Sounds like you
“Our design or research lead just left, and the team needs direction, not drift, during the backfill.”
“We have a team to keep busy and pointed at the right problems, not waiting on a hire.”
“We do not actually know who our customer is yet, and we are building anyway.”
“The product drifted off its MVP values and needs re-anchoring to what actually matters.”
“We need to re-evaluate this app's purpose and where the real opportunity is.”
“We need one study done right, without standing up a permanent role to do it.”
The problem
A leaderless design or research function does not pause. It drifts.
When the lead seat goes empty, the work does not stop, it just loses its compass. The team stays busy on the wrong problems, the customer stays undefined, and the product quietly drifts from the values that made it worth building. You do not always need a permanent hire to fix that. Sometimes you need someone senior to hold the seat for a stretch, or to run one study right, and then step away.
Who it is for
What you get
A full-strength research and design practice, on loan.
- Discovery and generative research. User and stakeholder interviews and panel methodology: the work that tells you what to build before you build it.
- Evaluative research. Usability testing, prototype validation, and the decisioning rubrics that turn findings into go or no-go calls.
- Journey maps and service blueprints. The whole flow, including where an AI agent acts and where a human stays in the loop.
- Qualitative and quantitative together. Moderated sessions and synthesis on one side, surveys, statistical read, and A/B signal on the other.
- Taxonomy and information architecture. Card sorting, tree testing, and content structure your team and your search can both navigate.
- A team that is stronger when I leave. Mentored researchers and product owners, documented methods, a practice that outlasts the engagement.
In-house, not a deck
This is real leadership history, not a methods slide. At U.S. Bank I managed a UX team of six to seven inside the omnichannel mortgage division and fed lab research straight into planning. At Principal Financial I sat on the senior leadership team as UX research lead, ran more than 150 end-user interviews myself, and mentored seven people across four workstreams. At GE Digital I broke an eight-year research stalemate and trained newer researchers on interview method. At BMW I led the company's UX leaders through Cooper School service-design training and helped them turn it into daily practice. Earlier I grew Catalyst Studios from one person to more than twenty over seven years, running qualitative and quantitative research for enterprise clients. More than twenty years of this, now paired with hands-on AI delivery.
How it works
Define the gap
A 30 minute call. Is this seat coverage while you hire, or one bounded study with an end date.
Point the team
Get the team on the right problems fast: the customer defined, the MVP values back in view.
Run the work
Interviews, journey maps, usability, taxonomy. Qual and quant, generative and evaluative, as the question needs.
Hand it back clean
Documented methods, mentored people, clear findings. When the role is filled or the study lands, I step away.
Questions
Is this a permanent role? I only need someone for a stretch. +
Can you do both qualitative and quantitative research? +
What can you actually run, start to finish? +
How is this priced? +
Tell me what your team needs while the seat is open.
A 30 minute call, no deck, no pitch. We figure out whether you need seat coverage or one focused study, and whether I am the right hand for it.