About

I'm Head of User Experience at Trunk in Manchester, having joined in 2023 and worked up to lead the agency's UX practice: a small, cross-functional team of designers and a researcher, alongside developers and specialist freelancers.

Over 10+ years I've worked across housing, automotive, travel technology, education, healthcare, e-commerce and B2B and B2C services, with clients from SMEs to global enterprise. I'm drawn to where user needs, business goals, content and delivery constraints meet, because that is where the hardest problems, and the most value, sit.

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.

I connect research, strategy, design, technology and commercial objectives so that good thinking survives through to delivery. I establish the standards and ways of working that underpin a UX practice, bring clarity to ambiguous problems, shape journeys and information architecture, and present recommendations to senior stakeholders. I am comfortable challenging assumptions, in constructive, empathetic ways that keep teams aligned and work moving forward.

I have spent the past decade leading multidisciplinary teams and around six years directly managing and developing UX designers and researchers. Alongside my permanent team, I have led larger groups of freelancers, designers, developers, strategists and client stakeholders through complex projects, creating the clarity and structure people need to do their best work.

My approach to management is supportive, direct and deliberately lightweight. I use regular check-ins, one-to-ones and meaningful reviews to establish clear expectations, remove blockers and help people take greater ownership of their work. I have supported people from their first junior role through to becoming confident, trusted mid-weight practitioners, as well as helping recruit permanent team members and assessing hundreds of freelance specialists.

One of my proudest moments was coaching a team member who, when they started, was too anxious to speak in a room of colleagues; through steady support and a lot of hard work on their part, they now plan and run full workshops. The credit is theirs, but helping create the conditions for that development so people can outgrow what they thought they could do is the part of the job that I love.

“James gave me meaningful responsibility while providing the support and guidance I needed to grow. His mentorship gave me a strong foundation and genuinely accelerated my career. James has a great balance of leadership and trust. He empowered me to take ownership of projects while always taking the time to provide constructive feedback, and ensure I was developing in the right direction. I'm incredibly grateful for everything I learned under his leadership.”

As Head of User Experience, I'm responsible for how the agency approaches UX across its work.

I collaborated with developers and designers, creating our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for web work, from research and discovery through to QA and testing, and refocused the team around them. Cutting ad-hoc waste improved both the flow of work and the quality of what we ship, and it is the base I am scaling a larger UX function from.

I've worked with hundreds of clients, from managing directors to in-house teams, matching ambition to budget on everything from tiered proposals to complex problems. I bring AI in where it earns its place: I spearheaded and built our AI UX auditing tool, which makes audits faster and more consistent and opens new commercial opportunities, alongside contributing to the agency's internal AI tech stack.

• 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.

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
• 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.