What is an AMC?
An Actively Managed Certificate is a structured product that behaves like a private fund where the manager can continuously rebalance the underlying basket of assets without issuing a new product. For the portfolio manager, it requires real-time insight into composition, performance attribution, rebalancing history, and regulatory constraints. All at once.
This was the most technically dense domain I'd worked in. The users were experts. The stakes were real. And the existing tooling was a patchwork of spreadsheets and disconnected screens that required institutional knowledge just to operate.
// design_process
- 01
Domain Learning
4 weeks embedded with the AMC product and operations teams, learning the instrument mechanics, regulatory constraints, and rebalancing workflows before touching Figma
- 02
Research
Contextual interviews with portfolio managers across Switzerland and the UK, mapping the full rebalancing workflow from decision to confirmation
- 03
Architecture
Defined the cockpit mental model with the engineering team: what data lives at the primary level, what requires a drill-down, what needs to block until confirmed
- 04
Design
Wireframes → high-fidelity prototype; 3 rounds of concept testing with portfolio managers using real portfolio data
- 05
Delivery
4-sprint design-alongside-development process with 2 post-launch usability rounds using production data
>_key insight“For expert users, information density is a feature, not a flaw. The design challenge isn't simplification. It's organisation.”
The Cockpit Model
The instinct in complex data interfaces is to hide things: progressively disclose, paginate, simplify. I pushed back on that instinct here.
Portfolio managers need everything visible. They're professionals making consequential decisions. What they need isn't less data. It's data structured around their actual workflow: review composition → identify rebalancing need → execute → confirm → audit.
The rebalancing workflow was the centrepiece. A multi-step flow that surfaces risk exposure at each step, requires explicit confirmation at decision points, and produces a complete audit trail. The UI has to be transparent about what will happen before it happens. There is no room for ambiguity when real money is at stake.
0%
reduction in time to complete a full rebalancing workflow
0
rebalancing errors post-launch (vs. 3–4 per month previously)
0
portfolio managers onboarded across 3 countries in 6 weeks
What This Project Taught Me
Spending four weeks learning the domain before touching Figma was the best design decision I made. It paid off in every conversation: I could challenge technical decisions, spot edge cases, and earn the trust of users who had good reason to be sceptical of UX intervention.
Designing for expert users is humbling. The best outcome isn't a beautiful interface. It's one they stop noticing entirely because it never gets in their way.