Jared Gillespie
USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCHER & DESIGN STRATEGIST
Mixed Methods
Planning
Exploratory
Explanatory
User Interviews
Usability Testing
Strategy
Data Storytelling
I leverage over a decade of expertise in project management, psychology, and human-centered strategy to help businesses understand and meet customer needs while applying advanced research methods and data storytelling to uncover actionable insights, align teams, and drive informed, data-backed decisions.
SOFT SKILLS
simultaneous project management, communication, collaboration, professionalism, presentation, problem solving, critical thinking, strategic planning, tactical adaptation, leadership
HARD SKILLS
mixed methods, qualitative research, quantitative research, research planning, user interviewing, stakeholder interviewing, affinity mapping, data analysis, data synthesis, data visualization, data storytelling, usability testing, card sorting, tree testing, jobs-to-be-done studies, surveys, contextual inquiry, journey mapping, cognitive psychology, behavioral science, secondary research, ethnographic studies, remote testing, human-centered design, interaction design, service & product design, information architecture, prototyping, wireframing, validation testing, heuristic evaluation, problem framing, product strategy
TOOLS
Miro, UserTesting, UserZoom, Looppannel, Figma, Maze, Google Forms, Qualtrics, Survey Monkey, Dovetail, User Interviews, Rally, Optimal Workshop, Google Meet, Teams, Slack, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft 365, Canva, Mailchimp, Voiceflow, Wix Studio, Dedoose, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini
EXPERIENCE
USER RESEARCH ADJUNCT PROFESSOR
Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
• Collaborate in the planning, teaching, coaching, and evaluating of a graduate-level user research course that leads students through planning, user interviewing, data analysis, data synthesis, and data storytelling with their own projects
08/2024 - 01/2025
Penn Medicine, PHMC, Thomas Jefferson University,
• Rapidly explored issues of trust surrounding a community hospital in Southwest Philadelphia that recently changed ownership/management.
• Included research planning, user interviewing, secondary research, contextual study, data analysis, synthesis and artifact creation, data storytelling, & presenting insights to stakeholders
USER RESEARCHER - CONTRACT
10/2022 - 12/2022
DIGITAL DESIGN INSTRUCTOR
Buxmont Academy, Sellersville
• Accommodated lessons through individualized instruction on graphic design processes, trends, and utilizing the Adobe Creative Suite
• Practiced classroom and project management across multiple projects simultaneously with examples, rubrics, timelines, encouragement, and respect
08/2015 - 06/2019
EDUCATION
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN USER EXPERIENCE & INTERACTION
Thomas Jefferson University 08/2022 - 05/2024 Trained and practiced with industry experts:
• Research planning, user interviews, field studies, surveys, usability testing, tree testing
• Data analysis, personas, journey mapping, data visualizations, data storytelling
• Cognitive psychology, bias, behavioral psychology, business strategy, design strategy
• Prototyping, validation testing, information architecture, UX design, service design
GPA 3.94
Google via Coursera
GOOGLE FOUNDATIONS OF USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
12/2020
INTERACTION DESIGN SPECIALIZATION
UC San Diego via Coursera
• User experience design, human-centered design, interaction design, information architecture
• Prototyping, user research, running & analyzing experiments, social computing, R Studio
08/2019
MOTIVIATION INTERVIEWING & BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY TRAINING
International Institute for Restorative Practices
06/2017
Millerville University
• Training in psychology, management, assessment, planning, individualized instruction
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN EDUCATION
2004
REFERENCES
MIKE BEGLEY
Assistant Program Director & Visiting Professor at Thomas Jefferson University
NEIL HARNER
Program Director and Associate Professor at Thomas Jefferson University