Erietta Sapounakis

UX • Product • Leadership

Hi, I’m Eri

I help Product organisations redesign experiences for customers and how they go about building them. From untangling what’s slowing a team down, to finding the next level of performance in one that’s already working well I work to lead and support teams to do their best work with a focus on their customer.

I’ve led design and customer strategy across consumer and regulated industries and have developed a clear point of view on what separates teams that consistently deliver from those that don’t.

The difference is often the system around the team. The focus of objectives, the clarity of the process, and whether the way people work together actually matches what they’re trying to achieve.

My work sits at the intersection of:

  1. Customer centricity and UX rigour that connects user need to product gaps
  2. Product thinking that connects company strategy to what actually ships
  3. Organisational design that gives teams ownership and clarity

When those three align, faltering teams stop reacting, good teams get sharper and everyone can start building with confidence towards their shared goals.

What I do

  • Synthesise complex customer and business contexts into practical, real-world frameworks.
  • Grow design and product capability that delivers quality and impactful outcomes.
  • Define cross-functional processes and frameworks to empower collaboration, innovation, and delivery.

My leadership philosophy

I create the conditions for teams to work with autonomy, clarity, and confidence while staying attuned to organisational dynamics and what it actually takes to move things forward. My goals are to stretch what’s possible through vision and strategy, and make space for feedback, growth, and genuine collaboration.

I’m an active voice in the product and design community, regularly participating in industry events and staying connected to emerging practice.

Outside work you might find me reading too much news, enjoying live music, good food and the good company of family and friends.

If you’re thinking about design, product, or customer-centred strategy I’d love to talk.

Industry involvement
  • Optimal Experience Awards, Judging panel, August 2026
  • The Design Table M&M Mixer, Mentor, March 2026
  • The Continuous Discovery Paradox: Rigour vs. Agility, UX Australia Web Directions, August 2025
  • The New Design Leader, Design Outlook, April 2024
  • Why Tech Isn’t Just a Career For Techies, Mentor Walks Conversation Series Panelist, March 2022
  • Turning Research Deliverables Into Living Documents, UX Australia, March 2022, CarSales March 2022; Transport for NSW (NSW Government), April 2022
  • Design Maturity. What Is It? Do You Have It? Brightbox Consulting Webinar Panelist, 12 August 2021
  • Introducing the Kano Model with Eric Scheid, Telstra, 10 November 2020
  • Careers in UX Panel, UTS Advanced IXD course, October 2018 and May 2017
  • Prototyping and Evaluating UX, UTS IXD course, May 2017
  • Making Design Work in a Traditional Business, Customer Experience Company, March 2017
  • Service Designing a Transformation, Australian Broadcasting Commission, December 2016, Commonwealth Bank, October 2016
  • Innovating with a Customer-Centric Focus, AFR Boss MBA Emerging Leaders, 31 August 2016
  • Design Thinking Elective, Guest speaker, Sydney University, May 2016
  • UX, The Customer Journey & Beyond, Aquent, Put it to the Panel, May 2016
  • Sydney Jobs-to-be-Done, Meet-up co-organiser, 2015
What I’m …

Listening to?

  • Podcasts like Freakonomics, Rest is Politics, Finding our Way with Jesse and Peter, No-nonsense Agile Leadership and Product Thinking with Melissa Perri.
  • Music and anyones recommendations.

Reading?

  • Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri
  • John Cutler’s views on Product at The Beautiful Mess
  • AI thought leadership and criticism

Learning?

  • Product Management at RMIT

Doing?

Career overview

Head of UX & Product Design
@ Stan Streaming Media, part of Nine Entertainment

  • Product Discovery to shape Stan Sport’s product strategy.
  • Shaped roadmap, creative direction, and platform content strategy for the Paris 2024 Olympics experience.
  • Defined Continuous Product Planning Process and Product Framework.


Head of UX
@ The Iconic Australia’s largest eCommerce retailer

  • Spearheaded mobile app vision
  • Led company’s first UX and usability audit
  • Established design system
  • Author and working group member defining scaled agile and product governance and OKR process refresh


Head of CX
@ Uniting NSW & ACT NSW’s largest Aged Care and Community Services provider

  • Delivered 3-month cross-channel contact strategy pilot achieving 38% uplift in call transfer rate; 31% increase in same day enquiry response, and 4.5x increase in bookings for Retirement Living tours
  • Design and delivered field and participatory research for residential ageing practice framework and community care innovation pilot
  • Led UX and content strategy streams for website redesign


Design Manager Innovation, Service Design & UX
@ Telstra – Telecommunications

  • Led design of Telstra’s flagship Hybrid 2.0 modem redesigning form factor, unboxing, digital set-up and self-serve assurance experience achieving +37 NPS
  • Led UX and service design work-streams to define the CX vision for Telstra’s multi-year digital transformation
  • Led research to shape product strategy for Network Leadership and Safety and Security


Senior CX Consultant
@ CXCO – Strategic design consultancy

  • CX research, strategy, UX and service design for clients including Expedia, Toyota, ING Direct, NBN Co, Bauer Media, and the Commonwealth Bank.


Senior Experience Architect
@ Different – Strategic design consultancy

  • CX research, strategy, UX and service design for clients including Foxtel, Network 10, Westpac Group, St George, and Rabo Bank.


UX Designer/ Producer
@ Daemon Internet Consultants – Software development agency

  • Business requirements, IA, UX design, delivery management and quality assurance for clients including BlueScope Steel, The Australian Olympic Committee, The Tax Institute of Australia, the Australian Museum, UNSW, Salvage Sale (USA), Mayo Clinic (USA)
  • Co-curator of design stream at WebDU annual tech conference