Hi, I’m a Senior User Researcher and Design Strategist

I lead research that supports cross-functional teams to find and solve the right problems. My contributions challenge them to make the best user-centered design and business decisions.

Here’s what I bring:

• Rigorous research process: protocol development, execution, and impactful follow through via reports, storytelling, and interactive presentations
• Experience using relevant quant data to generate hypotheses answerable by qualitative research; track record using qualitative data to inform new quant metrics
• Superior persuasive and rapport-building skills to forge authentic team relationships and gain trust from participants
• Intrinsic motivation to learn new things such as highly technical domains and fresh UX methods
• Passion for efficient research operations and repositories to reuse insights where relevant across teams and initiatives

Work Experience

Upwork, Inc., San Francisco — Sr. UX Researcher – May 2017-present

Individual Contributor

• UX Researcher embedded in cross functional team conducting a variety of methods on tight timeline
• Worked in close partnership with designer and PM to define research questions
• Devised workshops to assist team to absorb insights and define product roadmap
• Used qualitative data to identify and gain agreement for new behavioral quant metrics
• Mentored junior researchers and evangelized research to product team

Research Operations

• Stood up in-house participant panel; developed procedures, recruiting screeners and email templates
• Developed handbook for non-researchers to recruit and conduct research
• Contributed to organization’s first customer insights database

Managerial (5 months)

• Managed team team of 8 researchers and research ops professionals serving several product lines
• Scoped research projects for junior researchers
• Led hiring of UX Researchers and intern
• Onboarded new researchers
• Vendor selection

 

User Research Principal – 2017-2019

• Freelance researcher supporting start-up and established companies with usability, surveys, research, and business strategy
• Conduct all functions of research including recruitment, methods selection, moderation, analysis, and reporting
• Ongoing clients: Upwork, Inc., and Evernote; others include Stanford Health Care, Siemens Health, Delta Dental of WA, and Brew Ventures.

 

Digital Service Expert, 2016

US Digital Services at Veterans Administration, Remote

• Generalist user experience position in lean start-up environment within US government
• Collaborate with other UX designers and researchers to define design requirements and prototypes
• Conducted background research to understand product requirements
• Analytics gathering to understand user needs and top tasks
• Conducted user research to refine IA, labels, and page flows

 

Sr. Usability Consultant, Health Information,  2011-2016

Permanente Medical Group, Oakland, CA

• Spearheaded usability consulting program to support 20 internal consultants creating in mobile, web, and print
• Led change management activities to promote culture of user-centered design
• Conducted variety of user research activities to evaluate products and define user needs
• Created prototype and iterated based on user testing
• Conducted design review of products to discover usability issues

Product Manager, Health Plan Content,  2007-2011

Kaiser Permanente, Pleasanton, CA

• In Agile development environment, led user story development as product owner for UI team for kaiserpermanente.org
• Developed roadmap of features for selected products
• Led development of microsites for specialized audiences, such as high deductible members
• Defined requirements and prototyped page concepts for new product pitches
• Used web analytics to inform product decisions
• Conducted card sorting, interviews, and usability testing

Serving San Francisco and all places remotely

Resume in PDF

Professional Interests

• BJ Fogg’s Behavior Design
• Group facilitation
• Plain language
• Start-up ventures

Presentations for Staff Development

• Choosing the Right UX Research Methodology, 2013
• Infographics for Health Information, 2014
• Clear and Simple Communication Principles, 2015
• Using Behavior Design for Health Education, 2015

Volunteer

• Slide Rule UX Class – mentor of emerging designers transitioning to UX
• Technology implementation lead for Berkeley community organization

User Research helps

Early stage user needs research

Focus groups

Ethnographic study

Interviews

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