A Day in the Life | Meet Rob

Jitjatjo
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September 15, 2021
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min read

In this segment of our A Day in the Life series, where we recognize some of Jitjatjo’s incredible Change Agents, we meet Design Team Lead, Rob. Rob shares his experience as head of design, what a typical day is like, as well as what he loves about working at Jitjatjo.

Name:  Rob Muller

Title:  Design Team Lead

One of the reasons I love working at Jitjatjo is work-life balance. While I work longer hours than I did at previous roles, I still have more time to spend with my wife and my son. 

I’m eternally grateful to my wife, who has always supported me through the long hours and sometimes stressful times, and shared in the victories we’ve achieved.

What do you do at Jitjatjo and how long have you been with the company? 
My role is Design Team Lead. I manage a team of designers who look after almost everything design-related at Jitjatjo— from our app interface designs, to our websites and marketing materials. I’ve been with Jitjatjo since its inception, nearly six years.

What is your typical day like? 
There’s no such thing as a typical day, particularly for an Aussie working in a different time zone to the US/Europe! The first thing I do is check Slack notifications on the off-chance that something needs urgent attention. Then I make my son breakfast and get him prepped for homeschooling (yay lockdown!). Next, I make a nice cup of tea and read the rest of Slack to see what happened overnight with our US and European teams. After that, daily tasks could include checking in with my team to make sure they’re not blocked by anything, reviewing and providing feedback on designs to make sure they’re on-brand and meet business requirements while remaining intuitive, designing additions/improvements to our products and websites, and researching new technologies & integrations that could improve workflows or solve new business requirements.

How would you describe Jitjatjo in 3 words?
Challenging, Rewarding, Fun

Why did you choose Jitjatjo?
Jitjatjo chose me. I worked with the founders in a previous role and they brought me on board in the early stages. However, I was drawn in by the vision of the product. While we’ve obviously changed and added a lot over the last five years, the fundamental tenets of our platform have not changed since we wrote the initial specifications.

What do you love most about working at Jitjatjo? 
Working from home and the work-life balance. While I work longer hours than I did at previous roles, I still have more time to spend with my wife and my son.

What do you think makes a great team?
Open and honest communication, and going above expectations to support your co-workers. If we all support each other, we’re only going to lift each other up.

What is your greatest achievement to date – personal or professional?
Professionally, many projects I’ve worked on have received design awards during my career. However, Jitjatjo is the first product that I’ve designed from the ground-up, and I’m extremely proud of what we’ve achieved. On a personal level though, it’s a distant second place to raising my son. He’s my world.

What is the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?
Being a good manager is first and foremost about keeping your team happy. If your team is happy, your co-workers above and around you will be happy too. We’re all in this together.

What has been your proudest moment at Jitjatjo?  
My first time travelling to New York for the launch of Jitjatjo back in October 2016. Finally getting to meet our US team face-to-face after nearly a year of communication limited to Slack and Zoom. Seeing our platform launch after all the hard work we’d put in.

What do you hope to achieve in the coming months, year(s)?
Launching Jitjatjo in my home-town of Sydney, Australia is at the forefront right now. Beyond that, helping with our continued expansion into other cities and countries, and bringing new talented people onto my team to meet future demand.


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