Cera Care
OVERVIEW
Lead a growing team of researchers and designers to help define and refine our product offering at Cera. Working with a wide number of business areas and stakeholders to build an established design and research function within the business, and improve the overall user experience for our carers and service users.
ROLE
Head of UX Design and Research
September 2021 - March 2022
Main responsibilities: Leading and mentoring a team of perm and contract hires, hiring, stakeholder engagement and influencing, onboarding tooling, workshops, developing career frameworks, prioritising and managing workloads, maintaining and improving design standards.
Establishing leadership
I inherited a small team of UX Designers and Researchers who had all been there for less than a year, and previously reported directly to the Product Director. Work had already been done by the team to begin to establish UX, but the team itself had no structure or guidance, so that's where I started. I began by observing the team and how they worked currently (not wanting to create change where it wasn't needed) and took guidance from the team on what worked well, and what needed tweaking. I embedded full team rituals to keep the team from being siloed on their own projects - including weekly stand-ups, design crits, retros and team socials. I also worked to ensure there was a new process for work being given to the team, and full transparency for the business on exactly what the UX team was working on.
Embedding research and design
A large part of my role was to work with the Director and Head of Product to establish which products should be prioritised for the upcoming year and quarter, and ensure that we had sufficient resource and headcount to deliver this (including hiring contractors as a last resort). I also spent a lot of time meeting with the Data, Engineering, Marketing and Ops teams to share the work of the UX team and advocate for work that we could help with.
I worked with the design team to push and develop our brand guidelines and establish the groundwork for a Design System to be used by the whole business - work which had been outsourced previously.
Team development
It's important to me that my team has career development opportunities to both benefit them individually and us as a business. The team I inherited had a flat structure of mid-weights, and I worked to establish a career framework for development into both individual contributors and leadership roles, and hired a Principle Designer to help push and develop the team on a technical level. Off the back of this, I developed an in-depth competency framework for Design and Research across critical and soft skills to drive development opportunities for the team.
Learnings and challenges
Nurturing Leadership in Unstructured Environments
Inheriting a budding team of UX Designers and Researchers, I found value in observing existing workflows before implementing changes. I learned to foster collaboration, prevent silos, and enhance transparency through regular team rituals and clear work processes. This approach helped build trust within the team and the broader organisation.
Integrating Research and Design into the Organisation
My role involved extensive cross-departmental collaboration and advocacy for UX initiatives. I discovered the importance of creating shared understanding and buy-in across diverse teams—from Data and Engineering to Marketing and Ops. By developing brand guidelines and laying the groundwork for a Design System, we were able to centralize and amplify the impact of UX across the business.
Developing Career Paths for Flat Teams
In a team with a flat structure, it was critical to provide clear career progression opportunities. By establishing a career framework catering to both individual contributors and leadership roles, and bringing on a Principle Designer for technical mentorship, we could foster continuous growth. This experience underscored the importance of an in-depth competency framework for promoting development in critical and soft skills.