Heidi Austin

My formal title is UX Researcher, but most days I feel more like a product strategist: the person telling teams what to build, not just how to build them. That strategic instinct started long before UX, back when I spent six years as a classroom teacher. Reading a room full of eight-year-olds and figuring out what's actually going on underneath the behavior you can see turned out to be the best research training I never knew I was getting. Now, ten years later, my former skills as an educator and storyteller shape how I work: thoughtfully planned mixed-methods research that influences roadmaps at the senior level, pioneering AI powered research ops, and turning the most ambiguous spaces into award winning products. Off the clock, I'm mom to two little kids, a pretty serious home baker, and never happier than on a New England beach.