Research operations & UX leadership

Research that works.
Systems that last.
Decisions that land.

I build the infrastructure, practice, and thinking that makes research genuinely useful. Not just delivered.

Research OpsResearch ManagementSenior UX Research
75%
Recruitment time cut from 10 days to 2
98%
Platform adoption at launch
£500K
Operational losses identified and addressed
5
Countries. Research infrastructure at scale.
Sectors
FintechHealthcarePublic sectorStartupsSMEsLogistics & operationsRide-hailingCommunity platforms
About

The researcher who also fixes the room.

Webawesome Consult
User Researcher
2024 – Present
The Outlier Circle
Lead User Researcher
2023 – 2024
Interswitch Group
User & Product Research Analyst
2022 – 2023
Hygeia Health Insurance
User & Product Researcher
2021 – 2022
Bolt
Research Intern
2021

Over five years I have worked across healthcare, fintech, consulting, and startups; running studies, synthesising findings, and sitting in rooms where decisions get made. Research is the core of what I do, and alongside it has grown a deep interest in the conditions that make research work well at an organisational level.

I find myself drawn to the questions behind the questions. Not just what users need, but how a team is set up to find that out consistently. Not just what the findings say, but how they travel through a business and actually change something. That interest has led me to build research infrastructure, design operational frameworks, and take on work that sits at the intersection of research practice and organisational effectiveness.

Beyond my day roles, I consult independently and build products. I created PanelFit, an AI-powered participant screening tool, because I lived the problem across multiple projects and knew exactly what was missing. That instinct, seeing a gap in the system and closing it, is what connects everything I do.

I do not just deliver research. I build the conditions that make great research repeatable, credible, and useful to the people who need it most.

How I approach research ops
1
Diagnose

Understand what is broken, what is missing, and what decision needs to be made

2
Frame

Define scope, stakeholders, and the research question that will actually be useful

3
Investigate

Mixed methods chosen for the question, not the comfort zone

4
Synthesise

Patterns not just themes. Insight that connects to business context

5
Embed

Findings that reach the right people in the right form and actually change something

This is not a linear checklist. In practice, steps overlap, loop back, and adapt to the constraints of the environment.

How I think

Systemically. I look for the root cause, not just the surface problem. I design solutions that hold up over time.

How I communicate

Directly. I translate complexity into clarity and adapt how I speak depending on who is in the room.

What I value in a team

Honesty, rigour, and the willingness to be wrong. I work best with people who take the work seriously without taking themselves too seriously.

What I am building towards

A research practice, whether inside an organisation or independently, that sets a higher bar for how insight drives decisions.

Research operationsResearch managementSystems & process designUsability testingHeuristic evaluationUX auditInsight synthesisJourney mappingMixed methodsService designStakeholder engagement
Selected work

Four projects. Four different problems.

How I work

What working with me actually looks like.

01
I fix the room, not just the study

I look at the conditions around research and improve them. Good research programmes do not happen by accident.

02
I connect research to business outcomes

Every project is anchored to a decision or a metric. I track what changed and make the link to impact explicit.

03
I build for repeatability

Whether it is a panel, a process, or a team rhythm, I design for sustainability so the programme outlasts any single project.

04
I work across the whole system

Comfortable in a stakeholder strategy session and a research debrief. I communicate differently depending on who is in the room.

05
I am comfortable with ambiguity

Unclear briefs, competing priorities, fast-moving environments. I find structure without oversimplifying what is genuinely complex.

06
I push back when it matters

If a research plan will not answer the actual question, I say so. I am a collaborator but an honest one.

Get in touch

If you have a problem worth solving,
let's talk.

Open to research ops roles, research management, senior UX research, and consulting. I work best where research is taken seriously.

No cover letter needed. Just tell me what you are building.

oonyekaorji@gmail.com