Engagements
Three ways to bring me into the work.
Embed me with the team. Bring me in for a defined problem. Or keep me close for the decisions that need senior judgment.
Ways of working
Leadership, Advisory, or On Call
Leadership
Embed me in the work.
Fractional or embedded design and experience leadership inside an active program.
Leadership in detailAdvisory
Hire me to advise.
Focused guidance around a defined opportunity, challenge, or decision.
Advisory in detailOn Call
Keep me on call.
Ongoing access when important decisions need another experienced point of view.
On Call in detailI work remote-first, directly with brands, embedded with agencies, or alongside internal product and technology teams. Engagements can be project-based, ongoing, fractional, or embedded.
When the work calls for it, I can also bring in a team of trusted partners across research, copy, creative, design, and development. I manage the team, and we deliver.
Not sure which fits?
Start with the problem. We can figure out the right shape from there.
Engagement type 01
Embedded Leadership
I join the team and work inside the program, alongside product, creative, strategy, account, regulatory, research, and development.
This works when you need experienced UX/design leadership on an important project or program without necessarily adding another full-time role.
I work inside your tools, training, and process, not beside them, whether that's an enterprise playbook or a start-up still writing its own. Where the process slows the work, I help refine it.
Typical work: product and experience strategy, UX/CX, service design, information architecture, design systems, prototypes, workshops, and direction for internal or external development teams.
Engagements can be structured by project, week, or program duration.
Engagement type 02
Advisory
Sometimes that's product and experience strategy. Sometimes it's a pitch, blue-sky options, or a voice in the room. Three common shapes:
Strategic Snapshot
A focused read on one well-defined problem, followed by clear options and a recommended path forward. Useful when a program is stuck, a decision is approaching, or leadership needs an outside perspective.
Stakeholder interviews, a review of the work so far, and one deliverable.
Engagement Sprint
A deeper look at a defined challenge using stakeholder conversations, existing evidence, and the work already in motion. The outcome is clarity around what matters, what to do next, and what the team can act on.
Up to 10 interviews with real stakeholders, plus AI-assisted simulations where they help, reported separately. A prioritized roadmap, an executive presentation, and one to two follow-up reviews.
AI Opportunity Diagnostic
A practical look at where AI can improve the way your team works, and where it probably shouldn’t go yet. Vendor-agnostic, grounded in your current workflows, data, and readiness.
A few weeks. The output is a prioritized roadmap, not a vendor list.
Engagement type 03
On Call
Keep me close when you don't need another full-time role, but you do need senior judgment available when important decisions come up.
I can review work, pressure-test a direction, join a key meeting, help frame a problem, or work through a decision with the team before it becomes expensive to change.
Retainers are monthly and scope to the cadence of access you need.
Who I work with
The most useful seat I take in any engagement is the one between the leaders who set direction and the practitioners building toward it. I do my best work when I'm trusted by both.
I work across leadership, product, strategy, creative, research, regulatory, account, analytics, and development teams. Some days that means a conversation with a VP; others it means working directly through a flow, prototype, deck, or build with the people making it.
What I bring to every engagement.
Regulatory awareness.
I know how to work inside real constraints without letting compliance replace clarity.
Interface judgment.
New technology only matters if people understand it, trust it, and use it.
Systems thinking.
I look beyond the screen to the teams, workflows, content, and governance that keep an experience working over time.
How we start.
Initial Conversation
We talk through what’s happening, what’s stuck, what opportunity you see, and whether I can help.
Scoping Conversation
If there’s something worth solving together, we define the problem, people involved, timing, and level of support that makes sense.
Statement of Work
You get a clear scope, approach, timing, and cost before anything starts.
For longer engagements, we step back periodically to review what's working, what's changed, and where the focus should move next.
First call to signed SOW in 2 to 3 weeks, or sooner.
As a UX leader and subject matter expert, he provided essential governance and content strategy for our brand's new design system and platform migration across indications for both HCP and DTC.
Courtney McKnight
Brand Account Manager
Tell me what's stuck.
If you have a product, experience, team, or decision that needs another experienced point of view, let's talk through it.