📧 [email protected] 🫱🏼🫲🏼 linkedin.com/in/sarajkoay 🔗 sarakoay.com
I've conducted mixed-methods design research across a broad range of companies, industries and geographies since 2016. I love big, complex problems and strategic, foundational research, but I mostly just want to be useful to the people around me. I also enjoy mentoring others and building communities.
Singapore | Jul 2020 - March 2023, promoted Jun 2022
⭐️ Research activities & achievements
Led research to help APAC teams empathize with the needs and contexts of US-based users. Conducted foundational qualitative and quantitative research for an early-stage product (Indeed Education) and a company-wide initiative (Pay Transparency), while also identifying quick wins and fixes.
Indeed Education: Set direction, identified opportunities (short and long-term) and established target users through interviews, surveys, content research, and the creation of experience maps and user archetypes. Established long-term vision and critical user journeys with the team through workshops and concept tests.
Pay Transparency: Informed investment decisions on features and products related to salary and pay display for jobseekers through card sorts, remote contextual inquiry and unmoderated tests. Informed matching and ranking for job search by creating a framework to help stakeholders understand the dynamic decision-making processes involved in job hunting.
Also worked with external vendors for research recruitment and to conduct US-based studies.
⭐️ Additional and managerial activities:
Defined and aligned the work scope and quarterly priorities for the Pay Transparency UX team (covering research, UX and content design). Tracked work progress and helped unblock team members.
Interviewed and informed hiring decisions for ~20 researchers and designers across APAC.
Helped plan the onboarding and first-year milestones for junior researchers in Singapore.
Mentored junior to mid-level researchers and UX design interns and conducted global training for new researchers. Started and/or contributed to multiple research working groups to grow community and craft.
Remotely based in Singapore | May 2020 - July 2020 | Contract
Help a thirty-year-old Swiss telco refresh its services and offerings by conducting lean discovery research, then planning and facilitating a remote, design sprint-inspired workshop.
Documented processes and built templates for future facilitators and workshops.
Singapore | Mar 2018 - Mar 2020, promoted Oct 2019