“Good design is invisible, it quietly solves problems without asking for praise.” That idea has guided Federico Pizzutto for over two decades as he reshaped the way digital products interact with the people they serve. In an age where technology moves fast and user trust is fragile, Federico has emerged as a steady force, blending empathy, strategy, and design to craft meaningful experiences.
As a seasoned Product and Design Expert, Federico brings more than 20 years of diverse experience across startups, enterprises, and educational platforms. He currently leads as Head of Product and Director of UX and Design at LiquidTrust, a groundbreaking global payment solution that safeguards small businesses. In a world where outdated systems expose SMBs to financial risk, Federico’s mission is clear: integrate micro-escrow (patent pending) technology into everyday transactions, so small businesses no longer have to rely on costly, traditional safeguards like letters of credit.
His journey began in Italy in the early 2000s, rooted not in tech, but in theatre, cinema studies, and cultural project management. That creative foundation became the launchpad for his hybrid company supporting digital documentation in the arts. From founding the consulting firm Pngised, to leading product teams at Sounday, a digital music distribution and monetization platform leader in Italy, and CaseMyWay, one of the early ventures in 2010 to monetize customizable phone case production, Federico has always gravitated towards innovation.
The move to Luxembourg marked a new chapter, leading UX programs for enterprise projects with 40 million monthly users at Docler Holding, shaping blockchain product experiences at Bondly Finance, and mentoring teams at Apollo Internet, where he served as an advisor to the CEO, supporting strategy and hiring for other C-level positions. Parallel to his professional roles, Federico has been an educator, guiding future UX talent through teaching and community leadership with the Interaction Design Foundation in both Italy and Luxembourg.
His design philosophy is to solve real problems, nurture inclusion, and make technology serve people, not overwhelm them. Whether he’s improving digital finance for global SMBs or mentoring the next generation of designers, Federico is proof that thoughtful design isn’t just about how things look, it’s about how they work, feel, and empower.
Over 2 decades ago, while working in theatre and serving as a partner, project manager, and tutor for Festival Fabbrica Europa in Florence, Federico first began to understand the deep relationship between human interaction and experience design. This early exposure ignited his curiosity about how people perceive, react, and emotionally respond to experiences. It was during this period that he encountered the emerging field of UX design, which led him to pivot his career from events to digital design.
Federico believes design isn’t just about visual appeal, it’s a strategic catalyst for transformation. From fintech to healthcare and education, he has witnessed the power of thoughtful design to drive business outcomes and social progress. At LiquidTrust, for example, he and his team are reshaping financial inclusion by creating tools that go beyond utility to foster trust and accessibility. Across all his roles, the underlying thread remains the same: using design as a force to democratize opportunity, whether that’s through safer payment systems, accessible UX education, or agile team empowerment.
Federico’s background in both product management and UX strategy forms the foundation of his leadership style. It allows him to bridge user needs with business objectives, ensuring both coexist throughout the product life cycle, from discovery to launch.
While product management sharpened his ability to rally teams around measurable goals, UX taught him to advocate for users’ unspoken challenges. At LiquidTrust, this dual lens enabled him to balance the technical demands of bank partnerships with the real concerns of SMBs afraid of fraud. By positioning the micro-escrow platform as both a trust-building tool and a unique market differentiator, he brought engineering, compliance, and design teams into alignment.
He doesn’t allow data to silence intuition. At Docler Holding, Federico combined transaction abandonment analytics with qualitative research to improve mobile onboarding. This hybrid method preserved legal compliance while boosting UX outcomes.
Workshops are a core part of his process. He led cross-functional journey mapping at Docler Holding, uniting designers, support staff, data experts, and engineers to collaboratively build solutions, ultimately yielding a 30% ROI in the first year.
His leadership adapts to the maturity of the team. In early-stage ventures like Apollo Internet, he worked hands-on in UX research and prototyping. For mature products, he shifts to governance, building systems, processes, and design languages that scale. Pairing junior designers with PMs in discovery phases (as done at Sounday) fosters empathy and cross-functional understanding from the start.
This unique blend of pragmatic product thinking and user advocacy helped bring innovations like LiquidTrust’s micro-escrow platform to market, helping in securing investor backing within 18 months of launch.
One defining moment came during Federico’s early days at Sounday, when he disagreed with the CEO on the scope of a product redesign. Believing in a broader, more impactful approach, he pursued his vision without formal approval. The outcome validated his risk: the redesigned product vastly improved user experience and was later recognized and appreciated by leadership.
In volatile political and economic environments, Federico relies on transparency, purpose, and empowerment to nurture ambition and resilience. He encourages teams to focus on long-term impact rather than short-term noise, aligning them around missions that transcend quarterly metrics. His leadership style emphasizes adaptability, shared ownership, and a deep belief in the transformative power of good design, even in uncertain times.
At Docler Holding, Federico identified a poorly designed B2B platform used by partners to monetize content. He collaborated with PMs to organize internal workshops that involved customer support, developers, and account managers. Then, he expanded research to include partner companies and their content creators. By capturing pain points and surfacing unmet needs, his team co-created a roadmap grounded in real-world feedback.
The results? A new tool that significantly improved user satisfaction, content volume, and retention. By embedding end users into the design process, Federico created a product that users felt they owned, leading to stronger loyalty and business impact.
Federico leverages a structured yet flexible hybrid approach to reconcile business needs with user desires. Drawing from his UX roots, he often employs Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to resolve tensions between design constraints and technical realities. At LiquidTrust, for instance, he mapped user concerns (e.g., fraud risks) to backend features like escrow logic and compliance workflows.
He blends data with empathy. At Docler Holding, user behavior analytics pointed to high abandonment rates. But it was through ethnographic interviews that the underlying emotional triggers were discovered. This combination of hard data and soft insight drove a 30% increase in conversions.
Participative design is also central to his method. He led co-creation workshops where stakeholders across departments reimagined B2B tools alongside users. His Build-Measure-Learn model ties features to revenue goals and OKRs, while Kano Analysis helps prioritize features based on delight vs. complexity.
His secret? Turning tension into opportunity by anchoring strategy in both business logic and human emotion.
Federico’s formal studies in Human-Computer Interaction (Stanford) and gamification have become integral to how he leads product strategy.
From HCI, he gained a systems-thinking view. He applies Activity Theory to model workflows, using affordance-driven design and field studies to surface friction points. At LiquidTrust, such insights led to interface simplifications that reduced support tickets.
From gamification, he learned to drive engagement through intrinsic motivation. At Docler Holding, a “quest mode” feature boosted user commitment and conversion. Federico applies dopamine-driven design elements (like leaderboards) with caution, ensuring they serve long-term user value.
He also leverages progressive disclosure techniques to tailor experiences by user familiarity, ensuring intuitive, evolving interfaces over time.
Together, these lenses let him create products that feel intuitive, rewarding, and trustworthy.
Federico’s studies in Theatre and Cinema at the University of Bologna add a unique creative dimension to his leadership. He sees interfaces as performance stages, users as protagonists, and product flows as carefully crafted narratives.
At LiquidTrust, he designs UIs like stage compositions, placing core actions center stage and allowing secondary functions to fade into collapsible menus. Transitions are cinematic, reducing cognitive strain.
His product journeys follow dramatic structure: exposition (onboarding), rising action (feature reveal), and catharsis (emotional payoff). At Sounday, this structure enhanced music discovery; at Docler Holding, it increased retention through reward cycles.
He also conducts rehearsal-style workshops, where cross-functional teams roleplay user scenarios, deepening empathy and highlighting pain points before launch. For Federico, theatre is more than art, it’s a framework for designing meaningful, resonant digital experiences.
Outside of work, Federico is a creator at heart. He loves to cook and bake, making his own bread and pasta on weekends. He’s passionate about DIY and often builds his own furniture. Travel is another essential part of life, especially with his wife and two children.
Riding his motorbike helps him release stress and recharge, a ritual he holds dear. His love for the mountains is rooted in his upbringing in the Venice area, where hikes in the Dolomites were a frequent escape. Sardinia holds a special place in his heart, his wife’s homeland and their home for seven years before moving to Luxembourg.
His favorite sport? Skiing, as often as possible.
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