Team Leadership
How I Built a UX Organization That Survived Private Equity, Layoffs, and Leadership Change
How I Built a UX Organization That Survived Private Equity, Layoffs, and Leadership Change
Role
Director of UX → Vice President of UX → Interim CPO
Context
Post–private equity acquisition communications platform operating across FCC-regulated B2C services and enterprise B2B products, supporting in-person and remote interpretation and transcription globally.
Mandate
Build a UX organization, research function, and operating model from zero inside a historically engineering-led company.
Scope
Hired and led 7 designers and 6 researchers over 3 years
Partnered with 12 product triads and hundreds of engineers
Supported 20+ products and platforms across web, mobile, and embedded systems
Worked within strict legal, security, and FCC constraints
Outcomes
UX embedded earlier in product decisions
Product and Engineering shifted UX upstream, reducing late-stage reversals and wasted engineering effort.
75% increase in research-backed launches
Teams shipped fewer speculative features and prioritized work with clear evidence it would be used.
25–30% reduction in design-to-release cycles
Research-backed alignment replaced opinion-driven debate, accelerating delivery without sacrificing quality.
Research, analytics, and design systems became shared product infrastructure
A single source of truth across 20+ platforms reduced inconsistency, rework, and compliance risk.
Leadership Pressure Test
UX continued operating without disruption after leadership changes, proving the model was durable and not personality-driven.
The Business Problem
Following a private equity acquisition, the company was operating in a highly regulated environment where accessibility failures carried legal, financial, and reputational consequences.
Product decisions, however, were still driven largely by executive opinion.
There was:
No UX strategy
No formal research practice
No product analytics beyond minutes billed to the FCC
No shared design language across products
Engineering teams worked independently, optimizing for delivery speed rather than outcomes. Features shipped inconsistently across platforms. Teams were busy, but progress was slow. Opportunities were missed, and risk increased.
Leadership believed the business understood its users because it could measure usage.
What was missing was insight into how people moved through workflows, where friction occurred, and why certain features failed to deliver value.
Without changing how decisions were made, the company would continue investing in work without clear evidence it solved real problems.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
My Mandate and Constraints
I was hired to build UX from the ground up.
At the outset, I had no authority over what features were built or how work was prioritized. UX was treated as a downstream function. Engineering and product decisions were already set by the time design became involved.
The challenge was not about resourcing, as much as it was credibility. UX needed to demonstrate value in a way that changed how teams planned, not just how interfaces looked.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
Strategic Bets
01.
Research and Data as a Requirement
The first and most important decision was to make research and product data a prerequisite for decision-making, even when that slowed teams down.
This meant:
Introducing user research before features were approved
Expanding feedback sources to include interpreters, support teams, and operational staff
Implementing product analytics to understand journeys and failure points, not just usage totals
Engineering teams believed existing metrics were sufficient. Legal and security teams were cautious about instrumentation. Executives were used to moving quickly based on experience.
We moved forward anyway, because without evidence, speed was producing rework.
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
02.
02.
Representing UX at the Executive Level
Rather than waiting to be invited, I made UX visible in executive discussions.
I built direct relationships with leaders, framed user issues in terms of operational risk and revenue impact, and brought concrete evidence into conversations that previously relied on opinion.
UX stopped being viewed as a delivery function, and it became part of how decisions were evaluated. That shift had a greater effect on product and engineering behavior than any process document.
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
03.
03.
Building Systems That Scaled
Instead of focusing on individual wins, I prioritized infrastructure that could support multiple teams and products.
That included:
A research pipeline that worked within privacy and regulatory limits
Design checkpoints integrated into delivery workflows
A shared design system adopted across 20+ platforms
The goal was consistency and reliability, and not getting paralyzed by perfection.
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
04.
04.
The Customer Portal Decision
One debated initiative was building a self-service portal for enterprise customers to request interpreters, replacing a manual call- and email-based workflow.
Many stakeholders believed the existing process was adequate. Beta testing with smaller, high-volume enterprise customers showed clear improvements in customer satisfaction and request success.
Later, while serving as Interim CPO, I made the decision to pause further investment in the portal due to cost constraints and organizational readiness. That allowed product, design, and research teams to be redirected to higher-priority work and preserved roles during restructuring.
Both decisions were appropriate given the context at the time.
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What Changed
UX became involved earlier in planning and prioritization
Product teams relied less on opinion and more on evidence
Research informed roadmap decisions
Design systems reduced fragmentation and rework
Design-to-release cycles improved by 25–30%
UX shifted from a support role to a decision partner.
What Continued After I Left
After additional rounds of layoffs:
The UX team remained intact
Research practices continued
Product decisions still required evidence
Competitive analysis and usage insights remained standard inputs
The work endured because it was built into how the company operated.
Why This Matters
UX proves its value when it becomes difficult to remove.
The goal wasn’t to build a team that needed constant defense. It was to build systems that made better decisions the default.
That’s the kind of work I aim to do.
More Projects
Team Leadership
How I Built a UX Organization That Survived Private Equity, Layoffs, and Leadership Change
How I Built a UX Organization That Survived Private Equity, Layoffs, and Leadership Change
Role
Director of UX → Vice President of UX → Interim CPO
Context
Post–private equity acquisition communications platform operating across FCC-regulated B2C services and enterprise B2B products, supporting in-person and remote interpretation and transcription globally.
Mandate
Build a UX organization, research function, and operating model from zero inside a historically engineering-led company.
Scope
Hired and led 7 designers and 6 researchers over 3 years
Partnered with 12 product triads and hundreds of engineers
Supported 20+ products and platforms across web, mobile, and embedded systems
Worked within strict legal, security, and FCC constraints
Outcomes
UX embedded earlier in product decisions
Product and Engineering shifted UX upstream, reducing late-stage reversals and wasted engineering effort.
75% increase in research-backed launches
Teams shipped fewer speculative features and prioritized work with clear evidence it would be used.
25–30% reduction in design-to-release cycles
Research-backed alignment replaced opinion-driven debate, accelerating delivery without sacrificing quality.
Research, analytics, and design systems became shared product infrastructure
A single source of truth across 20+ platforms reduced inconsistency, rework, and compliance risk.
Leadership Pressure Test
UX continued operating without disruption after leadership changes, proving the model was durable and not personality-driven.
The Business Problem
Following a private equity acquisition, the company was operating in a highly regulated environment where accessibility failures carried legal, financial, and reputational consequences.
Product decisions, however, were still driven largely by executive opinion.
There was:
No UX strategy
No formal research practice
No product analytics beyond minutes billed to the FCC
No shared design language across products
Engineering teams worked independently, optimizing for delivery speed rather than outcomes. Features shipped inconsistently across platforms. Teams were busy, but progress was slow. Opportunities were missed, and risk increased.
Leadership believed the business understood its users because it could measure usage.
What was missing was insight into how people moved through workflows, where friction occurred, and why certain features failed to deliver value.
Without changing how decisions were made, the company would continue investing in work without clear evidence it solved real problems.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
My Mandate and Constraints
I was hired to build UX from the ground up.
At the outset, I had no authority over what features were built or how work was prioritized. UX was treated as a downstream function. Engineering and product decisions were already set by the time design became involved.
The challenge was not about resourcing, as much as it was credibility. UX needed to demonstrate value in a way that changed how teams planned, not just how interfaces looked.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
Strategic Bets
01.
Research and Data as a Requirement
The first and most important decision was to make research and product data a prerequisite for decision-making, even when that slowed teams down.
This meant:
Introducing user research before features were approved
Expanding feedback sources to include interpreters, support teams, and operational staff
Implementing product analytics to understand journeys and failure points, not just usage totals
Engineering teams believed existing metrics were sufficient. Legal and security teams were cautious about instrumentation. Executives were used to moving quickly based on experience.
We moved forward anyway, because without evidence, speed was producing rework.
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
02.
02.
Representing UX at the Executive Level
Rather than waiting to be invited, I made UX visible in executive discussions.
I built direct relationships with leaders, framed user issues in terms of operational risk and revenue impact, and brought concrete evidence into conversations that previously relied on opinion.
UX stopped being viewed as a delivery function, and it became part of how decisions were evaluated. That shift had a greater effect on product and engineering behavior than any process document.
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
03.
03.
Building Systems That Scaled
Instead of focusing on individual wins, I prioritized infrastructure that could support multiple teams and products.
That included:
A research pipeline that worked within privacy and regulatory limits
Design checkpoints integrated into delivery workflows
A shared design system adopted across 20+ platforms
The goal was consistency and reliability, and not getting paralyzed by perfection.
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
04.
04.
The Customer Portal Decision
One debated initiative was building a self-service portal for enterprise customers to request interpreters, replacing a manual call- and email-based workflow.
Many stakeholders believed the existing process was adequate. Beta testing with smaller, high-volume enterprise customers showed clear improvements in customer satisfaction and request success.
Later, while serving as Interim CPO, I made the decision to pause further investment in the portal due to cost constraints and organizational readiness. That allowed product, design, and research teams to be redirected to higher-priority work and preserved roles during restructuring.
Both decisions were appropriate given the context at the time.
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What Changed
UX became involved earlier in planning and prioritization
Product teams relied less on opinion and more on evidence
Research informed roadmap decisions
Design systems reduced fragmentation and rework
Design-to-release cycles improved by 25–30%
UX shifted from a support role to a decision partner.
What Continued After I Left
After additional rounds of layoffs:
The UX team remained intact
Research practices continued
Product decisions still required evidence
Competitive analysis and usage insights remained standard inputs
The work endured because it was built into how the company operated.
Why This Matters
UX proves its value when it becomes difficult to remove.
The goal wasn’t to build a team that needed constant defense. It was to build systems that made better decisions the default.
That’s the kind of work I aim to do.
More Projects
Team Leadership
How I Built a UX Organization That Survived Private Equity, Layoffs, and Leadership Change
How I Built a UX Organization That Survived Private Equity, Layoffs, and Leadership Change
Role
Director of UX → Vice President of UX → Interim CPO
Context
Post–private equity acquisition communications platform operating across FCC-regulated B2C services and enterprise B2B products, supporting in-person and remote interpretation and transcription globally.
Mandate
Build a UX organization, research function, and operating model from zero inside a historically engineering-led company.
Scope
Hired and led 7 designers and 6 researchers over 3 years
Partnered with 12 product triads and hundreds of engineers
Supported 20+ products and platforms across web, mobile, and embedded systems
Worked within strict legal, security, and FCC constraints
Outcomes
UX embedded earlier in product decisions
Product and Engineering shifted UX upstream, reducing late-stage reversals and wasted engineering effort.
75% increase in research-backed launches
Teams shipped fewer speculative features and prioritized work with clear evidence it would be used.
25–30% reduction in design-to-release cycles
Research-backed alignment replaced opinion-driven debate, accelerating delivery without sacrificing quality.
Research, analytics, and design systems became shared product infrastructure
A single source of truth across 20+ platforms reduced inconsistency, rework, and compliance risk.
Leadership Pressure Test
UX continued operating without disruption after leadership changes, proving the model was durable and not personality-driven.
The Business Problem
Following a private equity acquisition, the company was operating in a highly regulated environment where accessibility failures carried legal, financial, and reputational consequences.
Product decisions, however, were still driven largely by executive opinion.
There was:
No UX strategy
No formal research practice
No product analytics beyond minutes billed to the FCC
No shared design language across products
Engineering teams worked independently, optimizing for delivery speed rather than outcomes. Features shipped inconsistently across platforms. Teams were busy, but progress was slow. Opportunities were missed, and risk increased.
Leadership believed the business understood its users because it could measure usage.
What was missing was insight into how people moved through workflows, where friction occurred, and why certain features failed to deliver value.
Without changing how decisions were made, the company would continue investing in work without clear evidence it solved real problems.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
Built the UX team from scratch, led strategy, and integrated research into every stage of the product lifecycle.
My Mandate and Constraints
I was hired to build UX from the ground up.
At the outset, I had no authority over what features were built or how work was prioritized. UX was treated as a downstream function. Engineering and product decisions were already set by the time design became involved.
The challenge was not about resourcing, as much as it was credibility. UX needed to demonstrate value in a way that changed how teams planned, not just how interfaces looked.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
The UX team stopped being “those people who make things pretty” and became trusted strategic partners.
Strategic Bets
01.
Research and Data as a Requirement
The first and most important decision was to make research and product data a prerequisite for decision-making, even when that slowed teams down.
This meant:
Introducing user research before features were approved
Expanding feedback sources to include interpreters, support teams, and operational staff
Implementing product analytics to understand journeys and failure points, not just usage totals
Engineering teams believed existing metrics were sufficient. Legal and security teams were cautious about instrumentation. Executives were used to moving quickly based on experience.
We moved forward anyway, because without evidence, speed was producing rework.
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What this looked like in practice
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
02.
02.
Representing UX at the Executive Level
Rather than waiting to be invited, I made UX visible in executive discussions.
I built direct relationships with leaders, framed user issues in terms of operational risk and revenue impact, and brought concrete evidence into conversations that previously relied on opinion.
UX stopped being viewed as a delivery function, and it became part of how decisions were evaluated. That shift had a greater effect on product and engineering behavior than any process document.
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
How influence was built
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
03.
03.
Building Systems That Scaled
Instead of focusing on individual wins, I prioritized infrastructure that could support multiple teams and products.
That included:
A research pipeline that worked within privacy and regulatory limits
Design checkpoints integrated into delivery workflows
A shared design system adopted across 20+ platforms
The goal was consistency and reliability, and not getting paralyzed by perfection.
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Design system impact
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
04.
04.
The Customer Portal Decision
One debated initiative was building a self-service portal for enterprise customers to request interpreters, replacing a manual call- and email-based workflow.
Many stakeholders believed the existing process was adequate. Beta testing with smaller, high-volume enterprise customers showed clear improvements in customer satisfaction and request success.
Later, while serving as Interim CPO, I made the decision to pause further investment in the portal due to cost constraints and organizational readiness. That allowed product, design, and research teams to be redirected to higher-priority work and preserved roles during restructuring.
Both decisions were appropriate given the context at the time.
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
Why this tradeoff mattered
Wireframing and prototyping
User Interface design for web and mobile apps
Usability testing and user feedback analysis
Interaction design and micro-animations
What Changed
UX became involved earlier in planning and prioritization
Product teams relied less on opinion and more on evidence
Research informed roadmap decisions
Design systems reduced fragmentation and rework
Design-to-release cycles improved by 25–30%
UX shifted from a support role to a decision partner.
What Continued After I Left
After additional rounds of layoffs:
The UX team remained intact
Research practices continued
Product decisions still required evidence
Competitive analysis and usage insights remained standard inputs
The work endured because it was built into how the company operated.
Why This Matters
UX proves its value when it becomes difficult to remove.
The goal wasn’t to build a team that needed constant defense. It was to build systems that made better decisions the default.
That’s the kind of work I aim to do.