Tobias

What Tobias does

Tobias is a privately-held strategic design consultancy headquartered in Manly, NSW, Australia, founded in 2012 and operating with a multidisciplinary team of 11-50 practitioners. The firm delivers human-centred design services through a six-stage service lifecycle — Discover, Define, Design, Deliver, Engage, and Capability Uplift — spanning strategic insight and foresight, human-centred digital transformation, policy design, service design, team augmentation, and capability uplift. Core technology is methodological rather than software-based: a blend of systems thinking, co-design, behavioural science, qualitative and quantitative research, and rapid prototyping, with no proprietary platform or product.

Revenue is generated through project-based professional services fees, structured as fixed-price engagements or retainers, with new business developed through direct outreach, thought leadership, and reputation-driven referrals. Tobias serves a heavily government-anchored client base across federal and state agencies (Department of Health and Aged Care, NSW Ministry of Health, Department of Agriculture, CERT Australia, Australian Sports Commission, Department of Finance, Transport for NSW), alongside enterprise clients (Cochlear, Deutsche Bank, DLL Australia, Q Super, BPAY) and selected startups and nonprofits (Lumiant, Heart Foundation). The firm has introduced a Responsible AI advisory service line and continues to invest in capability-building, evidenced by a five-year partnership with DoHAC and multiple Australian Good Design Awards. Operating geographies are currently concentrated in Australia, with compliance coverage extending to UK GDPR and NZ Privacy Act 2022.

Name

Tobias

Legal name

Tobias

Website

https://designtobias.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tobias is a Sydney-based strategic design consultancy founded in 2012 that delivers human-centred design, policy design, capability uplift, and Responsible AI advisory services to Australian government agencies, healthcare organisations, and enterprise clients via project-based professional services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Design Consulting Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Innovation, Product & R&D Consulting (BPAHACAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Organization Design & Change Management Consulting (BPAHACAD)

Keywords

• Strategic design consulting
• Human-centred design services
• Service design
• Policy design
• Design capability uplift

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Strategic Design Consulting Services: Project-based consulting engagements with government and enterprise clients. Services include strategic insight and foresight, human-centred digital transformation, policy design, service design, capability uplift, and team augmentation. Revenue is generated through professional service fees, likely structured as fixed-price projects or retainers.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tobias is a strategic design consultancy that partners with organisations to uncover opportunities, tackle complex problems, simplify systems, and deliver transformation and products. Services are organised around a six-stage lifecycle (Discover, Define, Design, Deliver, Engage, Capability Uplift) and include Team Augmentation, Responsible AI Services, strategic insight and foresight, human-centred digital transformation, policy design, service design, and capability uplift programs for government and enterprise clients.

Product overview

Tobias is a Strategic Design consultancy offering a comprehensive portfolio of human-centred design services organised around a six-stage service lifecycle: Discover, Define, Design, Deliver, Engage, and Capability Uplift. The core offerings include Team Augmentation (embedding skilled practitioners into client teams) and Responsible AI Services (strategic AI consulting for human-centred AI adoption). The consultancy operates across multiple impact areas including Strategic Insight & Foresight, Future Ways of Working, Human-Centred Digital Transformation, Social Innovation, Better Government, Connected Health, People-Centred Finance, and Innovating for Thriving Futures. Tobias is not a software product company but rather provides professional services, design consulting, and capability-building programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Team Augmentation Provides skilled human-centred design practitioners who integrate into client teams to support projects with skills in strategic design, service design, user research, UX design, UX content, business analysis, development, and product management.
• Responsible AI Services Strategic AI consulting services including AI transformation strategy, ethical data governance frameworks, AI application sprints, and omni-channel AI experience design, focused on human-centred and ethical AI adoption for organisations.
• Discover to Understand Research and discovery phase service focusing on understanding people, systems, and signals of change through asking right questions and piecing insights together for organisations.
• Define Opportunities Strategy and foresight service that identifies opportunities for transformation and innovation by combining insights with challenges to outline desired future states for client organisations.
• Design with People Co-design service using systems thinking, digital innovation, and lived experience to design human-centred, sustainable solutions for organisations.
• Deliver Transformative Services Agile, user-centred delivery of digital products, services, systems, and policies using iterative development approaches for client organisations.
• Engage and Change Stakeholder engagement and organisational transformation services that cultivate and embed new ways of working and thinking within client organisations.
• Capability Uplift Training and upskilling programs for clients and partners to strengthen partnerships and build design capabilities within organisations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 5.7% increase in ferry patronage for Transport for NSW
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• frog: frog is a global design and innovation firm offering strategy, product design, service design, and customer-experience work. Its end-to-end design practice is closely aligned with Tobias' product, service, and transformation offering.
• Meld Studios: Meld Studios is an Australian digital product and service design consultancy with capabilities in research, UX, product design, and team delivery. Its boutique consulting model and enterprise focus make it one of Tobias' closest domestic comparables.
• Thinkplace: Thinkplace is a design and innovation consultancy working on strategy, service design, organisational change, and complex transformation. It is directly comparable to Tobias' human-centred and systems-oriented consulting work.
• Portable: Portable is an Australian strategic design and technology studio spanning research, experience design, digital products, and transformation. Its multidisciplinary delivery model closely overlaps Tobias' service lifecycle and target organisations.
• Designit: Designit is a global strategic design consultancy focused on digital products, services, customer experience, and organisational transformation. It offers comparable human-centred design capabilities and serves similar large-enterprise buyers.
• IDEO: IDEO is a global design and innovation consultancy known for human-centred research, strategy, service design, and prototyping. It competes for the same kinds of enterprise and public-sector transformation mandates as Tobias.
• Today the Brave: Today the Brave is an Australian strategy, brand, and customer-experience consultancy. Although it is more brand-led, its customer research, experience design, and transformation work overlaps with Tobias' design strategy and service-design practice.

Broad incumbents

• Deloitte Digital: Deloitte Digital combines strategy, design, technology, and organisational change services for large enterprises and governments. Its broader portfolio and delivery scale overlap directly with Tobias' digital-transformation and capability-building mandates.
• Fjord, part of Accenture Song: Fjord is Accenture Song's design and innovation arm, offering service design, product design, customer experience, and transformation at global scale. It competes with Tobias for senior transformation budgets but benefits from Accenture's broader consulting platform.

Emerging players

• The Australian Centre for Social Innovation: TACSI applies co-design, systems thinking, and human-centred methods to complex social and public-service challenges. Its nonprofit model differs from Tobias', but its methods and government-facing innovation work are strongly comparable.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/designtobias

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tobias