The challenge
Hubpay was building financial services for migrant workers in the UAE, helping customers send money home more affordably and conveniently. The product had to work within a complex intersection of financial regulation, international payment infrastructure and customer circumstances that conventional banking products often fail to accommodate. Many customers used older smartphones, experienced unreliable connectivity or shared devices. Some had limited digital literacy, or lived in accommodation without a conventional, individually verifiable address. International payments added further complexity: different FX providers, exchange-rate validity periods, destination-country banking requirements and a real sensitivity to fees.
My role
My involvement began while working in business development at Mooncascade, where I helped establish an initial UX research and prototyping engagement with Hubpay. I supported the founders with product thinking, user journeys and research direction, and recommended moving away from a restrictive white-label platform toward a more scalable product approach. I later returned to Hubpay as Product Lead, owning consumer-facing product development, particularly KYC and international payment flows.
What I led
Product development grounded in customer reality
I worked closely with designers, engineers and stakeholders across risk, AML, finance and operations to make complex financial functionality accessible to the people actually using it. I also spent time in the UAE visiting local communities to understand the practical challenges customers faced.
Complex international payment flows
I coordinated product requirements across multiple FX providers, each with different integrations, response structures, rate-validity windows and edge cases, while the product also had to accommodate changing payment partners as Hubpay worked toward more competitive rates.
The outcome
Hubpay's consumer application was live and used by customers for KYC and international payments. The engagement involved shipping consumer and business KYC capabilities, developing complex payment flows and supporting product decisions grounded in customers' actual circumstances.
It shows what product leadership has to hold together at once: regulatory requirements, commercial priorities, technical realities and genuine customer understanding.
