Headline

Research & Insights Lead | UX Research, Service Design & Experience Strategy | Turning complex human needs into clear decisions

About

Turning complex research into clear direction. I’m a research and strategy leader with 8+ years of experience helping teams understand people, identify the moments that matter, and make better product, service, and organizational decisions. I specialize in problems where no single stakeholder has the full picture. I design mixed-methods research (including interviews, focus groups, surveys, usability testing, and contextual inquiry) and synthesize qualitative and quantitative signals into journey maps, service blueprints, strategic frameworks, and actionable recommendations. Selected impact: • Conducted 600+ interviews across healthcare, education, economic mobility, criminal justice, and philanthropy. • Led research and product strategy for a digital resource-navigation platform serving 100+ entrepreneurs, aligning JPMorganChase and three CDFIs around a shared customer experience. • Translated research with prosecutors, attorneys, and formerly incarcerated people into program frameworks adopted across 60+ jurisdictions and supporting 1,000+ resentencing cases. • Helped organizations redirect funding, redesign programs, develop multi-year strategies, and prioritize the interventions most likely to create meaningful change. I’m especially good at turning competing perspectives and messy data into a clear answer about what matters, why it matters, and what a team should do next. I’m currently exploring Lead and Staff opportunities across UX Research, Research & Insights, Service Design, and Experience Strategy. Portfolio: janvighatalia.com Contact: janvipghatalia@gmail.com

Location

Brooklyn

AI stack

codex

opencode

Work experience

Lead Research, Strategy & Design Consultant | Communications Lead at DC Design, Jun 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 3 mos, New York, United States, DC Design is a research, strategy, and design consultancy helping organizations understand community needs, develop effective strategies, and design stronger programs, services, and digital experiences. • Lead engagements from scoping and research design through fieldwork, synthesis, co-design, executive alignment, and implementation planning. • Manage a portfolio of up to 15 concurrent client and internal projects involving cross-functional teams of 4–15 people, timelines of 2–9 months, and values of $40K–$350K. • Design and conduct mixed-methods research—including interviews, focus groups, surveys, contextual inquiry, usability testing, journey mapping, and service blueprinting. • Systematized recruitment, qualification, onboarding, documentation, and offboarding for engagements involving 250+ participants, reducing research-operations time by 20%. • Translate research into product requirements, experience strategies, Theory of Change models, evaluation frameworks, strategic roadmaps, and executive-ready recommendations. • Lead a four-person marketing and communications team overseeing brand strategy, thought leadership, content, and external communications. SELECTED IMPACT • MKE BOSS: Led research, UX strategy, product design, and validation for a two-sided resource-navigation platform. Aligned JPMorganChase and three CDFIs, supported 100+ entrepreneurs, generated 20+ qualified leads at launch with 100% placement accuracy, and helped secure multi-year funding. • Sí Se Puede Collective: Led a nine-month participatory strategy process involving 200 residents, staff, organizers, and systems partners. Synthesized competing perspectives into a shared strategy, governance recommendation, and implementation roadmap through 2030. • For The People: Synthesized research with prosecutors, attorneys, and formerly incarcerated people into journey maps and scalable program frameworks adopted across 60+ jurisdictions, supporting 1,000+ resentencing cases.

Lead Strategy and Design Consultant at DC Design, Sep 2022 - Jun 2024 · 1 yr 10 mos, United States, Projects: Cradle Cincinnati: Led research with 150+ parents, providers, physicians, and funders; identified four leverage points that informed a five-year strategy and decisions to discontinue three misaligned initiatives. The client later reported a 37% reduction in Black infant mortality.

Design Research Assistant at FLOX Studio, Aug 2021 - Oct 2021 · 3 mos, United States, • Conducted qualitative research with community based economic justice organizations and transformed insights into shared goals and areas of support needed for the launch of the Brooklyn Economic Justice Project. • Designed visual communications to illustrate the strength and objectives of the pilot program.

Strategy and Design Consultant at DC Design, Jul 2021 - Sep 2022 · 1 yr 3 mos, United States, Association of American Medical Colleges: Led national research with 160+ stakeholders and delivered 10 recommendations across the medical-education pathway. Related initiatives later saw a 37% increase in Black applicants and a 40% increase in American Indian/Alaska Native applicants.

Design Researcher and Associate Producer at Artists' Literacies Institute, Jul 2020 - Sep 2021 · 1 yr 3 mos, New York, United States, • Conducted research, did qualitative data coding, developed reports with strategic recommendations for the United Nations global initiative called UN75 to hold conversations among artists about the impact of Covid-19. • Launched a toolkit with NYCVOAD and ALI called the Artists' Grief Deck to help those who have experienced loss during Covid-19 to grieve even in isolation. The Artists’ grief deck raised $21,645 on Kickstarter & is now available for purchase. • Developed a toolkit called Turn it Around: Flashcards for Education Futures to help us radically reimagine education in response to the climate and ecological emergency. Worked in liaison with youth teams at UNESCO and Open Society Foundation to maximize the reach of the project.

Design Researcher and Strategist at Blank Plate, Jan 2020 - May 2020 · 5 mos, New York City Metropolitan Area, • Conducted qualitative and participatory research and developed communication strategy materials for a food justice organization working to help communities in food deserts rebuild their relationship with food. • Launched research methods with stakeholders to understand and monitor the impact of the program. Redesigned their core guidebook & provided strategic recommendations for a successful program scale up.

Design Researcher at FURNISYS, Jun 2018 - Jun 2019 · 1 yr 1 mo, mahape, • Led qualitative field research with workers from various medium to heavy duty industries to understand worker well-being, behaviour, productivity and flow of work. • Using user centered design methods, translated insights into new product design features to improve functionality and create furniture that impacts workers health positively in the long run.

Education

Master of Fine Arts - MFA, Design for Social Innovation, School of Visual Arts

Bachelor's degree, Industrial Product design, MIT Institute of Design