Alesha Arp, Designer in Irvine, CA, United States
Alesha is available for hire
Hire Alesha

Alesha Arp

Verified Expert  in Design

Bio

Alesha is a seasoned UX research leader with extensive experience spearheading programs, initiatives, and teams in highly regulated industries and organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 100 and Global 1000 enterprises. She thrives with a proactive and collaborative approach in both senior contributor and leadership roles, delivering data-driven, transformative impacts on strategic business initiatives, product design, process development, service delivery, and revenue generation.

Portfolio

Work Experience

Manager of Product Design Research | UX Research

2022 - 2023
An Emmy Award-winning Global Video Communications Platform Company
  • Aligned the UX research practice to the product roadmap, yielding just-in-time impact. Introduced the voice of the customer to product requirements documentation (PRD) and scrum of scrum (SoS) collaborations.
  • Built a company-wide knowledge base and reusable repository. Developed an easy-to-follow governance process to inform research and design with durable insights, increasing the long-term impact of discovery.
  • Revamped the entire Design Partner Program for customer engagement. It included research operations, recruitment, and implementation and brought major international accounts into participation.
  • Automated the research intake process, replacing costly whole-project-team meetings with as-needed collaborations between key contributors. Employed RACI to ensure cross-functional engagement between key contributors.
  • Led the team to rapidly level up skills from simply generating project and product-specific findings to synthesizing impactful, durable insights.
Technologies: Google Workspace, Jira, Confluence, Tableau, Salesforce, Miro, Figma, Slack, UX Research, Design Research, UX Strategy, CX Strategy, Management, Leadership, UX Leadership, Customer Journeys, Journey Mapping, Jobs to be Done (JTBD)

Senior User Experience Researcher | Program and Project Lead

2021 - 2022
A US-based Real Estate Technology Platform and Services Provider
  • Planned and executed foundational research to inform roadmaps, product design, and service delivery. Identified opportunities for other revenue streams and provided insights to build them. Helped replace the acquisition model with API integration.
  • Led the end-to-end client workflow mapping using the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework. It resulted in a data model used for product and service roadmap prioritization, planning, and resource allocation.
  • Scaled the UX research capacity through rolling research and democratized research programs. Mentored design and research team members in project execution, time management, effective collaboration, and stakeholder communication.
  • Enhanced pre-release product testing to yield more actionable feedback before the general release. Designed and piloted a walk-the-platform program for internal and external use.
Technologies: Figma, Monday.com, Usertesting.com, COM, Miro, Confluence, Jira, Qualtrics, Google Workspace, Slack, UX Research, Design Research, Service Design Research, UX Strategy, CX Strategy, Leadership, UX Leadership, Journey Mapping, Customer Journeys, Jobs to be Done (JTBD)

Senior User Experience Researcher | Customer Experience Strategist

2017 - 2021
A Neuroscience-based Educational Technology Platform and Services Company
  • Managed and executed UX research for a neuroscience-based educational technology platform and new digital and physical products.
  • Conducted a gap analysis on the customer experience (CX) strategy to identify the current situation and define the desired future state.
  • Developed a usage maturity matrix to help prioritize the development scope and sequence.
  • Redefined metrics for program implementation and success in collaboration with the data science team.
  • Revised information architecture to align with customer usage hierarchy and developed content strategy for knowledge management systems across the enterprise.
Technologies: Sketch, Balsamiq, Confluence, Jira, Microsoft Office, MURAL, Tableau, NetSuite, UX Research, Design Research, Service Design Research, Information Architecture (IA), Customer Experience, UX Strategy, CX Strategy, Leadership, UX Leadership, Customer Journeys, Jobs to be Done (JTBD), Journey Mapping, User Journeys, Usability, User Testing

Senior User Experience Researcher | Design Strategist

2016 - 2017
An Architectural and Interior Design Firm Focused on Medical, Science, and Higher Education
  • Planned and led the research and strategy to improve service delivery and expand market capture.
  • Tailored strategic design and UX research projects to fit within tight constraints, timelines, and budgets.
  • Conducted ethnographic research focused on improving provider, patient, and family member experiences to facilitate improved patient outcomes.
  • Conducted in-depth interviews, observations, job shadowing, and workshops focused on staff efficiency, comfort, collaboration, and retention.
Technologies: Microsoft Office, Teams, MURAL, Adobe CC

UX Researcher

2015 - 2017
A Leading Automotive Technology Platform Company
  • Conducted user research to align the service delivery to the business goals.
  • Introduced user experience research to the organization.
  • Impacted the design of this best-in-class automotive technology platform, resulting in the company's handsome acquisition.
  • Planned and conducted data-driven moderated and unmoderated UX research aligned to product, design, and agile development timelines. Focused on maintaining design and data integrity, resource allocation, and development feasibility.
  • Did feature prioritization and backlog stack ranking influenced by insights—for a robust CRM system, various scheduling tools, an equity mining solution, sales & management reporting, system administrative functions, & inventory management systems.
  • Tested, redefined, and validated the information architecture of the entire platform suite.
Technologies: Adobe CC

User Experience Analyst and Designer

2011 - 2015
Management Consulting Firm
  • Conducted user research, identified user needs, developed user profiles, defined workflows, and streamlined processes to align service delivery to business goals.
  • Led insights-driven change management that resulted in the firm being inducted into the Inc. 500.
  • Designed and facilitated stakeholder workshops and visioning sessions to redefine the way the organization delivered services.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Project

Education

2011 - 2014

Master's Degree in Library and Information Science

Kent State University - Kent, OH, USA

Skills

Tools

Google Workspace, Jira, Confluence, Tableau, Sketch, Miro, Figma, Usertesting.com, Qualtrics, Balsamiq, Microsoft Office, MURAL, Slack, Adobe CC, Airtable, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Project

Platforms

Salesforce

Other

UX Research, Design Research, Customer Experience, Systems Thinking, Jobs to be Done (JTBD), Platform Design, Process Optimization, Cross-functional Collaboration, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Team Building, Generative Research, Journey Mapping, User Journeys, Customer Journeys, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Discovery, Service Design Research, Information Architecture (IA), UX Strategy, CX Strategy, Management, Leadership, UX Leadership, Prototyping, Iterative Design, Mentorship & Coaching, Workflow Optimization, System Design, Iteration Management, Monday.com, COM, NetSuite, Teams, Video Chat, Platforms, Optimization, Integration, API Integration, Data Modeling, Data Structures, Revenue Strategy, Visual Design, Redesign, Gaming Platforms, Data Visualization, Gainsight, Optimal Workshop, Usability, User Testing

Experience

  • Leadership - 20 years
  • Management - 20 years
  • Design Research - 12 years
  • UX Research - 12 years
  • UX Strategy - 7 years
  • CX Strategy - 7 years
  • UX Leadership - 7 years
  • Service Design Research - 6 years
Collaboration That Works

How to Work with Toptal

Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.

1

Share your needs

Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2

Choose your talent

Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3

Start your risk-free talent trial

Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.

Top talent is in high demand.

Start hiring