About

I'm looking for a Head of User Experience role where UX has real influence over product, service and digital experience direction.

That means leading research-led experience strategy, shaping complex journeys, aligning stakeholders, improving delivery quality and helping organisations make better digital decisions. I'm also open to closely related senior roles.

Potential role titles include:

• Head of User Experience
• Head of Product Experience
• Experience Strategy Director
• Principal UX Consultant
• Director of UX & Research

I'm less interested in roles that are only about producing interface work. I'm more interested in roles where UX helps the organisation understand what to do, why it matters and how to deliver it well.

I'm currently Head of User Experience at Trunk in Manchester, having joined in 2023 and worked my way up to lead the agency's UX practice. I lead a small, cross-functional team of designers and a researcher, working with developers and specialist freelancers, across complex websites, portals and digital products.

Over the last 10+ years, I've worked across sectors including housing, automotive, travel technology, education, healthcare, e-commerce, B2B and B2C services and commercial websites, with clients from SMEs to global enterprise.

I'm particularly interested in the point where user needs, business goals, content, technology and delivery constraints meet. That is usually where the hardest problems sit, and where good UX thinking can create the most value.

Clients I've worked with across my career include Autotrader, Everton, Jack Daniels, Just Childcare, Kia, L'Oréal, NHS, PHS Group, Sale Sharks, Santander, University of Manchester, Volkswagen, Walgreens and Boots, Wythenshawe Community Housing and many more.

As Head of User Experience, I lead and manage a small, cross-functional UX team of designers and a researcher, working with developers and specialist freelancers, and I'm responsible for how the agency approaches UX.

Working with other department heads, I reshaped the agency's approach to discovery and UX projects and built a full standard operating process for web work, from research and discovery through to QA and testing. Refocusing the team around repeatable process, cutting waste and improving efficiency lifted both the flow and the output of work.

That work has helped establish Trunk as a recognised, go-to agency for UX.

I'm known for bringing structure to ambiguous problems.

That can mean shaping a discovery phase, challenging a weak brief, turning research into clear recommendations, helping a client understand why a journey is failing, or improving how UX quality is protected through design and development.

I try to make UX practical, not theoretical. The work has to be clear enough for stakeholders to support, useful enough for design and development teams to act on, and grounded enough to improve the experience for real users.

I collaborate closely with researchers, designers, developers, product owners, project managers, client teams and senior stakeholders. A lot of my value comes from translating complex ideas across disciplines, so research and strategy connect with design and development, and recommendations turn into action that delivers real change.

Managing and developing people is central to how I work. I set clear direction, give designers and researchers the autonomy and support to do their best work, and mentor the team to grow their craft and confidence. I care about a calm, collaborative culture where people feel able to question, contribute and move quickly.

I'm comfortable challenging assumptions, but I always care about keeping teams moving and bringing people with me. I don't see UX as a blocker or a gatekeeper. Done well, it reduces uncertainty, makes trade-offs clearer and helps everyone make better decisions, faster.

My strengths include:

• Managing an in-house UX team and specialist freelancers
• Building UX process, standards and ways of working across an agency
• Framing complex problems and shaping discovery and research
• Turning findings into practical recommendations
• Shaping IA, journeys and template direction
• Presenting UX rationale to senior stakeholders
• Improving UX standards and delivery quality
• Mentoring researchers and designers
• Connecting user needs to commercial and operational goals

• Nielsen Norman Group (NNg) - UX Certified, with specialisms in UX Research & AI, Qualitative Analysis, Usability Study Best Practice, Journey Mapping and Information Architecture
• Winner: Digital Transformation, Housing Technology Awards (for the WCHG website, tenant portal and app)
• Winner: Small Digital Agency of the Year, MPA Awards (with the team at Platform81)
• Shortlisted: Best User Experience, Big Chip Awards

• MA, Design & Art Direction

  Manchester Metropolitan University

  A master's specialising in web and UX conventions, responsive design and brand-first impressions, achieving three distinctions and two merits across five units.

• BA (Hons) Creative Advertising

  University of Central Lancashire

  Graduated with a high 2:1.