Description

I am a seasoned Digital Product/UX Designer, who has deep expertise across the entire product process - discovery, strategy, concepting, and delivery.

For well over a decade I have honed my craft within some of the world's best digital agencies, working with enterprise and startups - such as Mastercard, Cambridge University, Wagamama, London Stock Exchange, Lloyds Bank, eBay, Biogen and Egon Zehnder to name a few.

Product Owner

“He combined technical knowledge with creativity to deliver impact but he also demonstrated the right amount of leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving to help us achieve a tight deadline without sacrificing an exceptional product experience. Varun is one of the most capable and proactive professionals I have ever met in my career. He is able to identify critical issues in advance and propose valid solutions for practical implementation."

Product Owner

“Working with Varun has been awesome, he bought with him strong knowledge of his trade and an unrivaled enthusiasm for the both the product and the people and he was working with. Varun's passion for design thinking and working helped not just the team he was in but also the customer's and stakeholders that he expertly engaged with to validate the designs and challenge ongoing iterations of the prototype leading the way for our development team to clearly see 'what's next'."

Product Owner

“Varun had consistently provided great results on both fronts by engaging with hands-on work where needed while working on building team & processes that would sustain the growth and ensure quality standards across the whole team. Varun has helped the team and stakeholders align on the vision by providing guidance, facilitating engaging workshops and translating inputs into actionable artifacts."

Industry field of expertise

Languages

English
Native or bilingual

Workplace preferences

Remote only

Primarily works remotely

Glass Is Full
Freelance Digital Product / UX Designer
DIGITAL AND IT
July 2020 - Today (5 years and 11 months)
London, UK
Led multiple projects ranging from IA-powered Saas solutions, multi-product and multi-sided digital platforms, content management systems, web and native mobile apps as well as non-conventional digital experiences such as AR and touchless tech.

Conducted multiple discoveries to surface customer and product insights while bringing stakeholders together toward a unified product vision by defining a desirable, feasible, and viable MVP.

Led and delivered UX and UI design initiatives, working in parallel with the development teams to clearly see what's next and provide product oversight.

Ran Lean and cost-effective prototyping methods to validate business cases, ideas, and features directly with end users and customers before investing in the build phase.

Enhanced and improved existing solutions that were functional, but the initial experience and associated interactions were not aligned with user needs and expectations.

Used methods and outputs that led to valuable outcomes: wireframes, prototypes, user flows, user tests, information architecture, experience maps, service blueprints, jobs-to-be-done, personas, design sprints, storyboards, and workshop facilitation.
Worth Internet Systems
Research & Design Lead
DIGITAL AND IT
August 2020 - January 2022 (1 year and 5 months)
Led multiple client projects ranging from education, healthcare, retail, government and startups.

Embedded service design and UX capabilities into the agency's proposition and delivery model.

Facilitated multiple discovery workshops to win and onboard new clients and transformed the agency's business development approach from selling solutions to solving problems.
Worth Internet Systems
Senior Digital Product Designer
DIGITAL AND IT
September 2017 - August 2020 (2 years and 11 months)
Reading, UK
Delivered a customer-led service redesign of a global education assessment for teachers, students, and parents.

Defined the MVP and designed the UX for a dashboard that reports exam results.

Led the development of a self-help product to help staff improve UK Census completion rates while reducing recruitment and training costs.

Validated the need for interactive store experiences for a historic high street retailer.

Digitized and connected the outpatient experience for care receivers and care providers.

Harnessed user-centered design and technology to innovate citizen handovers between paramedics and emergency department staff.

Redesigned the multi-layered digital presence for a historic university.

Applied a human-centered approach to making wealth management more personal.