User Experience Software Development
Resume:
Charles Caldwell
******@*******.*** 424-***-**** Marina del Rey, CA linkedin.com/in/charlesthoughts Charles has a passion for engaging and delighting customers with interactive products and services Authentic product leader who is recognized for delivering positive ROI for design-centered product management and an agile approach to software development. A change agent and mentor with top-notch execution skills in developing a vision, driving consistency, motivating teams, and understanding external customers, as well as internal customers and partners. Recognized authority on research and design from a client value perspective, while delivering crystal clear, open dialogue and user experience instructions across different audiences to convey risks and opportunities. Naturally curious and agile innovator. Quickly adapts to the ever-evolving economy that calls for pivots in strategic/tactical planning. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
IQVIA
Associate Director, User Experience and Digital Deployment, Experience Optimization 2021 - 2025 Experience Optimization is part of Patient Recruitment and Engagement. With more than 88,000 employees, IQVIA is a global contract research organization that combines health information technology and clinical research.
● Led the production of a library of more than 150 Personas, Journey Maps, Interactive Dynamic Persona Stories, and Social Media Summaries, each focused on a particular medical condition. These are used by the Strategy Lead team when they speak to potential sponsors, to demonstrate that IQVIA is a patient-centric organization. The materials are then used by the creative team in their production of patient-friendly content, as well as the internal project managers for their project kickoff meetings.
● Principally responsible for improving the prospect-to-patient experience through better, easier-to-use products.
● Created more than 100 audience segments.
● Automated a process flow to add and track software, content, and web functionality modification requests.
● Created a design concept interactive prototype to demonstrate how an AI-assisted trial matching product could be implemented quickly and maintained easily without the need for development resources.
● Served as Patient Voice Team Lead for IQVIA’s Trial Representation (formerly Diversity and Inclusion in Clinical Trials) initiative.
● Participated in and facilitated iterative design sprints for the design and production of a new version of IQVIA’s patient-facing website ClinicalResearch.com.
● Collaborated in the assessment of a new concept for IQVIA – a mobile unit for pre-screening clinical trial participants. The informational website is airemobileunit.com.
● Collaborated in the collection and presentation of patient insights related to cardiovascular health which resulted in a program funded by an external sponsor for more than $20 million. THE MILKEN INSTITUTE
Assistant Director 2018 - 2021
Responsible for enterprise modernization and technology innovation through the perspective of Design Thinking and User Experience.
● Produced a portfolio of a dozen Personas and Journey Maps.
● Used those materials to design an innovative concept for a Constituent portal.
● Created and produced a library of more than 200 business process videos and published a business process diagram for the entire experience from Prospect to Participant and for the Milken Institute ERP Financial program.
● Designed innovative experiences for Interactive Event Programs, for Audience Analysis and Selection using AI, and for Strategic Philanthropy. The interactive event program is still in use as of May 2025.
● Managed multiple JIRA projects, totaling more than 400 user stories and including JIRA Automation and JIRA Service Desk.
THE NIELSEN COMPANY
Director, Experience Design (part of Product Leadership) 2013 - 2018 Led and empowered a high-performing team of nine Experience Designers, scaling the design vision across a full product portfolio, representing the voice of the user. Mentored junior-level coworkers and took control of team-building by supporting a collaborative, iterative approach so teams could work together to solve complex problems and design thoughtful, user-centered solutions. Improved product consistency and reduced development cycle time by integrating a library of interaction design patterns and a design system. Built and scaled successful teams with accountability for reviewing candidates, conducting performance appraisals, and staff supervision.
● Lead Product Designer on several initiatives, from concept ideation to deployment:
● Ideation of “Nielsen Total Audience” – an innovative, aspirational concept for how holistic measurements are presented for Broadcast TV, Connected Devices, Smartphones, and Tablets, including Media, Text, Audio, Print, and Outdoor, and comprised of Watch and Buy behavior and customer segmentation. This
“Nielsen Total Audience” product suite received a very favorable review on Adweek.
● A concept and roadmap for the Nielsen Assortment & Space Optimization solution, which was part of an overall Sales Effectiveness software solution, enabling manufacturers and retailers to collaborate on descriptive and predictive analytics for inventory, assortment, and shelf space optimization
● Client Discovery and ideation for a brand new Nielsen Retail Assortment Management solution – the
“MVP” of this product was released September 2017, about nine months after concept creation.
● Progressively nudged the company culture from the pre-existing data-centered focus to a user-centered design approach.
● Initiated an interactive concept for experience measurement, with metrics for Satisfaction, Usability, Learnability, Affect, and Loyalty.
● Created an innovation sandbox to allow team members to ideate on forward-looking interactive concepts.
● Facilitated a bi-weekly Product Design Priorities meeting with more than 20 participants, using a Kanban view of JIRA to track Stories. Participated in a bi-weekly retrospective of development accomplishments.
● Selected by upper management to create a vision for a “revolutionary” product concept and roadmap. Platform Lead 2011 - 2013
Defined product roadmaps and produced engagement and staffing plans as well as timelines and project estimations. Managed three direct reports and two contracted team members.
● Collaborated with Product Leadership and Client Services to discuss compelling design plans and using qualitative and quantitative research to foster innovation.
● Cultivated liaison relationships with external customers through the creation of an opt-in experience review program, resulting in a stronger, more loyal, long-term connection of Nielsen's data into the customer's ecosystem.
● Integral as the catalyst between C-level senior leadership, product leadership, project management, application development, and client services to achieve a vision for software products, converging legacy applications into an integrated web-based full-featured software platform. Senior User Experience Architect 2010 - 2011
Crafted seamless experiences through cross-collaboration and working alongside senior leaders to be a part of projects from conceptualization to completion. Conducted end-to-end heuristic evaluations of in-flight software applications for online, television ratings, and coupon marketing measurements. Defined a process for rapid iteration usability evaluations.
● Reported directly to the Vice President of User Experience.
● Influenced product roadmap through a user-centered approach for Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings, which received an Edison Gold Medal Award in 2012 for the Applied Technology/Research Tool category. THOUGHTS.COM
Director of Analytics 2010 - 2012
Developed strategic and innovative analytic concepts and methods for breakthrough research to support an international social networking website with over 1,000,000 memberships and more than 300 affiliate marketing websites. Integrated Google Analytics and Clicktale to identify opportunities for monetization while identifying actionable information about customers, products, prospects, and competitors.
● Reported directly to the CEO.
● Conducted predictive and descriptive analytics to improve user engagement.
● Conducted user research to better understand the user community. Senior Program Manager 2009 - 2010
Responsible for Requirements, Design, Experience, Analytics, and Usability. Managed three direct reports, five interns, and the relationship with an offshore design and development organization.
● Served as Product Manager and Project Manager for the redesign of 20 affiliate marketing websites to provide a more modern appearance and an enhanced feature set.
● Reduced bounce rate to under 8% and improved conversion by 59% by identifying and executing incremental user experience design modifications, A/B testing, and incorporating user feedback.
● Scoped, planned, and scheduled various programs including:
● A “random act of kindness” program (international social media)
● Summer intern program
● A 12-week interactive game that coincided with a national television show
● A 6-week international blogging competition
● An educational blogging program to promote fun and spontaneous interactive excitement CITIGROUP
Senior User Experience Architect, Technical Center of Excellence 2006 - 2008 Supported B2B, B2C, and B2E software application development for mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, and salesforce tools. Elicited and analyzed business and user requirements; generated and then prioritized functional requirements, traced requirements through UI specification, development, user acceptance testing, and quality assurance. Directed a team of four junior and contract User-Centered Design professionals.
● Produced UI specifications (175 Use Case topics, with related wireframes, user stories, templates, and design patterns) for the design of a new consumer loan processing application to be used by more than 1,000 customer service agents.
● Improved the experience for more than 10,000 users in more than 2,000 CitiFinancial branch offices by conducting a heuristic review and usability study for CitiFinancial’s new internal application for lead management.
● Advised Strategy and Process project management office on how to incorporate User-Centered Design methodologies into a proposed 7-stage agile software development lifecycle based on RUP.
● Produced high-fidelity simulations and mock-ups using iRise, Visio, Fireworks, and PowerPoint.
● Directed a team of five other User Experience Architects in the rapid creation of a 567-page high-fidelity iRise simulation of a new management application for CitiAuto’s dealer administration process. Completed in ten work days.
EARLY CAREER EXPERIENCE
● User Experience Consultant Bridge Worldwide
● Software Engineer Allen Systems Group
● User Experience Consultant Knowledge Resources
● Senior Technical Staff Member AT&T Bell Labs
● Service Designer Prodigy Services Company
● Assistant Director of Computer Operations Purdue University Placement EDUCATION
● Purdue University Master of Science Industrial Engineering
● California Polytechnic University Bachelor of Arts Behavioral Science AWARDS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
● Selected for the Service Excellence program IQVIA, 2025
● Recognition Award IQVIA, Dec 2024
● Certificate of Completion, Lean Practitioner Training Program IQVIA, May 2024
● Eight-month Breakthrough Leadership Program Nielsen, 2014
● Platinum Award Nielsen, March 2014
● Silver Awards for Outstanding Employee Contribution Nielsen, Dec 2012, April 2013, Jan 2015, and Aug 2015
● Employee Incentive Award Thoughts.com, Dec 2009
● Three Stand-Out Awards Citigroup, Mar 2007, Sept 2007, Oct 2008
● Co-authored five U.S. patents: 7027986, 6687349, 6418202, 6021432, and 5671267
● Most Productive Division Employee (four consecutive years) AT&T Bell Labs, 1997 to 2000
● Appeared on the cover of Personal Computing Magazine DESIGN PORTFOLIO: tinyurl.com/charlesthoughts
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