Lead Product Designer / User Researcher with 17 years experience
Professional summary
A Lead Product Designer / User Researcher with 17 years of experience and expertise across UX Design, Product Design, Information Architecture, User Research & Service Design.
Extensive experience working with major brands across diverse sectors, including e-commerce (Selfridges, John Lewis, Adidas, M&S), finance (Barclays, Coutts), healthcare (AstraZeneca), insurance (Aviva, Zurich), government (Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence), and transportation (National Rail, Transport for London).
Proven expertise in product design, balancing user needs with business goals and technical constraints to deliver intuitive, scalable, and engaging digital products.
Solid track record in UX Design delivering high quality user journeys, wireframes, prototypes & sitemaps and working with design systems to create hi-fidelity designs.
Skilled in a range of research methods, including competitor analysis, UX audits, user interviews, and both remote and in-person user testing, ensuring design recommendations are backed by real data.
Combines design expertise with business analysis skills to align stakeholders and create clear, actionable backlogs, ensuring projects stay on track and deliver results.
Natural ability to build relationships with stakeholders at all levels, facilitate workshops, and lead discussions that drive consensus, even among large and diverse groups.
Comfortable working in Agile, Lean, and Design Sprint environments, adapting easily to different project setups to keep things moving smoothly and deliver results across varied timelines.
Skills profile
Discover: User research, empathy mapping, heuristic evaluations, competitor reviews, content audits, cognitive walkthroughs, workshop design & facilitation, stakeholder interviews, requirements gathering & prioritisation, affinity mapping, insight generation, persona development, card sorting, tree testing.
Define: Problem definition, user stories & scenarios, creating hypotheses, experience/journey mapping, service blueprints, storyboards, information architecture, sitemaps, user flows.
Design & Test: Co-design, brainstorming, sketching, wireframing, prototyping, interaction design, service design, usability testing, working with design systems to create designs.
Build: Refinement sessions, design & accessibility QA, continued usability testing & iterative design updates, ongoing upkeep of user stories in Jira.
Tools profile
Design: Figma, Sketch, Axure, Balsamiq
Insights: Google Analytics, Hot Jar, Adobe Analytics
Research: Lookback, User Interviews, Lyssna, Useberry, Optimal Sort, Calendly, Dovetail, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot
Collaboration: Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Miro, MURAL, FigJam, Lucidchart, Jamboard
Accessibility Testing: Wave, Color Oracle, Stark (Figma plugin)
Project / Documentation: Confluence, Jira, Trello, Microsoft 365, Google Docs
Here's what clients & colleagues have to say
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![Headshot of Hilary Stephenson]()
“Honestly one of the best UX consultants I’ve worked with....Her ability to engage, impress, and encourage stakeholders has really pushed our projects and methods forward.”
Hilary Stephenson, Managing Director at Nexer Digital (Worked together May 2023 – October 2024)
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![Headshot of Chris Bush]()
“Catriona has a brilliant ability to encourage the team to explore new ideas and approaches, fostering an environment of innovation and collaboration.”
Chris Bush, Head of Design at Nexer
(Worked together May 2023 – October 2024) -
![Headshot of Tracy Marshall]()
“She has an amazing ability to get a solid understanding of complex problems fast.”
Tracy Marshall, UX Design Team Lead at Nexer Digital (Worked together May 2023 – October 2024)
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![Headshot of Chris Scull]()
"Her quality of work, proactive attitude, and deep knowledge of various UX activities mark her out as an experience designer straight out of the top drawer."
Chris Scull, UX Director at Wunderman Thompson
(Worked together January 2019 – August 2019) -
![Headshot of Catherine Walker]()
“Cat will get to the bottom of the problem, no matter how complex, and find logic and patterns.”
Catherine Walker, Senior Digital Project Manager at CX Partners
(Worked together July 2022 – March 2023) -
![Headshot of Ian Huckvvale]()
"Her collaborative approach to problem-solving and her general work ethic have been very impressive."
Ian Huckvale, Principal UX Consultant at Valtech
(Worked together March 2021 – June 2022) -
![Headshot of Leena Pankhania]()
"Her energy and enthusiasm paired with her knowledge and passion for UX design and user research is inspiring to work with."
Leena Pankhania, Senior Product Manager at John Lewis
(Worked together August 2019 – March 2021) -
![Headshot of Siobhan Davies]()
"She delivered on-the-spot solutions in workshops which enabled us to reach consensus among a diverse group of 50+ stakeholders and build a business case for the project."
Siobhan Davies, Client at Newton Investment Management
(Worked together in 2016) -
![Headshot of Arvind Strobel Lall]()
"She was pivotal in helping set up processes and ways of working on new projects."
Arvind Strobel Lall, Creative and UX Design Director at Wunderman Thompson
(Worked together January 2019 – August 2019) -
![Headshot of Saul Sampson]()
"Her attention to detail and proactive approach helped us meet extremely tight deadlines."
Saul Sampson, Business Analyst at Wunderman Thompson
(Worked together January 2019 – August 2019) -
![Headshot of Rafael Freitas]()
"She grasped the business quickly and offered innovative solutions."
Rafael Freitas, Product Owner at Wunderman Thompson
(Worked together January 2019 – August 2019)
