My Debt Plan

Client: My Debt Plan Ongoing since: 2024 Ongoing since: 2023 Role: Product Manager, UX Lead, Tech Strategist

Most client relationships have a defined start and end. This one is different.

My Debt Plan is one of the UK's leading debt management platforms - a company that helps thousands of people navigate their way out of debt. My involvement is not limited to a single project or a defined scope. I own the technology and design infrastructure across the whole operation. That includes the marketing website, the decision engine that routes leads, the day-to-day UX work, and the development of a large-scale CRM purpose-built for the UK debt and IVA market - currently in active build.

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My Role

• Product strategy and roadmap ownership across all digital products
• UX design and design system management for the marketing site and internal tools
• Lead on the decision engine - architecture, routing logic, and ongoing optimisation
• Project management and product ownership of the large-scale CRM build (15-month build, ongoing)
• Finance manager for the CRM project - budgets, milestones, invoicing
• Day-to-day coordination with development teams across multiple workstreams

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The Challenge

Debt management platforms operate under strict regulatory scrutiny. Every user journey, every form, every data handoff has compliance implications. The technical infrastructure needs to work at volume - thousands of leads a day - without errors, without data loss, and without exposing user data.

When I came in, the platform had the right intent but the technical architecture was not built to match its ambitions. The key problems were:

1. Lead routing was manual and brittle - no systematic way to match leads to the right providers
2. The website was not converting at the rate the traffic warranted - structural UX issues, not just copy
3. No scalable CRM - the existing system could not keep pace with the business as it grew
4. Disconnected operations - marketing, product, and development teams were not working from a shared source of truth

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The Approach

Building the decision engine

The decision engine is the operational core of the platform. It evaluates every inbound lead against a set of criteria and routes it to the most appropriate provider from a network of over 100 third-party integrations. Getting this right means more successful matches, higher revenue per lead, and better outcomes for the people using the platform.

I defined the routing logic, mapped the integration architecture, and worked with the development team to build and iterate it. The result is a system that now drives over 1,000 qualified leads per day.

Redesigning the website for conversion

The marketing site is the top of the funnel. I rebuilt the UX from the ground up - restructured the information architecture, redesigned the key conversion flows, and introduced a clearer content hierarchy that matched how people actually make decisions when they are looking for debt help.

The site runs on WordPress. I work across design and development directly - Figma for the design work, PHP and Elementor on the build side.

The CRM build

The most significant ongoing workstream is the CRM - a large-scale platform purpose-built for the UK debt and IVA market, replacing the existing system the business relied on. I lead this as product owner and project manager, with a team of six developers working across frontend, backend, and QA.

The CRM covers the full case lifecycle - from lead intake through to ongoing client management, communication, and compliance documentation. It includes:

• Multi-channel communication (email, SMS, WhatsApp, letters)
• Role-based access control across teams
• Workflow automation and checklist management
• Integration with external APIs including credit reference agencies and address lookup providers
• A custom letter processing and document preview system

Fourteen months of active development. Still building.

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Key Outcomes

• 1,000+ qualified leads per day routed through the decision engine
• 100+ third-party provider integrations managed through a single routing system
• Supported growth to 2nd largest in their category in the UK debt management market
• 15-month CRM build in progress - replacing legacy infrastructure with a purpose-built platform
• Ongoing design and product ownership across the full operation - website, tooling, and internal systems

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What Makes This Different

I have done one-off projects. I have done long retainers. This is neither.

This is what it looks like when a client gives you genuine ownership of their digital infrastructure and trusts you to make the right calls. The scope grows as the business grows. The decisions compound. The work you do in year one shapes what is possible in year two.

That level of trust is not common. I do not take it lightly.