Richard Beattie

Education and qualifications

2025–2026 University of Oxford MBA

2019–2020 University of Waterloo MA Political Science Research paper: Strategic Competition in Artificial Intelligence

2010–2014 Queen's University BA(H) Political Science & Art History

Work experience — Bank of Montreal

Location: Toronto, Canada

Sep-24 – Sep-25: Director, Product Design, Design System (Product Manager for Design System Platform)

• Defined multi-year strategic vision, roadmap, org structure and 'inner source' model to deliver better front-end code faster and enable AI transformation.
• Improved design and dev efficiency by 76% on key projects by partnering with product and tech teams to adopt design system code.
• Led multiple teams of engineers and product designers; transitioned to Scrum to increase efficiency, velocity and transparency.

Sep-21 – Sep-24: Senior Design Manager (Digital Sales and Marketing)

• Managed a team of 10+ Product Designers based in the United States and Canada to build industry-leading sales journeys ranked #1 by Finalta.
• Spearheaded discovery, design, research and technical requirements for a secure offers page resulting in a 10x offer click rate and 3x offer and self-serve sales rates.
• Led design team and research for Newcomer Pre-Arrival marketing and sales journey, winner of three innovation awards.

Dec-20 – Sep-21: Product Owner, Personalization and A/B Testing (Marketing Technology)

• Optimized digital sales funnels by leveraging user data for a test and target strategy, led cross-functional delivery and exceeded revenue target by 30% (~$1.5MM).

Feb-18 – Sep-19: Senior Content Strategist

• Led content and information architecture on public wealth redesign, increasing starts 1.7x and completes 2x.
• Led TFSA calculator redesign content and UX, increasing traffic 52x and CTR 200x.

Other experience

Feb-16 – Sep-21: Digital Marketing Consulting (Part-time)

• Grew business via referrals, website and subcontracting to $10,000+ annually.
• SEO, digital marketing, and content strategy for SMEs.

Feb-15 – Feb-18: Continental Currency Exchange

• Developed and executed a digital marketing strategy; increased site traffic 10x to 25,000 monthly (75% organic) and digital sales from 0% to 20%.
• Launched online currency ordering

Achievements

Senate Scholarships for Outstanding Academic Achievement (Highest GPA) and Research Methods (2020); TA Excellence Award (2020).

Certificates

LBO Modelling; Professional Scrum Product Owner; UX Management

Volunteer work & interests

Raised over $2,500 for the Ride to Conquer Cancer

Mentor at Rise Asset Development

Raised $100,000+ for the United Way as BMO Giving Ambassador

Citizenship

Canadian and British