About
I'm Rafa, a Spanish product designer based in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, who fell into fintech and stayed for the post-launch metrics1.
Currently at Jimdo, designing a payment system for European solopreneurs from 0 to 1: payment links, invoices, the moment a domain turns into a first paid customer. Before that, four years on financial products at Factorial, where I was around for the run that turned the company into a unicorn2. Earlier, Allfunds Bank, building tools for private banks through their IPO3.
I speak three languages but inside it is mostly receipts, sticky notes, and metrics nobody asked me to track.
Off the screen, I shoot on a Fujifilm X-E5, play classical Spanish guitar, and chase landscapes around the Mediterranean.
I have moved a card spend product from EUR 163 to roughly EUR 294k a month4, taken payroll activation from 43 to 500 monthly active companies, and launched four employee benefit categories in the Spanish market in under six months.
For years the question I chased was, “but how does this make money?”. The one I chase now is “how does this build trust?”5.
Ask me about the AI design workflow inside a SaaS at Jimdo, the unit economics behind UGC Pack6, or why every Spanish founder I know is suddenly shipping in Spain Spanish on purpose.
- 1. The metrics that mattered: payroll active companies 43 → 500 in four months. Card spend EUR 163 → EUR 294k monthly in 18 months.
- 2. Joined Factorial as their eighteenth designer, stayed through the run from Series B to unicorn.
- 3. Allfunds Bank IPO year. Seven private banks integrated, including Banc Sabadell d'Andorra, Caser Asesores, Arcano Partners.
- 4. Card-first spend management MVP. Started with one Spanish merchant pool, ended as the rail under four other benefits.
- 5. Fintech is trust, not features. Everything else is downstream.
- 6. UGC Pack: done-for-you Spanish UGC videos on a five-day SLA, runs on a single n8n workflow on a Hetzner box. See Side Projects.
Principles
Every decision starts with the person on the other side of the screen, not the org chart.
Good design feels simple, not because it is simple but because someone wrestled with the chaos behind it.
Tell the user what is happening, why, and what comes next. Especially when something fails.
Designers do not protect taste, they distribute it. Engineers, PMs, support, sales, everyone designs.
The work is not done at handoff. The work is done in production, looking at the funnel a month later.
Experience
Senior Product Designer
Germany, Remote
- Designing a payment system for solopreneurs across Europe from 0 to 1: payment links and invoices, the surfaces that turn a published domain into a first paying customer.
Senior Product Designer, Benefits
Barcelona, Spain
- Led the design and launch of the Benefits MVP in Spain, reaching around EUR 220k ARR in six months.
- Adapted the product for the Portuguese market, balancing compliance and user needs.
- Integrated Benefits into the Compensation product, unlocking upsell opportunities (+20 customers).
- Extended the design system to support new features and maintain cross-team consistency.
Product Designer, Payroll and Compensation
Barcelona, Spain
- Rebuilt the payroll experience into a simple three-step flow, improving adoption and efficiency.
- Reduced task time and simplified discovery of key actions, boosting user satisfaction.
- Supported other designers in the vertical, strengthening collaboration and delivery quality.
- Defined the vision for moving from Payroll to Compensation, aligning product and design direction.
Product Designer, Expenses, BaaS and Software Management
Barcelona, Spain
- Turned an out-of-pocket reimbursement MVP into a card-first expense solution, cutting time on task from about 3 minutes to 10 seconds.
- Defined the card branding and visual system, from color language to UI components.
- Built the component foundation for new products running on Stripe BaaS infrastructure.
- Designed and handed off an MVP for Software Management using virtual cards.
Product Designer, WealthTech SaaS and Consultancies
Madrid, Spain
- Improved the Allfunds SaaS ecosystem, focusing on usability and product integration.
- Digitized fund house onboarding, reducing activation time significantly.
- Designed experiences for clients such as Santander, Banc Sabadell d'Andorra, and Caser.
UX/UI Designer
Valencia, Spain
- Designed digital products and websites centered on usability and brand expression.
- Led art direction and alignment between creative and technical teams.
Web Designer
Valencian Community, Spain
- Designed and built websites for clients like Sony Music Spain and Grupo Gimeno.
- Delivered accessible, user-friendly experiences with a focus on visual quality.
Beyond design
Fujifilm X100V at f/2, mostly. Saul Leiter, Vivian Maier, William Eggleston are the references I keep returning to. Some of the work lives in the Thoughts feed.
Spanish guitar, classical and acoustic. Lo-fi sketches in Logic Pro. Long evening playlists.
Films and series. Better Call Saul, Severance, anything with a slow-burn character study and a quiet aesthetic.
Long drives, slow lunches, beautiful places. La Albufera in Valencia at sunset is the recurring one.
Side curiosity that fuels La Mirada Creativa. Drawn to clothing as art direction more than as garment.
Slow Sunday lunches. Arroz al horno, mostly.