Résumé

Isha Deswal

San Francisco Bay Area, CA  ·  ishadeswal@yahoo.com  ·  linkedin.com/in/ishadeswal

UX Research Leader with 5+ years of experience building and scaling customer insights programs, leading cross-functional research teams, and influencing product strategy across enterprise digital experiences.

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🧠 Core competencies

Core competencies

  • Research Strategy
  • Research Operations
  • Research Team Leadership
  • Research Roadmaps
  • Product Strategy
  • Career Development & Coaching
  • Executive Stakeholder Management
  • Generative & Evaluative Research
  • Human-AI Interaction Research
  • User-Centered Design
  • Insights Repository Management
  • Qualitative & Quantitative Research
  • Market Research
  • Design Thinking Workshop Facilitation
🛠️ Tools & platforms

Tools and platforms

  • Qualtrics
  • Quantum Metric
  • UserTesting
  • UserZoom
  • Askable
  • Respondent
  • SurveyMonkey
  • SQL
  • R
  • STATA
  • Spotfire
  • Figma
  • Miro
  • Claude
  • Gemini
  • Copilot
  • ChatGPT
💼 Professional experience

Professional experience

United Airlines (contract via Dexian) June 2023 – Present

Lead UX Researcher

  • Manage and develop a team of 5 UX researchers, overseeing research prioritization, career development, mentorship, and delivery across multiple product domains.
  • Established and scaled research operations processes — intake, prioritization, stakeholder alignment, insight dissemination — reducing research turnaround time by 66%.
  • Defined and maintained the UX research roadmap supporting strategic initiatives across acquisition, booking, loyalty, and post-purchase, impacting 250k+ monthly users.
  • Coached and mentored 7 researchers through project planning, stakeholder management, storytelling, and career development — 3 promoted to Senior UX Researcher.
  • Led 15+ design-thinking and strategy workshops with product, design, marketing, and executive stakeholders, informing decisions impacting 170M+ annual travelers.
  • Streamlined enterprise feedback mechanisms and insights repositories, translating insights into measurable platform improvements.
  • Advocated for accessibility and inclusive design standards; presented United's digital accessibility journey at the 2026 CSUN Assistive Technology Conference.
  • Led a structured research intelligence practice leveraging AI tools (Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Figma AI) via CO-STAR framework, improving operational efficiency by 30%.
United Airlines (contract via Dexian) December 2022 – June 2023

Sr. UX Researcher

  • Created and led a research team, developing the user research roadmap for United Mobile (70M+ users).
  • Partnered with senior product and design leaders to prioritize research aligned with company OKRs, incorporating qualitative feedback from 500+ users.
  • Pioneered the integration of continuous generative research into UX design processes.
  • Managed stakeholders across iOS, Android, mobile web, desktop, airport kiosk, and in-flight entertainment system development.
United Airlines (contract via Dexian) November 2021 – November 2022

Senior Research and Insights Analyst

  • Led and managed quantitative portfolio-level research involving 500,000+ participants, informing executive product and loyalty strategy decisions.
  • Conceptualized and executed responsive web layouts for 15+ email campaigns, boosting NPS scores by 7% among premier members.
  • Enhanced data analysis processes using Spotfire and SQL, improving executive reporting efficiency by 33%.
HCD Research April 2021 – November 2021

Market Research Analyst

  • Spearheaded customer research using traditional (surveys, in-depth interviews) and neuroscientific methods (biometric testing, implicit association testing) across 8 clients in CPG, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and political consulting.
  • Interpreted complex data using SPSS to deliver actionable recommendations influencing client decision-making.
  • Trained the team on R and STATA, reducing analysis and reporting time by almost 50%.
🎤 Leadership & conferences

Leadership and conferences

  • Spring 2026

    UX Research Mentor — User Experience Professionals Association (Remote)

    Coached and mentored emerging UX professionals on research methodologies, portfolio development, and stakeholder management strategies.

  • March 2026

    Speaker — CSUN Assistive Technology Conference (Anaheim, CA)

    Presented United Airlines' journey in shifting left and integrating accessibility into the UX strategy and design process.

  • Fall 2025

    Speaker — DDX Design and Innovation Conference (San Diego)

    Invited to talk about behavioral science and its applications in the user experience field.

🎓 Education

Education

MS, Behavioral & Decision Science

University of Pennsylvania · December 2020