DIA Design Guild

I formalized the program structure, introduced scalable processes, and implemented a CSAT measurement system to improve program effectiveness and participant satisfaction.

Key achievements include:
• Scaling the Apprenticeship Program: Formalized a structured 9-month mentorship model, improving project outcomes and skill development for junior designer apprentices.
• Mentorship & Talent Development: Recruited and managed senior designers to provide high-quality guidance for junior designers.
• Improved Project Management & Client Satisfaction: Developed formalized project management processes, leading to clearer expectations and increased satisfaction from client stakeholders.

Design Program Manager

Design Evangelist

Design Mentor & Instructor
Combining both teaching and mentoring, I have over 10,000 hours of experience.

• Served as an instructor at leading institutions, such as General Assembly, GrowthX Academy, Flatiron School, Seattle School of Visual Concepts, Product School, UC Berkeley, and Academy of Art University
• Developed curriculum for top programs, including Springboard, GrowthX Academy, Interaction Design Foundation, IxDF Bootcamps, Flatiron School, Product School, UC Berkeley, and Chegg
• Mentored through various community, bootcamp, and organizational programs

Design Educator

Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

I overhauled school management operations, replacing outdated systems with a modern, scalable solution that improved class scheduling and operational efficiency. I also optimized design tooling and software resources, reducing costs and improving data accessibility.

Key achievements include:
• Scaling Course Offerings: Implemented a new school management system, enabling the organization to increase concurrent class capacity by 300%.
• Cost Reduction: Standardized design tools and software, eliminating inefficiencies and saving $100K annually.
• Data & Process Improvement: Applied information architecture principles to improve data accessibility and reduce data duplication by 90%.

Design Operations Manager

The Hired Guns

Worked in a fast-paced agency environment, specializing in design recruiting while also improving knowledge management for the team.

Key achievements include:
• Candidate Evaluation: Reviewed and evaluated 100+ UX designer candidate profiles and portfolios, assessing qualifications and fit for various design roles.
• Process & Knowledge Management: Built a Notion-based knowledge management system to document onboarding, create consistency in projects, and streamline the recruiting process. This significantly reduced the time required to train and onboard new employees.

Design Talent Partner

LinkedIn

I redesigned and standardized LinkedIn’s UX Design onboarding program, ensuring new UX designers could seamlessly transition into any product team and become productive faster.

Key achievements include:
• Onboarding Standardization: Designed and implemented a new UX designer onboarding program to improve ramp-up time and team integration.

IxDF - Interaction Design Foundation

• Led daily operations and strategic initiatives, implementing best practices to optimize the UX Design Bootcamp program 
• Increased member insights by 5% by instigating a regular research program
• Improved project planning and scheduling for UX Design boot camps, strategized new educational initiatives and created original UX course content

Flatiron School

I led Flatiron School’s San Francisco UX program, managing faculty and ensuring the successful graduation and job placement of cohorts of 20 design students. I introduced a cross-disciplinary collaboration program between UX and software engineering students, giving them hands-on experience working together.

Key achievements include:
• Student Success & Placement: Led Flatiron’s San Francisco UX program, ensuring strong job placement outcomes.
• Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Built a structured program for UX designers and software engineers to collaborate on projects.
• Curriculum Improvements: Implemented course changes that led to a 20% increase in exercise scores.

Design Program Director

GrowthX Academy

I built and scaled GrowthX Academy’s UX design program from the ground up, designing an industry-aligned curriculum that prepared students for real-world careers. The program achieved a 90% job placement rate, and I oversaw the development of 40+ functional prototypes for web, mobile, and IoT clients through hands-on, project-based learning.

Key achievements include:
• Program Creation & Growth: Designed and launched an industry-aligned UX design program, achieving a 90% student placement rate.
• Client Project Experience: Guided student teams in developing 40+ functional prototypes for real clients, reinforcing practical UX skills through hands-on client collaboration.

Epsilon

I led a cross-functional team of 8, including UX designers, UI designers, and content strategists, delivering solutions for 10+ B2B and B2C clients annually, including Wells Fargo, American Express, Apple, Google, Cisco, and Genentech.

Key achievements include:
• Enterprise UX Leadership: Managed UX strategy and execution for Fortune 500 clients across finance, tech, and healthcare.
• Design Systems & Efficiency: Created scalable design systems, style guides, and component libraries to improve consistency across projects.
• UX Training & Advocacy: Led client workshops to strengthen teams' understanding of customer experience best practices.

Design Manager, Digital Design

TripIt

Drove mobile and web design for a top travel app. Implemented data-driven design practices and led design reviews to ensure high-quality releases.

Lead Product Designer

I'm a design program manager with a background in UX, interaction design, and education. I bring structure to design teams and help programs run smoothly.

I've worked across both industry and education, and I’m especially drawn to roles that support design teams building thoughtful, education-focused experiences. I thrive in environments where I can contribute behind the scenes—helping teams stay aligned, focused, and connected to the needs of users and businesses.

Over my career, I've built and led design operations initiatives, UX education programs, and onboarding optimization at organizations ranging from startups to global tech companies. I’ve formalized design processes, standardized tools, and improved cross-team alignment, helping companies scale efficiently while maintaining a strong design culture.

I’m passionate about solving organizational challenges that impact design teams, whether it’s streamlining workflows, improving collaboration between teams, or developing scalable solutions for talent growth.

Always open to connecting with others (include a note) working at the intersection of design, education, and impact-driven work.

Julia DeBari

MDPI UK

Context: I operate independently under the supervision of the Head of Insights, within a global company transitioning towards a more structured customer experience strategy. I am helping to build a comprehensive insights hub from the ground up, leveraging limited resources and addressing the challenges posed by legacy systems and an evolving organizational structure.

- Strategic CX Development: Partnering with the Head of Insights to conduct gap analyses and evaluate customer knowledge, directly shaping a more effective and structured customer experience strategy.
- Insights Hub: Conducting needs assessments that directly inform the prioritization of CX initiatives and the strategic roadmap for insights development.
- Best Practices: Translating industry best practices into tailored, actionable recommendations to enhance organizational maturity and address operational challenges.
- Autonomous Contribution: Operating autonomously within a transitioning global company to build a comprehensive insights hub from the ground up, navigating resource constraints and evolving organizational structures.
- Cross-functional: Supporting the implementation of key CX improvements while ensuring alignment with overarching business priorities.

Consumer Insights Researcher

INSTANDA

Context: operated as the most experienced UX practitioner in a newly formed, rapidly evolving product team. Instrumental in establishing the organization’s research function and embedding user-centered practices to advance UX maturity across the business.

- UX Advocacy: Established the research function and championed user experience at an organizational level, securing C-suite buy-in for initiatives that elevated UX as a business priority—despite holding a mid-level title.
- End-to-End UX Research: Independently designed and executed over a dozen research projects—spanning foundational discovery, usability testing, and competitor analysis—to deliver clear, actionable insights for key product initiatives.
- UX Design & Solutioning: Ideated and designed user-friendly, custom automated systems tailored for insurance clients, balancing both front-end usability and complex back-end requirements.
- Content Strategy & UX Writing: Led the creation of content guidelines for the Design System through interactive workshops, ensuring documentation was accessible, consistent, and grounded in UX writing best practices.
- UX Repository: Created and maintained a reusable repository using Airtable—linking behavioral archetypes to product features—empowering business analysts and product owners to make data-driven, user-centric decisions.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Championed user-centricity by integrating research insights throughout the product lifecycle, facilitating awareness amongst designers, product owners, BAs, and developers.
Team Mentorship & Growth: Mentored team members and shared resources, accelerating the growth of UX expertise and fostering a collaborative, insight-driven design culture—despite initial limited UX maturity.

UX Researcher & Research Ops

Context: At PwC, I played a key role in an internal innovation lab, streamlining product development and ensuring user-centred solutions for a multi-million pound phased-project. My work directly contributed to significant efficiencies, cost savings, and client satisfaction.

- Accelerated User Testing & Insights: Conducted rapid iterative testing (RITE method) within an internal innovation lab, which accelerated learning and testing, leading to valuable insights, improved user adoption, and significant cost/time savings.
- Optimized Sprint Efficiency: Achieved a 95% waste reduction capability across four consecutive Scrum sprints through close collaboration with product teams and stakeholders.
- Collaborative Co-creation & Prototyping: Led co-creation sessions with stakeholders, product owners, and engineers, utilizing paper prototypes to expedite learning, assess feasibility, and ensure alignment with sprint estimates. This consistently led to comprehensive approval and informed subsequent iterations.
- End-to-End Product Development: Collaborated closely with business analysts, product owners, engineers, and architects to shape products from inception to successful Proof of Concept (POC) launch, securing full client approval.
- Design Implementation & Quality Assurance: Partnered directly with developers to ensure design solutions adhered to client requirements, user-centred design best practices, brand guidelines, and technical feasibility constraints.
- Impact & Recognition: My efforts in leading collaborative workshops with BAs/POs, clients, and developers streamlined backlog prioritization and resolution for critical business process automation. Delivered successful POCs that exceeded client expectations and secured full approval, earning acknowledgment from team members and directors for the positive impact of user experience on project outcomes.

UX Researcher - Senior Associate 2

Gumtree.com

Context: At Gumtree, I served as a dedicated advocate for customer understanding, driving shopper-centricity despite a rigid product roadmap and internal resistance. My persistence was key to influencing and fostering collaboration, particularly with customer support and marketing teams.

- Generative Research: Uncovered emerging trends, evolving shopper and seller behaviours across web and mobile, and shifts in online culture. Analysed qualitative and quantitative data from social listening, cultural research, and marketplace trends to extract sharp, meaningful insights.
- Persona and Journey Map: Researched post-pandemic shopping and selling shifts, refining shopper and seller personas and journey maps, validated by the support team.
- Market & Competitive Intelligence: Analysed marketplace trends and behaviour patterns through competitive analysis, informing product strategy.
- Voice of Customer: Cultivated a VOC culture, advocating for insights from touchpoints (app reviews, support logs, Trustpilot) to identify shopper and seller needs.
- Research Operations: Refined the research repository taxonomy to improve insight discovery and search. This gave the product team rapid access to key data and enhanced Dovetail usability, enabling managers to pinpoint pain points in seconds.
- UX Audit: Conducted a UX audit, identifying usability issues, brand inconsistencies, design mismatches, information architecture flaws, and content design/UX writing issues across the end-to-end shopping and selling journey on web and mobile.
- Impact & Strategic Influence: Bridged communication gaps and integrated key feedback, influencing new marketing messaging strategies (commended by the CMO). Advocated an omnichannel approach and diverse research methods for a holistic understanding of shopper and seller challenges.

User Experience Researcher

Motors.co.uk

Context: At Motors.co.uk, I focused on optimizing the search experience and enhancing user engagement for the automotive marketplace. My research and strategic recommendations directly informed a key redesign that improved both UX and SEO performance.

- Competitive Analysis & Strategic Insights: Conducted comprehensive competitive analysis, studying ten competitors and analyzing SEO transactional search queries to uncover crucial market insights and strategic gaps, particularly regarding user-friendly navigation.
- Search Results Page (SRP) Redesign Leadership: Led research to explore user mental models, identifying key insights that directly informed the redesign of the Search Results Page (SRP), enhancing both user experience (UX) and search ranking.
- Cross-Functional Implementation: Collaborated closely with the cross-functional team to successfully implement the redesigned SRP, ensuring alignment with user expectations and industry best practices, which contributed to a 2% decrease in drop rate.
- User-Centred Filter Integration: Proposed the integration of user-friendly filters aligned with the user journey, a key initiative designed to optimize website usability, SEO, and information architecture, with the potential for increased time on site and improved conversion.
- Impact on UX & SEO: My analysis highlighted a crucial gap in our website's approach, prompting a redesign of the SRP to align with industry best practices. This directly enhanced search ranking and user engagement, reflecting a shift towards treating the website as a product for an improved user experience.

UX Researcher

Zesty

Context: led user-centred research that underpinned the comprehensive redesign of SimplyZesty’s own brand identity and website—its first major update in over 15 years. My research-driven insights shaped strategies to modernize usability, content clarity, and digital resonance for the renewed agency presence.

- Stakeholder Requirement's: Led research and discovery phases for SimplyZesty’s internal rebrand, gathering stakeholder requirements, mapping information architecture, and aligning design with contemporary user and market expectations.
- UX Audit:: Critically assessed the previous 15-year-old visual identity and website, driving requirements for a full-scale visual and experiential overhaul.
- Website Optimization: Utilized Microsoft Clarity and Hotjar to uncover navigation pain points and behavior patterns, producing actionable recommendations for the new IA and user journey.
- Design Workshops: Ran co-creation sessions in Miro, uniting strategy, design, and content teams to achieve consensus on creative direction.
- Tone of Voice & Content Guides: Collaborated with stakeholders to develop brand voice and content strategy, ensuring consistency across all digital touchpoints.
- Information Architecture & Web Content: Mapped and structured the new site architecture; produced user-driven wireframes and content outlines.
- Client Website Audits: Proactively conducted “speculative” website and digital presence audits for prospective and existing clients. Delivered comprehensive reports—spanning IA, SEO, Google listing/performance, social media, and UX—to showcase the agency’s strategic value and expertise in digital optimization.
- Impact: My work provided the blueprint for the successful launch of SimplyZesty’s updated brand and website while producing high-value, insight-based proposals that supported new business development for the agency.

User Experience Researcher 

HostHelp

Context: Context: As the sole UX Researcher for this small business's website revamp unpaid project, I led the end-to-end transformation of the HostHelp user experience and brand identity. Despite limited budget and resources, my research-driven approach delivered measurable improvements and expanded the client's understanding of their users and market.


- End-to-End Research: Defined business goals and user needs with stakeholders, conducted interviews and usability testing, and synthesized insights into actionable deliverables, including personas and sitemaps.
- Brand Strategy: Facilitated workshops using FigJam to define brand strategy, values, personas, and positioning, ensuring stakeholder alignment even with limited resources.
- Project Management: Managed the full redesign from conception to testing and iteration, delivering a more cohesive and user-friendly online presence.
- Measurable Impact: My research-driven approach, combining market analysis and strategic branding, resulted in a 48% reduction in bounce rate and delivered positive user feedback. Demonstrated the value of UX by optimizing resources for maximum effect.

Alive, Fit & Free

Context: As the sole Product Researcher for this unpaid project, I led comprehensive market and user research to inform the product launch of a new senior-focused offering. My work directly translated insights into an actionable strategy, overcoming limited resources to drive critical product and brand improvements.

- Research Strategy & Execution: Collaborated with the Product Manager to define objectives, translating product goals into actionable research questions. Conducted gap analysis to select optimal discovery methodologies for market, user, and competitive intelligence.
- Market & User Segmentation: Performed primary and secondary research, including user interviews with seniors, to understand pain points, motivations, and trends across high/low purchase power segments, informing product strategy.
- Competitive Analysis & Positioning: Analyzed 10+ competitors targeting seniors, evaluating offerings, pricing, and market positioning using SWOT analysis to identify opportunities.
- Usability & Brand Optimization: Identified usability challenges and messaging discrepancies through website audits, directly informing a successful brand overhaul by an external agency.
- Product & Brand Enhancement: Offered insights to enhance product offerings, customer experience, and social media presence, translating them into user stories prioritized by the Product Manager.
- Workshop Facilitation & UX Writing: Presented findings to the CEO, leading to workshops on voice & tone. Developed user personas and customer journey maps to guide the UX Designer and Developer. Led efforts in crafting user-friendly buttons and titles aligned with the senior audience and brand messaging.
- Impact & Holistic Approach: Actionable insights unveiled opportunities beyond the core product, encompassing the entire senior ecosystem. This holistic approach directly informed user stories and expanded knowledge of user profiles, demonstrating the value of UX even with minimal resources.

Product Researcher

Hackadme

Context: As the sole UX Researcher for this website revamp unpaid project, I led critical user and market research to drive improved user experience and brand strategy for a small business.

- User Experience Research: Conducted user interviews to gather valuable insights on user needs, behaviours, and pain points. Managed participant recruitment, screening, interview scheduling, and research planning/ preparation.
- Data Analysis & Persona Development: Analysed collected data to create user personas and customer journey maps, guiding design decisions and website revamp effectively.
- Competitive Analysis & Insights: Conducted comprehensive research and competitor analysis to identify customer needs, industry trends, and market gaps using SWOT analysis.
- Workshop Facilitation & Brand Definition: Led a co-creation workshop to define various elements such as vision, mission, values, brand personality, descriptors, target audiences, Golden Circle, positioning statement, value proposition, tagline, voice, tone, and brand voice chart.
- Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement: Proposed enhancements for improved user experience based on research insights. Collaborated with stakeholders using collaborative tools and effective communication to brainstorm low-fidelity wireframes and ensure alignment on design concepts.
- Impact: user research efforts led to a significant impact, resulting in improved user experience, a stronger brand strategy, and enhanced collaboration within the team.

Other / Not Listed

Context: While upskilling and earning certifications as a full-time student, I actively sought out and led unpaid freelance projects as a sole UX Researcher. This experience allowed me to apply learnings in real-world scenarios, equipping diverse clients with crucial insights to inform their digital strategies and enhance user experiences.

- Digital Strategy & Project Leadership: Collaborated with clients to define their digital vision, developing design briefs that outlined project scope, budget, and timelines. Managed projects from inception to delivery, ensuring alignment with client expectations.
- End-to-End Research & Insights: Developed comprehensive research strategies, leveraging market, user (surveys, interviews), and competitor analysis to inform design decisions and uncover unmet needs, behaviors, and motivations.
- Brand & Content Transformation: Facilitated workshops with clients, designers, and marketers to craft compelling value propositions and develop clear, consistent brand identities and messaging strategies. This included defining problem-solution narratives and targeted communication.
- Cross-functional Facilitation: Led ideation sessions, fostering collaboration across clients, designers, marketers, and UX writers to ensure shared understanding and drive cohesive outcomes.
- Impact & Strategic Value: These projects highlighted UX research's impact beyond usability testing. By conducting market analyses, defining target audiences, and testing value propositions, I equipped clients with crucial insights for their digital strategies. This notably resulted in reduced bounce rates, demonstrating how research shaped messaging and features to resonate better with audiences, driving strategic decisions for brand, service, and product success.

Scrum-certified UX Researcher specializing in neuromarketing & digital business optimization. I bring experience across academic publishing, insurance tech (PaaS), marketplaces, automotive, e-commerce, fintech, consulting, startups, agencies, retail, and edtech—supporting B2B, B2C, and hybrid models in the UK, US, and Brazil.
Experienced acting as the sole UX Researcher in several organisations, I’ve taken ownership of the research function from the ground up—embedding user-centred practices, adapting methods to team maturity & constraints, driving initiatives beyond my title's remit in the absence of a formal title. Achievements & experience:
- End-to-end research delivery: Led 12+ projects including usability testing, UX audits, competitor analysis, discovery interviews, and bespoke workshops—tailored to team goals and timelines.
- Cross-functional collaboration: Partnered with product, design, engineering, and marketing teams to turn findings into actionable insights.
- Clarity through communication: Created deliverables and summaries that clarified user challenges & aligned multidisciplinary teams.
- Ethical and compliant practice: Applied research tools & frameworks in line with GDPR and ethical standards, ensuring responsible data handling.
- Team support: Supported junior designers and career changers—sharing UX methods, guiding research thinking, & promoting best practice within fast-paced or early-stage teams.
- Agile environments: Delivered research in agile, iterative settings where continuous learning, collaboration, and quick turnarounds are key.
- UX maturity: Experienced in supporting organisations at earlier stages of UX maturity—helping to introduce user-centred practices, research processes, and the value of user insight.
- Continuous development: Committed to ongoing learning in AI, service design, research ops, and inclusive research practices.

Impact-focused outcomes:
- Reduced search exits by 2% for an automotive marketplace through research-led design improvements.
- Delivered competitor analysis for 10+ firms, informing UX, SEO, and product strategy.
- Ran co-creation sprints with users and developers, cutting design waste by 95% and accelerating feedback loops.
- Reduced 48% bounce rate drop via audit & redesign

- Availability: No visa required for UK/EU roles. Remote preferred. Case studies available on request.
- Toolkit: Azure DevOps, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, Airtable, Dovetail, Notion, Confluence, Jira, Figma, FigJam, Marvel, Miro, Whimsical, Zoom, Teams, Slack, Mentimeter, Mural, SurveyMonkey, ChatGPT.

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