Great products help us work, play, care, and thrive.
We live in a time of uncertainty, but design can help people thrive despite change. My passion is designing products that connect, engage, tame complexity, and create impact. I’m a design leader focused on creating products that create impact and delight. This site details some of my design work, writing and art that explore how we can help people heal.
I bring experience leading UX and service design, research, and product management on cross-functional Agile teams for enterprise, governments, non-profits, and startups in multiple sectors. I partner with organizations and communities to identify pain points, hidden opportunities, and create products using a data-driven approach to ensure we create the right thing the right way. I help identify manage risk to build, test, measure, and evaluate for 0-1 and existing products, prioritizing feedback and ensure that innovation scales out ethically.
I’ve managed multiple teams, launched successfully at clients like the City of New York, Tesla, and the VA, taught user research, presented on speculative design in research, been published online, spoken about how to get into civic tech, and mentored junior designers. I’m an evangelist for inclusive and trauma-informed design, neurodiversity, and human-centered systems of care, and I’m not afraid of wicked problems.
If it helps people experience joy, connection, and resilience, I want to know about it, help build it, experience it, and share it.
I’m currently open to Head of Design, Lead or Principal-level roles primarily in San Francisco, New York or London, and am looking for the right team working on an incredible product or product(s) that help people thrive.
Skills
Research
- Generative discovery research
- Formative evaluative research (usability testing – planning, testing, findings)
Product Mgt.
- Product roadmap definition and execution Relationship/Stakeholder management
- Strategy – identifying features and metrics
- Additional skills as a project manager
Design
- Wireframes, mockups, prototypes and other deliverables (sitemaps etc.)
- Collaboration and partnership with delivery teams
- Leadership (mentorship, performance evaluation, business development)
Highlights
Civic Hall Labs
Director of Product Design
Product Management: Created product roadmap ReferNYC Open Data Exchange, helping the City of New York manage its health and human services provider Open Data
Participatory Design: Led research with Federated group of community nonprofit service providers
Leadership: Managed offshore vendor building tech building Data Exchange, APIs and more.
• View case study •
Thoughtworks
Lead Designer and Researcher
Product Management: Created product roadmap ReferNYC Open Data Exchange, helping the City of New York manage its health and human services provider Open Data
Participatory Design: Led research with Federated group of community non profit service providers
Leadership: Managed offshore vendor building tech building Data Exchange, APIs and more.
• View case study •
Additional experience: My portfolio covers both corporate work and graduate school work; examples of work for clients like CNN, Delta, Tesla, and others is available as necessary.
Recommendations
I’ve been blessed to work with amazing people in my career, including:
“Rachel is the ultimate user advocate. She takes the necessary time to truly understand the target audience and their needs. Taking a deeply empathic approach to her work, she designs site architectures and wireframes that resonate with her target audience. Rachel’s creativity and willingness to explore alternative approaches enables her to go beyond the standard boxes and arrows. Working with Rachel was a joy and a pleasure”
– Jason Kondo, Director, Product Design at Zuora
“Rachel was an outstanding contributor on a number of projects, providing her deep knowledge of user experience, interaction design, and information architecture to our client engagements. Her insights were valued for being clear and actionable and she delivered her work on time and on budget. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Rachel again”
– Ted Shelton, Chief Operating Officer Inflection AI, Inc.
“I have had the pleasure of working closely with Rachel on a challenging and innovative project. Rachel is a highly skilled and dedicated product manager who consistently impressed me with her expertise and leadership. She is a true visionary when it comes to product strategy and development. She has an exceptional ability to translate complex ideas into clear, actionable plans. Under her guidance, we successfully launched the Product. What sets her apart is her talent for bringing cross-functional teams together. Her clear communication and collaborative spirit helped us navigate complex projects, resulting in a product that met and exceeded customer expectations. Her adaptability and problem-solving skills were especially valuable when we encountered unforeseen challenges. She is not only a strategic thinker but also an inspiring leader. She has a unique ability to motivate and guide the team, fostering a positive and productive work environment. Her dedication to our project was evident every day. I wholeheartedly recommend her to any organization in need of a dynamic and results-driven product manager. She is a valuable asset to any team, and I am confident that her future endeavors will be marked by the same level of success and excellence that I have witnessed firsthand. She comes with my highest recommendation”
– Biresh Patel, Data Quality & Engineering Expert, Thoughtworks
You can view the full list on my LinkedIn.
Contact
Feel free to drop me a message at info@rachelmmurray.com to chat more.