‍‍My Expertise:
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As the Lead UX Designer in a large 25-person Agile team, I successfully secured the project with the winning pitch and led the transformation. Operating with a challenging 1:25 designer-to-team ratio, my expertise spanned intense design leadership and organisational change:
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• Strategic Transformation:
  ‍Successfully guided executives to embrace human-centred design (HCD), shifting the perception of design from a decorative function to a core business strategy.
• Design & Delivery Leadership:
  ‍Led the end-to-end conceptualisation and design of the complex new platform, ensuring brand cohesion and rigorous alignment across disparate user groups.
• Cultural Upskilling:
  ‍Devised and executed an "Intensive Research Blitz" to rapidly gather insights, simultaneously training staff volunteers in customer interview techniques to build sustainable, in-house design maturity.
• Evidence-Based Design:
  ‍Personally conducted extensive customer research, ran usability sessions, and created prototypes to ground every design decision in evidence.

‍‍The challenge:
The admissions service faced the dual challenge of managing technical debt from a 20-year-old system while attempting a significant cultural shift. The core problem was: How could we design a future-proof, user-friendly platform that met complex institutional requirements and validated user needs, all while fundamentally transforming the organisational culture towards customer-centricity? The sheer size of the delivery team (25 people) and the lack of existing design maturity compounded the pressure.
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‍‍The Approach:
Due to the limited time and the 1:25 designer-to-team ratio, a standard approach was not feasible. I introduced and executed an 8-Day Intensive Research Blitz to rapidly gather data and empower the wider team.

‍Rally for Action:
I successfully communicated that customer insights were non-negotiable for project success, securing buy-in from the delivery, customer engagement, and marketing teams.

‍Upskilling and Scaling:
I trained enthusiastic client staff volunteers in essential customer interview techniques, pairing them with experienced team members. This collaborative model not only accelerated data collection but directly raised the client’s design maturity and established continuous feedback loops.

‍Data Collection:
The Blitz yielded rich, actionable data, including 19 one-on-one customer interviews, 305 customer observations, and 1 co-design workshop. This rapid, inclusive approach immediately validated user needs and pain points.
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