Design Leadership & Career Advisory

Digital Vntures X
Design Leadership & Career Advisory

Over a decade of design decisions for companies that can’t afford to get it wrong.

I have spent 10+ years leading product and design work across financial services, healthcare, telecom, and CPG environments where confusing experiences create real operational and financial risk.

10+ yrs of product experience Currently CPO, stealth AI startup Ex-Kearney Sr Consultant
Rod Smith leading a product design working session
Teams I’ve collaborated with
R1 RCM
Merck Animal Health
T-Mobile
Charles Schwab
Fidelity
Johnson & Johnson
Becton Dickinson
Bank of Ireland
PepsiCo
Salesforce
Kenvue
Telus
Kearney
Cervello
Chariot
OXXO
Philip Morris International
ExxonMobil
OTIS
State Street
10+
Years designing complex digital products
20
Global brands shipped for
14+
Enterprise engagements
5
High-stakes industries
START HERE

Choose the problem you need to solve.

Work with Digital VnturesX on an AI product or design challenge, or build the judgment and influence required for your next career move.

How I can help

Strategy & design leadership that meet you where you are.

Start with what fits your stage. Most teams move through more than one of these.

For seed–Series A

Fractional Design Leadership

You’ve got engineers and maybe a founder designing at 11 p.m., but nobody senior owning the experience. You can’t justify a full-time design leader yet, but you feel the gap every week. I step in 1–2 days a week as your product design lead: working with leadership on what to build, setting the experience strategy, and giving your design and engineering teams clear patterns to execute. Senior judgment and direction, without the full-time headcount.

For teams adding AI

AI-UX Consulting

You’ve integrated AI into your product. It demos well, but adoption is low, or you’re not sure why it is not moving the needle. We start with the DVX AI Humanization Index to find exactly where trust, clarity, control, or adoption is breaking down. From there, I run working sessions with you or your team to prioritize fixes, redesign key interactions, and decide where AI adds value.

For AI products already in market

AI Humanization Index Assessment

Pricing based on scope · Focused from $2,000 · Full $4,000–$5,000

You’ve shipped AI into production, but you do not have a clear read on how safe, understandable, or effective it is. The AI Humanization Index is a proprietary assessment framework that scores your product across four dimensions: trust, clarity, control, and user adoption. You receive a structured walkthrough, a clear rating band, and a prioritized fix list.

For founders with one critical challenge

Product Sprint

Starting at $2,500/mo · 3-month minimum

You want to focus on one critical problem: the thing blocking the next raise, launch, or hire. You do not need a fractional head of design for six months. You need senior product and design judgment embedded in the problem until it is moving.

  • Problem framing document Week 1–2: what is broken, why, and what solved looks like.
  • Strategy artifact A focused plan for the critical challenge, not a full roadmap.
  • Working sessions & interaction patterns Flows and design decisions your team can execute against.
  • Monthly progress memo A short written recap for a co-founder, board, or investor.
  • End-of-sprint handoff What changed, what is ready to ship, and what comes next.

Tell me where you’re stuck.

Let’s talk
Digital VnturesX
Design Leadership & Career Advisory · Boston, MA