Hello, welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Jobs in Sport! 👋 

Here you’ll find interviews with (almost) every job in the sports industry.
We ask people living the dream:

“How did you get your job?” and “What does it actually involve?”
So that you can land a dream job in sports too.

Enjoy!

#343: From New Zealand to Designing for the Australian Open with Caitlin Hildyard

Meet Caitlin Hildyard, the Lead Experience Designer at Tennis Australia.

In this episode, we follow Caitlin’s journey from New Zealand to Melbourne and how she was able to overcome adversity to now have worked at the last two Australian Opens.

We breakdown her role leading the end-to-end experience and delivery of the Elite Player App across digital and on-site services. We also discuss her independent agency she started during COVID and her involvement with SportsGrad as a member and mentor.

We also take a deep dive into her impact on the golf scene in Wellington as a representative player, manager of the Women’s representative team and board member of Golf Wellington.

If you want to maximise your time and overcome the challenges working abroad in the sports industry, this is the episode for you!

🔥 Quickfire Questions

1. What inspired you to work in sport?
   I don’t honestly have an aha moment for working in sport as it wasn’t actually something I actively chased or imagined working in. As I wasn’t aware of what jobs really existed in sport other than you are an athlete or a coach basically.

   However what I have always done, is follow my passions and things that excite me. And one part of that was sport whether playing or supporting.

   I was a fan first, a die hard fan, possibly belligerent, rugby union fan of the Hurricanes and All Blacks, which really all started to kick off after the 2003 world cup. I was nearly 11, in charge of keeping all the scores and updating them at school in the pull out from the newspaper, was the first time I really probably understood the game, the players, coaching etc. And it just grew exponentially from there.

   And then 2011 experiencing a Rugby World Cup at home, was the first time I had witnessed and been part of a international event, seeing the activations, the crowds, the diverse range of fans - it was electric. And post that world cup, my journey changed and I really set off chasing what I was passionate about, I switched degrees, went to design school, and then I started to bring my external hobbies being sport into my creative world. I photographed rugby matches for assignments, I offered to photograph a junior golf tournament at my club (which led to me picking up golf again), and then through connections at my golf club worked on a toyota racing event doing marketing collateral and photography - which led to me proclaiming at uni that I want to work at Ferrari one day.

   So really it’s been passion from day one. And I have just continued to seek that throughout my life and sport has just entwined with it. My love for travel has always involved a sporting event I’ve travelled to cricket world cups with my sister, my first trip to europe I watched Messi play in Barcelona, I have been to yankees games in New York, travelled to Lords to watch the black caps play test cricket.

2. What was your first sports-related role?
   I photographed a Junior Eagles tournament which basically brings the best junior golfers from around NZ together to play - I was compensated in golf balls. But my first paid gig was doing the event collateral design, and photography plus going to the race events for a new events company that got the contract for the toyota racing series which is like formula 3...and also the V8 motorsport races.

3. What did you study after high school?
   I went to Victoria University in Wellington, did Law for one semester, dropped out. Then tried commerce papers,like marketing and accounting, did Classics as well. And at the same time realised none of this was for me, I wanted to be creating the creative campaigns not just deciding where they should go etc. So applied to design school, 4yrs later came out with a bachelor of design with honours - major visual communication design.

4. What's one interview question you were asked to answer for this role?

   After I was asked about a challenge I faced in my job, the follow up was how I would handle or alleviate that challenge now. Basically what would I change or try to make better.

   If I was hiring, I would want to know what kind of person they are, what makes them tick, personality, what are their passions, to determine their fit in a team e.g - What are you currently obsessed with (work or not work)? What do you spend too much time reading/watching? What kind of work makes you lose track of time

5. A book or podcast recommendation that's helped your career?

   So I read mostly, same with podcasts for enjoyment or escape. But my mum got me this book when I first started design school called the vogue factor, as that was my dream going to design school originally was I wanted to be Anna Wintour basically. And this book was about kirstie clements and her rise to eventually be editor and chief at vogue, and I just found it inspiring to hear where people started and how they got to their dream job. Another great one is steal like an artist for any creative, so many good tid-bits in there, I constantly come back to it or just open it on a random page - one i opened again recently don't throw yourself away and the idea you are allowed to have multiple passions and the importance of hobbies. As when you focus on one thing and forget the others eventually those things come start haunting you and you'll feel lost without them. So the importance of nurturing all these parts of you, make you a better person, happier person - it’s why we have hobbies.

6. If you could try another job in sports for a day, what would it be?
   Either player psychologist in high performance teams dealing with different player problems but also their personalities, how to get the most out of them. Otherwise I would love to shadow a team principal in an f1 team, or a pr, brand/marketing agency for individual athletes as I think thats a fascinating spcae thats growing.

What exactly does your job involve?

So I am a Lead experience designer in the digital team at Tennis Australia. I work across digital products in both the participation space and events. Recently I worked on the re-design of the AO player app. So my work involved creative direction, the designing, meeting and getting sign-off with stakeholders. Creating deliverables for developers, the hand-over to developers explaining the work and purpose, then refining and testing the app plus user research which can happen really at all stages. We get a problem, we want the data to back it up and then we create solutions and test those to give us more data on if its the right direction or not. Its a constant loop.

What are some of the responsibilities of your role?

Creative owner, design and user experience advocate, you are the voice of the people who are using your product. Stakeholder management which can be running meetings, collating feedback, making the changes and this is to a wide range of people across the business in marketing teams, tech teams, event teams so relationship management is important. And alot of my work so far is still very much on the tools, using and updating our design system, pushing and refining this further and advocating for good design and experience for our audience - always looking to do better.

What does your career journey look like?

I started in marketing departments doing graphic and collateral design. Went from a construction safety company, to moving to Brisbane to work in a travel agency in their marketing department where there were only two people and I was the only full time.

I did graphic design for campaigns, designed magazines etc. Then I came back to NZ and wanted to switch to digital as that was really taking off. I eventually got a job at a startup that had about 3+ plus businesses under it, that expanded in my time, it was a real incubator for ideas and trying things.

Thats where I worked on cricHQ a cricket scoring and registration app. I wore many hats in this role as having multiple companies inside one meant one day you were doing marketing and pitch documents, to creating onboarding registration flows for cricket clubs, to new concepts for a video and scoring sport capture app. I then moved into agency as like a lot of designers you feel like you need to have both inside a company and agency experience. This basically informed my style of working which is I thrive under fast pace, quick turnaround environments.

Covid hit. Redundancy. And I ended up going on my own setting up Lemontart which is my design business, focusing on brand and digital solutions. Worked for a range of different clients from health and wellness, to a golf association, AI golf app, and then one of my clients which was Landlord Studio offered me full time employment. So I moved into startup land again working for them remotely for three years four days a week while still doing LT on the side. And I just started to get itchy feet, wanted a new challenge and the job at tennis came up so I threw my hat in the ring. It all happened really quickly, and within a few weeks I packed up and moved to Melbourne in Sept 2024. I covered a maternity leave role for six months and then applied to another contract role in a new team which was digital and have been there since.

What challenges did you face to break into sport?

I think there is always so much competition in any role especially those that are deemed "glossy" or most likely peoples passions or dream jobs. So making yourself stand out and be able to sell yourself well is a challenge but also what you really want to focus on when applying for jobs. I will also say being a girl in sport plus also in my area of tech comes with its own challenges at times. It is still very much in parts a boys world and being comfortable in those environments can be challenging - there were times I was the only female in meeting rooms, or one of two on a team.

What do you think makes it difficult to get a job in the sports industry?

There are only so many jobs especially at the top tier organisations. Like a tennis or an olympic association or cricket Australia, everyone wants those jobs and work there. So you there’s all this demand but not as many positions - so I think people get put off easily and give up and go that’s not for me, because they didn’t get that one role that’s at that organisation. It’s like every physio in NZ wants to be the All Black physio, it’s not possible but there’s always a path and multiple options. You may not get there now, but you could get there later. So I think you have to be resilient to get into the industry, be ok with getting nos, and finding other ways to get to where you are going, may be the longer path but you will be better for it. I think the other difficult thing is trying to get in when you don’t have connections or even know someone to give you insight into the sports industry. It does operate on its own level, it’s about who you know and knowing where there may be an opportunity before it’s put to the masses. So I would always go, get that coffee, go to that networking event and put yourself out there, as you never know where it may lead and the more people you know the better.

What are the issues with the sports industry you think people should be aware of before they enter?

It’s not as amazing as everyone thinks. It’s very cool but what you see on instagram is not reality. Especially in events do not underestimate the hard work, the very long hours.

How did you decide what career direction to take?

I never deemed it a career path or viewed it that way. Reflecting back I always followed by passions or interests and really what I was good at, so my talents. That’s where I do my best work, when I am fully passionate about the problem I am solving and the area I am working in. I thrive off challenges and fast moving environments so start ups and sport really fit that side of my “work” personality. So my first job out of university which was moving to Brisbane to work in a travel agency, was following a passion for travel, I had just done my honours project on a travel app so I followed what I was most interested in. Joining crichq was combining my love of cricket and learning about product design which was a career pivot for me after more graphic/marketing work. So working in sport hasn’t necessarily been the focus or only driving point it just happens to be a really commanding interest of mine, and that’s multiple sports too. Doing freelance on the side since university has meant I have always been able to satiate my other curiosities and passions and not get bored with my day to day, as it’s always something new and challenging. But when you’ve started to work in sport or do projects that are in sport, I didn’t really have to go hunting for them, those people came to me, because it became oh Cate plays golf and she designs so she understands the industry already.

How have your professional relationships helped your career?

I am a designer, predominately have done work recently in the digital space and Lemontart has been around since 2020…still no website. That’s how my relationships have helped my career. I don’t promote this as a good thing, but it shows that who I have connected with, through word of mouth, that’s where all my work has come from. And you know more people than you think. This showed in 2020 when I went out on my own, the amount of people who advocated for me from past colleagues, golf coaches, people I played sport with, family plus my accountant who is my friend, got me work. One of my mentors Tom de Groen, who was also my boss, was the one who had to make me redundant but also the one who told me that I should go out on my own and set up Lemontart and has always full supported it. He had more belief that I could do it than I did. My professional relationships also have turned into friendships but also have helped me outside of my career - grant Elliott who I worked with at crichq helped me through a lot of my mental game with golf and helped me get through some pretty low points there. You never know where people are going to help or where they may appear later in life, but you collect all these people along the way, and usually they turn up when you most need it.

When you landed your job, what do you think made you stand out?

I really went outside my comfort zone when I started at Tennis, I am an introvert, extrovert when I am with people I know, but I am not naturally the social butterfly, I form relationships and meaningful ones over time. But at tennis I really put in the effort, meet people, introduce myself, networked in other teams, went to all the events, made connections and friends outside of my team, which has all paid off. I knew that I needed my name known so people wouldn’t advocate me for roles if they came up. I was on a 6 month maternity leave contract and there was no guarantee it would extend or if there would be a role after. Halfway through I knew I wouldn’t have a role at the end so needed to find something - and my head of advocated for me, my director advocated for me, people knew who I was so that was important, and the right people also I guess. Those connections, a lot are my friends now, they advocate for my work in and out of the business, we are all pretty comfortable talking about our careers and what we want, where we want to be and how we can all help each other. I have friends I play golf with now every cup day who are in a completely different team and wouldn’t have interacted with unless I turned up to work on Wednesdays and had lunch with them just so you had another range of people to meet. So I think getting fully stuck into to everything and forming those relationships is important.

What advice would you give to your younger-self to help them take action?

It will all be ok, it will all work out. Breathe, relax, enjoy it more haha. But i would also say take more risks, believe in your ability because you'll find a way to make it work. If it fails thats fine, you learn, you move on, you will be better for it. I do think I could have taken more risk if I was prepared to fail earlier - still something I am getting comfortable with, and having more confidence in what I can do and offer.

What’s your #1 ‘pinch me’ moment working in sport?

I have to say working the Australian Open, the last two is definitely pinch me, its a tournament I used to watch every summer. I never thought I would be here, especially this year i went to see Roger Federer at the opening ceremonyy and did cry, because I never thought I would see him hit a tennis ball in the flesh. But another one was actually working with Grant Elliot, and this if he ever hears it will laugh and go to his head. But when I was working at crichq and the guys were like Grant Elliot is coming in, hes going to be working here. I called BS. And rolled my eyes and continued on, and he walked in. Introduced himself to everyone there, walked over to me and shook my hand gave me a hug. I was star struck, I am not now because I know and have met him. But meeting the guy you and your sister have talked about when he hit the winning 6 to send us to the finals in the ODI world cup, not something I ever expected. And then to work with him and call him a friend/mentor is pretty cool.

What do you think your life would look like if you hadn't pursued a career in sport?

Well I see sport/design pretty intertwined with each other. So if I hadn't done design I would most likely be an osteopath, that was what else I applied for when I needed a back up to design school. But I think I would have again pursued the sport or young elite athlete route in that too. Otherwise I think I may have gone after the fashion magazine, it is still something I love, print media, can we bring it back?! There is still time to be Anna Wintour haha

Others you might like to learn from:

#341: Meet the new host of the SportsGrad Podcast!

#339: How to land your first job in sport with Josh Marton, GM of Public Affairs & Marketing in Golf

#227: How to be a Performance Analyst for Pro Tennis Players with Shane Liyanage