Resume

2022 - 2024

Head of UX (Tyk)

The Product

Tyk is an enterprise-grade B2B API management platform composed of 3 modules for developers, API product managers, platform engineers and SREs. Tyk is provided as both SaaS and on-prem. It is heavily DX-focused, with a UI layer over functional APIs. The main UX challenges are simplifying complex development tasks for those who are unfamiliar with the process, and providing a coherent experience, especially when handing off from one specialism to another.

The Role

Product vision and system-wide UX/UI research and design.
UX team strategy and roadmap, and research and design processes.
Line manager and team lead for 4 to 6 researchers and designers in an organisation of around 150 people.
Approximately 30:70 player coach split, blending active research and design duties with team leadership and mentoring.
Reported to: Head of Product

Achievements

Delivered the first coherent design vision for the product, bringing together three separate modules into a design which met our updated understanding of our Ideal Customer Profiles and their Jobs to be Done. (see example)
Up to 75% reduction in time to go from wireframes to hi-fidelity prototypes, thanks to new Figma design system and components. (see example)
Undertook an overhaul of the docs site for the application, a vital resource for developers; our improvements doubled the SUS.
Significant streamlining of complex user processes. (see example)
Spun out user research from team to form independent product research function, significantly improving understanding of our Ideal Customer Profiles.
Implemented a UX maturity measuring system, allowing the business to understand where the product was underperforming. (see related article)
Updated and formalised research and design processes (e.g. user journeys, JTBD hierarchies, UX reviews and audits), creating consistency and efficiency. (see example)
Started working 'design first', reviewing high-fidelity designs with customers before starting and development work.
Hired three new UX designers into the team, and worked closely with all team members on their professional development plans.
Changed perception of UX in the business; when I started, UX was consulted last, after development. By the time I left, UX was consulted first.

From G2 reviews of Tyk:

"One of the standout features of Tyk API Gateway is its user-friendly interface"
"The overall user experience is excellent"

2021 - 2022

Director of User Interface, eXperience and Accessibility (UIXA) (Arcadis Gen, a subsidiary of Arcadis)

The Products

Arcadis Gen (now an integrated unit of the parent company, Arcadis) has a broad stable of B2B and B2C applications in the asset management space. They ranged from complex, machine-learning driven optimisation tools to relatively straightforward mobile data capture apps. The majority of apps were delivered as SaaS.

The Role

Build and lead Gen's user experience research and design function from scratch.
Deliver a consistent design system and experience across the suite of apps.
Focus on improving accessibility to apps in line with Arcadis' ethical aims.
Additional responsibilities
- Heading up the testing function (~25 members)
- Line management of product managers (carried over from previous role)
Reported to: CTO

Achievements

Created the UIXA function, hiring in 5 team members and forming connections across Arcadis to provide additional technical support (e.g. the UX team in Arcadis North America).
Improved accessibility across apps towards WCAG AA status, achieving this for the majority of apps before I left the business.
Worked closely with branding team to implement Gen's first cross-product design language, which was required to work with products on vastly different tech stacks.
Significantly increased coverage of automated tests in the deployment pipelines of all apps; in some cases, test coverage approached 100%.

2021 - 2022

Chair of the Access and Neurodiversity Employee Affinity Group (Arcadis) (fractional)

A fractional role (20%) carried out alongside the Director of UIXA role (above). Seconded to our parent company to chair one of five newly-created employee affinity groups (EAGs), serving roughly 28,000 Arcadis employees worldwide. It was a huge honour to even be considered for this position, and a pleasure to commit my time to such an important enterprise.

I was fortunate to work with some highly talented, diverse individuals from across Arcadis, building a plan to deliver support and education on a topic close to my own heart. We were able to put in place initiatives to help disabled and neurodivergent Arcadians worldwide, as well as informing the wider workforce on key topics, and working with the other EAGs on delivering collective initiatives.

During this time I was mentored by the future CEO of the Arcadis group, which was an invaluable opportunity to learn from a highly successful yet kind and humble individual.

2020 - 2021

UX-focused Product Manager (Arcadis Gen)

The Product

AppliedInsight is a low-code application sharing platform. It is used by developers of small-scale analytical apps to deliver their applications as SaaS, providing them to a range of customers. Apps are developed as low-code packets of R or Python scripts, uploaded to the platform and purchased through a marketplace. Apps are typically B2B, with some more akin to B2C.

The Role

Deliver the AppliedInsight platform from the ground up, designing its behaviour, look and feel, technical competencies, hosting, and so on. Collaborate closely with technical and product marketing departments to create a compelling, capable and deliverable vision.
Focus heavily on usability and simplification, to tackle the perception that analytical apps in the asset investment planning market are hard to use.
Manage a development team to deliver the platform (i.e. product ownership as well as management), including selecting or hiring all team members (it's not often you get the change to build your dream team!).
Collaborate on launching, marketing and selling the platform.
Oversee an app development team to provide initial apps for the platform based on an existing stable of analytical solutions.
Additional role as coach and mentor for other product managers.
Reported to: CTO

Achievements

Took the platform from concept, through strategic design, to delivery.
Launched the platform with an initial series of apps (including overseeing their creation).
Built an additional team (including hiring app developers and a product owner) which developed the initial set of apps for the platform.
Generated a brand-aligned design language for the platform and apps, providing styling assets and guidelines to app developers.
My work here led to an invitation to build a UX function for the business (see above).

2016 - 2020

Product Manager (SEAMS)

The Product

Enterprise Decision Analytics is a B2B enterprise-grade SaaS platform which uses advanced analytical and optimisation technologies (including genetic algorithms and linear optimisation) to predict the future degradation of physical assets (e.g. train lines and associated systems, or pipe networks for water, sewage or gas), and then design an optimised programme of investment to deliver business goals (performance improvements, cost caps, etc.).

The Role

Own and deliver the vision for the EDA platform
Collaborate with key stakeholders and the board to ensure that everything was in place to support development.
Manage the development roadmap and report regularly to the board on progress.
Research customer business and individual users and deliver an experience in line with their wants and needs.
Collaborate closely with key customers on major features, ensuring that they met needs.
Deliver a product in line with industry regulations for reporting.
Reported to: Director of Technology

Achievements

Successfully managed the development of the product from concept to launch
Created, groomed and handed over the backlog to the development manager.
Delivered a product which was successful enough to attract investment and eventually lead to the purchase of the business by Arcadis.

2012 - 2016

Principal Consultant (Product Design) (SEAMS)

An internal consultancy role, reporting to the Director of Technology. The role was similar to a business analyst, providing input on the voice of the user during the creation of a new product vision, and then on into the development of the product. This role would naturally evolve into a product management position.

The overarching need was for a highly customer focused employee to drive evolution of the product, supporting the Director of Technology in designing the next iteration of our organisation's software offering, both changing its deployment from Windows to cloud-native, and significantly expanding its capabilities with a series of 'wraparound' features supporting the core capability (which was non-linear optimisation of long term asset investment planning; quite a mouthful!).

My role involved ensuring that I spent plenty of time with our customers (which I was already doing in my training role - see below) and around the industry, understanding our users' main JTBD and pain points with both our current offering, and those of our competitors. This was the first time I came to understand just how much I loved UX and product design.

2008 - 2012

Training Manager (SEAMS)

My initial interest in this role was the opportunity to spend time with our customers, relieving any pains they might have from using our software, which at the time was primarily for in-house use by our consultants, and therefore could get away with being esoteric. I simply enjoyed spending time with users, hearing about their pain points and ambitions, and working out what we could change to make them happy.

In hindsight, this was my introduction to the world of UX research and design. I started working more closely with the software arm of the business, feeding back possible improvements to both functionality and usability.

2007 - 2008

Analyst and Senior Analyst (SEAMS)

My first roles in the tech sector were writing analytical scripts and preparing reports for customers of SEAMS' WiLCO platform.