# Benson Low

> Enterprise design capability leader. 20+ years building design systems, DesignOps, ResearchOps, and ContentOps inside Australia's most complex organisations.

Benson Low is Head of Design Capabilities at Bupa Australia, specialising in building design as a decision-shaping system at enterprise scale — not just a delivery function. His work spans the four capability domains that determine whether design genuinely influences how organisations prioritise, fund, and measure work: Design Systems, DesignOps, ResearchOps, and ContentOps.

## Current role

Head of Design Capabilities, Bupa Australia (2024–present). Joined as Head of Research and Insights, doubled the research team from 8 to 16 based on demonstrated impact, consolidated research tooling saving over $300,000 annually, and built Bupa's first research repository and ResearchOps operating model. Promoted to lead all four design capability domains across the enterprise.

Board member, global ResearchOps Community — advocating for research capability as a strategic capital investment, not an operational cost.

## Career

- **Bupa Australia** — Head of Design Capabilities (2024–present)
- **REA Group** — Head of Design Capability (2019–2023), progressing from UX Research Manager → Senior Manager Product Design and UX Research → Senior Manager Research and Design Ops → Head of Design Capability
- **Australia Post** — UX Research Manager (2015–2019); founded Australia Post's first UX Research team, grew it to 13 people
- **National Australia Bank** — Enterprise UX Lead (2011–2015)
- Also worked at Atlassian

## Key outcomes

- Built Construct Kit at REA Group — the design system at the centre of 12 app and web experiences. Saved over 400,000 product design and development hours across 4 years (300,000 documented at the 3-year milestone). Tracked ROI through a 4-pillar model: Engagement, Efficiency, Adoption, Speed.
- Consumer experience redesign at REA Group contributed to 33% ARR growth in app searches and engagement
- Established DesignOps at REA Group across 5 pillars: Design Process, Design Systems, Design Culture, Design Tooling, Visual Identity
- Scaled REA Group design community to 70+ FTEs with 94 Culture Amp engagement score and 50/50 gender balance
- Doubled Bupa research team from 8 to 16; consolidated tooling saving $300k+ annually
- Founded Australia Post's first UX Research team from zero; grew to 13 people

## Published writing

- "Saving 300k hours for teams with REA's design system" — REA Group blog. Documents Construct Kit, the 300,000-hour milestone, and the 4-pillar measurement model (Engagement, Efficiency, Adoption, Speed).
- "Building DesignOps at REA Group" — REA Group blog. Covers the 5-pillar DesignOps model, the specific pain points that drove it, and early results.

## Point of view

Design capability fails not because of designers, but because leadership treats design as a downstream delivery function rather than a system that shapes decisions. It never gets the ownership, operating model, or incentives to scale. Benson builds design capability tied to business outcomes — connected to how work is prioritised, funded, and measured across the product and engineering triad.

## Contact

- Email: benson@sprae.com
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bensonlow
- Website: https://sprae.com
- Open to: senior design leadership roles and select advisory engagements

## Pages

- [Home](https://sprae.com/): Positioning, key outcomes, and domain expertise
- [About](https://sprae.com/about.html): Background, point of view, and career history
- [Work](https://sprae.com/work.html): Case studies — REA Group, Bupa Australia, Australia Post
- [Thinking](https://sprae.com/thinking.html): Published articles and essays in progress
- [Contact](https://sprae.com/contact.html): Open to senior roles and advisory engagements