Square
Risk Ops Tooling
Role
Founding Product Designer
Timeline
3 months
About
As the founding designer for Square’s Risk Operations Tooling team, I led the transformation of fragmented workflows into a cohesive, efficient system. By introducing scalable design patterns and launching high-impact tools, we empowered agents to work smarter and faster, while setting the foundation for future innovations.
Problem and challenge
The setup
When Square expanded its global reach, the Risk Operations team found itself in a bind. Fraud cases were growing more complex, yet the tools used to manage these cases were anything but cutting-edge, most living external from Square's internal tools.
Agents relied on a collection of external workflows and tools within the internal "Regulator" platform, often switching between external portals and manual processes like it was an Olympic sport. Inefficiencies ruled, resolution times stretched on, and agents were left frustrated and overworked.
Regulator design pattern and functionality mapping
The problem
A disjointed ecosystem of tools lacking a unified design system.
Time-sucking, error-prone manual processes for tasks like verifying email legitimacy and calculating fraud reimbursements.
A lack of alignment across teams, which translated into inefficiencies and conflicting priorities for tool development.
It was clear that Square’s fraud prevention workflows needed a strategic overhaul to boost efficiency, scale solutions, and restore some sanity.
Outcome
The wins
Tool Launches: Two powerhouse tools, the Email Risk Tool and the ATO Adjustment Center, which immediately transformed agent workflows.
Adoption: A 1000% increase in tool usage during the first week. Yes, you read that right: 1000%.
Framework Success: Introduction of scalable design patterns (Modal and Panel) and adoption of Material UI, which brought much-needed consistency to the Regulator platform.
Agent Love: One agent shared, "I love how this tool brings all the information I need to me!" (We’ll take it!)
Metrics
We’re now tracking task completion times, error rates, and user satisfaction scores to quantify these wins further.
Key screens
Email risk tool
Designed to assess the potential fraud risk associated with an email address. It evaluated key risk indicators—such as domain reputation, usage patterns, and historical fraud associations—to generate a risk rating and communicated through a dial.
ATO adjustment center
Supporting agents in calculating ATO reimbursements by guiding them through key processes— including flagging suspicious payments, calculating eligible reimbursement amounts, and submitting reimbursements to affected clients. The workflow was designed to minimize errors and speed up resolution times. T
his project progressed to mid-fidelity mockups, laying a strong foundation for future development and validation.
Design journey
Step 1: Service Design Research: Uncovering Opportunities
We started with a Service Design deep dive - because why guess when you can know?
Partnering with a Service Designer, we:
Conducted agent interviews and workflow shadowing, mapping pain points like detectives on a mission.
Facilitated workshops to synthesize findings into actionable opportunities.
Aha Moment: Agents spent hours toggling between systems, often duplicating work. It was like watching someone try to untangle a set of headphones for hours. This insight shifted our focus to unifying tools and eliminating redundancy
Foundational service exploration study findings
Step 2 - Design Strategy: Building a Cohesive Ecosystem
Regulator’s design landscape resembled a chaotic Wild West of mismatched systems and no design guidelines.
To rein this in, I:
Defined two design pattern guidelines:
Modal: For focused, single-task flows.
Panel: For persistent, contextual information.
Introduced Material UI to unify tool development.
Ran collaborative workshops with agents, product teams, and engineers to validate these solutions.
Design pattern guidelines - Panel and modal
Step 3 - Building High-Impact Tools
Problem:
Agents manually logged into an external portal to verify email legitimacy, wasting precious time.
Solution:
User interviews pinpointed key data points agents needed.
Iterative designs emphasized data hierarchy and scanability.
Usability tests ensured it hit the mark.
Impact: Full integration into Regulator eliminated external portal reliance and accelerated workflows.
Impact:
Full integration into Regulator eliminated external portal reliance and accelerated workflows.
Ui Explorations for Email risk tool
ATO Adjustment Center
Problem: Manual fraud reimbursement calculations were slow and error-prone.
Solution:
Shadowed agents to compare current and ideal workflows.
Designed and tested an MVP Adjustment Calculator as Phase 1.
Refined designs through usability feedback.
Impact: Automation drastically reduced errors and saved agents hours of manual work.
Current agent flow VS target state flow maping
North star Lo-fi screen creation
Impact
Metrics and success
Efficiency Gains: Early metrics show a 20% reduction in task completion time.
Unified Framework: Material UI adoption ensures future tools inherit these efficiencies.
Agent Experience: Feedback consistently highlighted time savings and reduced frustration.
Metrics in progress: Detailed time studies and satisfaction
Learnings and next steps
Key learnings
Collaboration is key: Engaging with service designers, product managers, and engineers early ensured alignment and smoother execution.
Design systems matter: Establishing consistent patterns saved time and reduced complexity.
Test with real users: Direct insights from agents were invaluable in refining designs.
Next steps
Phase 2: Expand the ATO Adjustment Center to include bulk reimbursements and reporting tools.
Scale Frameworks: Apply Modal and Panel patterns to additional tools on the roadmap within Regulator.
Feedback Loops: Establish ongoing channels for agent input, ensuring future iterations stay grounded in user needs
Laying the foundation to Square's Risk Operations tooling wasn’t just about solving problems—it was about building a scalable, user-centered foundation for the future. With strong collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and an unwavering focus on impact, we transformed workflows from fragmented chaos to seamless efficiency.
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Trent Weatherford 2024
trent.e.weatherford@gmail.com