insights to align design strategies with business goals and KPIs.
- Envisioned and implemented forward-looking user experience strategies for digital products, establishing design systems and standards that ensured consistent, scalable, and high-quality experiences across multiple channels and platforms.
- Led strategic design and implementation for diverse eCommerce brands like Adidas, BMW, and Farfetch. Engagements spanned B2C, B2B, and C2C models across various industries, including fashion, pharma, auto, and more.
- Provided creative direction, set the strategy, and led hundreds of projects for Europe's biggest brands and innovative small and medium businesses in different B2B/B2C industries, including pharmaceutical, financial, travel, and primarily eCommerce.
- Collaborated closely with executives, product managers, engineers, and leadership to define, conceptualize, and deliver user-facing products that balance customer needs with long-term business objectives, driving innovation and personalization.
- Championed the adoption of UX design as a critical, company-wide process, advocating for design thinking and fostering a culture of continuous experimentation and improvement through regular in-house workshops and team-wide knowledge sharing.
- Fostered an inclusive, respectful, and collaborative team environment, cultivating diversity in skills, mindsets, and backgrounds to strengthen relationships and drive authentic connections with colleagues, customers, and communities.
- Fostered an inclusive, respectful, and collaborative team environment, cultivating diversity in skills, mindsets, and backgrounds to strengthen relationships and drive authentic connections with colleagues, customers, and communities.
- Enhanced company awareness by 71% and contributed to winning 31 national and international awards, including 16 for design. The company has been expanded to nine offices across four different continents.
Senior Product & UX Design Consultant
Online Freelance Agency
- Led digital product and UX design strategy for global brands, crafting innovative, user-centered solutions that elevated engagement, accelerated growth, and delivered measurable business impact.
- Executed web and app design projects for a broad range of clients, achieving a 90% client satisfaction rate and securing high repeat business through consistently impactful results.
- Recognized as a top-rated designer in the network for driving significant user engagement and product success by combining strategic conceptualization with intuitive, user-focused design.
Head of Design – UX/UI
AirFastTickets
- Started as a founding product designer and advanced to the head of design. Built and scaled the company's first design team. Cultivated a high-performing, agile design culture, driving product innovation, user engagement, and long-term business growth.
- Scaled our in-house design team into Europe's largest and most acclaimed design practice. I led this award-winning organization, supporting a global B2B/B2C SaaS booking platform with 375+ million monthly visits and $530 million in gross bookings.
- Helped scale the company from early traction to over $180 million in revenue, including leading through pre-IPO, by driving aggressive growth and scaling product and marketing design efforts in line with business objectives.
- Directed the end-to-end design of multiple B2C, B2B, and B2B2C products—including mobile/web booking apps, back-office tools integrated with Sabre and Amadeus, and customer support systems—delivering intuitive, high-performing user experiences.
- Invented and spearheaded the design of a Flash Deal Engine that Fortune Magazine called A Travel Deals Phenomenon, that revolutionized flight sales by simplifying the purchasing process to an irresistible single-button.
- Achieved record-breaking results, selling 35,000 flight tickets in 48 hours, which led to an exclusive partnership with Groupon and scaled this innovative offering across dozens of countries, significantly boosting revenue and market presence.
- Designed a suite of localized eCommerce sites, a global B2C mobile app, an enterprise-grade CRM, and the company’s first B2B portal, aligning user flows with both customer needs and business goals.
- Championed customer-centric design, earning 12 industry awards, including "Best Website & Booking Interface" at the EBGE Awards and the prestigious "Tourism Award." Demonstrated excellence in UX for high-volume eCommerce and travel platforms.
- Designed a suite of localized eCommerce sites, a global B2C mobile app, an enterprise-grade CRM, and the company’s first B2B portal, aligning user flows with both customer needs and business goals.
Education
Diploma in Computer Systems and Networking
Public Institution of Vocational Education - Kozani, Greece
Certifications
Copywriting
Udemy
Copy Editing & Proofreading
Udemy
HIPAA Compliance
Udemy
Enterprise Design Thinking (Ongoing)
IBM
Progress Towards AR and VR Design in Interaction Design
IDF | Interaction Design Foundation
Interaction Design with Honors in Usability
IDF | Interaction Design Foundation
Mobile User Experience with Honors in UX Design
IDF | Interaction Design Foundation
UX Design for Accessibility and WCAG 2.0
Udemy
Artificial Intelligence
Udemy
Agile Project Management & Delivery
Udemy
Gamification & Behavioral Design
Udemy
Service Design: Designing for Experience Over Time
Udemy
Design Thinking
Udemy | Designit Strategic Design | Alan Cooper
Diploma in Modern Applied Psychology
Udemy | Achology Certified
Gamification: Motivation Psychology & The Art of Engagement
Udemy
Fast and Rigorous User Personas
CXL Institute
Master Digital Product Design: UX Research & UI Design
Udemy
Progress Towards Data Science: Visualization
Harvard University | via edX
Skills
Tools
Anima, Trello, Asana, UsabilityHub, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Sketch, InVision, Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro CC, Zoom, Adobe Premiere Pro, Google Analytics, Google Workspace, Apple Keynote, OptimalSort, Chalkmark, Wix, Zeplin, Validately, Miro, Adobe After Effects, Principle, Jira, Adobe Creative Suite, Mailchimp, Slack
Industry Expertise
Retail & Wholesale, Fashion, Banking & Finance, Hotels & Lodging, Consumer Products, Travel & Leisure
Platforms
iOS, Android, Figma, WordPress, Webflow, Messenger Bots, UserZoom, Zendesk, Google Ads
Other
Design Thinking, Presentation Design, Pitch Decks, Rapid Prototyping, Wireframing, User Research, User Personas, Dashboards, Dashboard Design, Startups, Social Media Apps, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), Lean UX, Human-centered Design (HCD), Design Sprints, Design Leadership, User Flows, Online Banking, Private Banking, iOS App Design, Personas, Story Mapping, Interactive Prototypes, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), User Interviews, Tree Testing, Design Documentation, User Journey Maps, Information Architecture (IA), Empathy Mapping, Minimal UI, Onboarding, User Onboarding, Freelancing, App UI, App UX, Mobile Banking, eCommerce Web Design, Social Networks, Live Chat, Video Calling, Booking Systems, Tourism, Landing Page Design, Aviation, Booking, iPhone X, Web App UI, Web App Design, Web Applications, Web App UX, Booking Apps, Ideation, Ideation Workshops, Web UX, Web UI, Web & Mobile Applications, Complex Web Systems, System Design, Design Libraries, Design Workshops, Apple Human Interface, Human-machine Interface (HMI), Human Interface Design, Task Flows, Experiential Design, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Feature Matrix, Journey Mapping, Brainstorming, UX Research, SaaS, Reservation Flow, Responsive Design, Responsive UI, Travel Design, Heuristic Evaluation, MVP Design, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Mobile UX, Mobile UX Design, Mobile Apps, Mobile App Design, Mobile Design, User-centered Design (UCD), Adaptive Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Adaptive Web Design (AWD), Service Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Customer Journey, User Journeys, Product Design, Motion & Animation Design, Google Material Design, eCommerce, iOS UI Design, Apps, Web Design, Interaction Design (IxD), UI Design, UX Design, App Design, Prototyping, SaaS Design, Fintech, Fintech Design, ADA Compliance, Web Accessibility, Market Research & Analysis, Focus Groups, Videos, Information Design, Infographics, Branding, Agile, Data Visualization, Usability Testing, Design Systems, User Stories, Optimal Workshop, Google, Whiteboarding, Stock Exchange, Brand Guidelines, TV UI, Wearables, Experience Maps, User Behavior, Behavioral Design, Quantitative Research, Quantity Surveying, Analysis, Accessibility, Accessible Design, Usability, Gamification, User Psychology, Computer Science, Networking, IT Networking, Task Analysis, Surveys, Online Surveys, Qualitative Research, Behavioral Testing, Logging, Experience Sampling Method (ESM), Lab, Diary Studies, Observation, Research, Storyboarding, Agile Delivery, Project Management, WCAG 2, Augmented Reality (AR), Concept Modeling, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cryptocurrency, AI Design, Enterprise, Enterprise Design, Remote Work, Copywriting, Financial Design, Mobile Prototypes, Card Sorting, Beauty Products, Archetypes, Cluster Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Virtual Reality (VR), HIPAA Compliance, Google AdSense, Proofreading, Writing & Editing
Experience
- UI Design - 12 years
- Mobile Design - 10 years
- App Design - 10 years
- UX Design - 10 years
- Prototyping - 10 years
- SaaS Design - 10 years
- Design Thinking - 10 years
- User Research - 10 years
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