Eric Auld

Meet Eric Auld, a senior design manager at Atlassian who’s been working in design and tech since the late 90s. Based in Adelaide, he spends his weekdays tackling complex platform design challenges and his weekends mountain biking, climbing, renovating, or testing the limits of his FPV drones. Eric’s big on adaptability, thoughtful leadership, and finding clarity in ambiguity — and he had plenty of great insights to share. Here's a quick snapshot.

Introduce yourself!

Hi, I am Eric Auld. I am based in Adelaide, though I've spent most of my life growing up on the East Coast and working in Sydney. I'm an avid mountain biker and rock climber, having done both for over 20 years. I love getting outdoors with my family to mountain bike, Adelaide has a huge network of trails or going to the bouldering gym for a quick climb.

What do you do for work?

I've worked in design and tech since the late 90s and am currently a senior design manager at Atlassian. My team focuses on creating platform features that connect the dots between different Atlassian products. We tackle tricky design challenges to make it easier for our customers to get around and use the Atlassian toolkit. Naturally, this involves a lot of collaborating and managing relationships as we introduce common user patterns and interactions for customers, enabling them to work more efficiently.

What do you do outside work? Any hobbies? Projects?

On the weekends, I'm always checking the weather to see if it's a good riding day, otherwise I'll be doing some DIY house renovations (do they ever stop?). Recently, I've fallen down the rabbit hole of FPV drone flying, which has been both a humbling and exhilarating experience – I've enjoyed the steep learning curve of something so challenging and the joy of succeeding after many crashes – so I'm also trying to sneak off to the park to fly.

When building a team, what qualities do you look for in potential hires, and how do you identify these during the interview process?

When I'm building a design team, I'm looking for something beyond technical skills – I'm looking for adaptability in people. I want team members who see ambiguity not as a roadblock but as an opportunity for innovation.

During interviews, I'll often present a deliberately vague design problem. The candidates who shine aren't those seeking a prescriptive roadmap but those who ask insightful questions, make intelligent assumptions, and propose creative ideas for solving the problem.

I've learned that team members who embrace uncertainty tend to be more collaborative, open to diverse perspectives, and, ultimately, more innovative. They don't just execute what's possible to deliver the job.

What advice would you give to someone taking on a leadership role in design/UX?

Design leadership isn't about having all the answers but about creating a space where the best answers can emerge. It's a two-sided coin. One is getting the best out of your team members to deliver a great customer experience through coaching and building a culture where team members feel psychologically safe pushing boundaries and challenging existing thinking.

The other side is being a diplomat with stakeholders and other leaders to negotiate and champion the value of design and translate design vision into language that resonates with the business. The most critical skills are shielding your team from arbitrary feedback and premature criticism and then the ability to spotlight and amplify their innovative work.

Toughest work moment?

One of the most challenging moments of my career was terminating a friend's employment—a decision that required clear and consistent communication and deep empathy. It wasn't just about delivering difficult news; it was about doing so in a way that preserved the person's dignity and future potential.

Most rewarding work moment?

The most rewarding moments in my career have always been launching various products into the market and seeing the tangible impact through them growing and being successful. It is super rewarding to meet people outside of my industry and hear them talk about something that I have helped create.

Any podcast you are currently listening to, or a book you are reading?

I am a massive consumer of Science fiction and Fantasy content—I'm constantly inspired by human imagination. For example, I have read or listened to almost all of Brandon Sanderson's writing. I find his intricate story-telling, character development, and deep world-building incredibly inspiring. I am currently halfway through book five of his Stormlight Archive, Wind and Truth, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

What is your favourite tool or resource, and why?

Open AI's ChatGPT voice assistant is becoming increasingly integrated into my daily life. I use many different AI models and providers, but having an AI that is quickly accessible and easy to use is a game-changer.

This interface to a vast amount of knowledge is so accessible that my 8-year-old son often initiates conversations to ask questions that he is interested in, like what's the backstory of the Marvel character Thanos? Or, why are temperatures colder at the top of a mountain? Yet, I can use the same interface to access complex knowledge and advice for my career or a DIY project at home.

If you had unlimited resources and time, what would be your dream project to work on?

I would love to work on something related to the space industry and humanity's progress toward accessing space travel. While I'm inspired by sci-fi and spacecraft, I'm also interested in designing human-friendly solutions that could fundamentally transform our relationship with space exploration.

I've always been drawn to new technology and believe it will help humanity progress (yes, I'm an optimist). This desire to work on new technologies is what got me into web design and software development.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received and often pass on?

The ability to talk about your work is almost as important as doing the actual work. Brilliant solutions die in silence. Whether it is internal communications with stakeholders or external communications to an industry or market, being able to demonstrate the value of your work through communication brings true recognition. The power of articulating not just what you've done but why it matters is a lesson I continually learn.