Christian Lafrance
made in lafrance
Staff Product Designer
Nov 2021 – Present
Intuit is a SaaS financial software provider (QuickBooks, TurboTax, Mailchimp)
Driving AI-native product design across tax and accounting experiences — translating ambiguous financial workflows into 0→1 product concepts, validated design solutions, and measurable revenue and customer outcomes.
- Launched a new AI-powered QuickBooks tax feature by leading concept, validation, design execution & release, doubling upsell CTR and helping customers identify more than $1,500 in average additional tax deductions.
- Raised the bar for design craft and product quality for a new AI tax estimate QuickBooks feature by simplifying design and resolving calculation errors.
- Aligned cross-functional teams on the vision for AI-powered tax by leading ideation, AI-powered prototyping & securing stakeholder buy-in.
- Shaped a $1B+ AI venture concept during a 6-month secondment by translating ambiguity into testable product concepts, prototyping high-value workflows, and securing executive investment consideration.
- Unlocked $2M in Y1 tax-filing upsell revenue by designing & shipping an AI-powered workflow for pass-through tax entities.
- Raised design craft org-wide by creating a design-for-delight workshop series, earning NPS scores above 88.
- Co-authored a patent application with engineering partners, advancing AI accuracy for product innovation.
Head of Design
Jul 2019 – Sep 2021
Beemit is Australia's top digital wallet & payments app with 3m+ downloads and 4.9* app score rating
Directed product design strategy, team leadership, and scalable design practices across payments, monetization, onboarding, and cross-platform mobile and web experiences.
- Launched two monetization features by leading product design strategy and aligning cross-functional teams around differentiation & MVP scope.
- Lifted registration rate 5% & cut onboarding/KYC costs 9% by analyzing funnel performance and redesigning the user flow.
- Unlocked monetization opportunities by leading qual & quant research and translating insights into UX strategy & differentiated product experiences.
- Grew & led a design team of 7, then sustained velocity through a 50% headcount cut by reshaping roles & coaching designers into expanded scopes.
- Modernized agile design operations & migrated tooling to the cloud, enabling faster delivery cycles and full-remote collaboration across distributed teams.
CX Director
Jun 2015 – Jul 2019
Tricky Jigsaw is product & service innovation consultancy arm of M&C Saatchi
Orchestrated customer experience, product strategy, and service design engagements for enterprise clients translating complex user journeys and stakeholder needs into validated concepts, adoption roadmaps, and scalable experience solutions.
- Launched new Lexus On Demand service by spearheading customer research,MVP service design, testing, and business modeling while securing executive & franchisee alignment.
- Aligned Google Allo's APAC teams on an adoption-unlock roadmap by leading an audit of blockers & defining a unified plan across marcoms, UX & product.
- Contributed to a 42% lift in incremental account openings at Australia's top bank by researching blockers in retirement savings & facilitating cross-functional ideation.
- Built a shared vision for NSW Department of Education's "app marketplace" platform by leading teams & leaders through a 1-day design workshop.
- Grew consulting team skills & productivity by standardizing consulting methodology, delivering training & coaching.
UX Lead | Radio
Nov 2012 – Jun 2015
The Australian public broadcaster
Guided UX strategy and digital product delivery across mobile and web audio experiences, aligning large stakeholder groups around design-led transformation, experimentation, and measurable audience growth.
- Drove 52% YoY growth in daily active users by leading & shipping audio-on-demand product strategy across mobile & web (Good Design Award).
- Achieved 100% executive endorsement of a new online strategy by leading 80+ stakeholders through a design-led process.
- De-risked innovative audio-on-demand product investments with lean MVPs, experiments & prototypes.
- Coached 6 designers and product owners across digital strategy & design execution, expanding team capability & improving productivity.
Innovation Director
May 2008 – Oct 2012
Pioneering Australian customer-centred design consultancy
Orchestrated innovation, customer experience, and service design initiatives across banking, insurance, and digital product engagements, using co-design, prototyping, research, and team leadership to improve product outcomes and reduce delivery risk.
- Produced an award-winning Tier 2 bank trading website design by applying co-design methods and guiding the team (AIMIA Amber Award 2009).
- Drove a 230% uplift in Tier 2 bank mortgage leads by defining new CX and contact-centre engagement tools that improved lead-generation pathways.
- Cut Tier 1 bank branch-redesign validation cost/time by 73% via full-scale CX prototyping before major capital investment.
- Accelerated a new auto-insurance service launch for a Tier 1 retailer by iteratively testing the subscription form, cutting iteration time by 77%.
- Increased productivity of a team of up to 9 by mentoring designers, redefining research execution processes & leading change management.