UX Research and Service Design Leader

Strategic research that clarifies decisions, aligns teams, and drives impact.

I partner with product, design, and business leaders to turn uncertainty into clarity using research and service design. The result is better product, service, and portfolio decisions with measurable impact.

View selected work Download resume
Research strategyDefine the decision, make tradeoffs clear, and give leaders stronger evidence to act on.
Service designConnect user needs, operational realities, and business goals into more effective experiences.
Practice buildingCreate reusable systems, frameworks, and research operations that scale beyond one project.
Research strategyClarify the decision before the study starts.
Cross functional alignmentTranslate evidence into clearer tradeoffs.
Business impactConnect customer insight to measurable outcomes.

Selected case studies

Strategic work grounded in evidence, not just summary statements.

Service design artifact showing the shift from friction before conversion to a trust first strategy.
Service Design

Trust first conversion strategy

Reduced early conversion friction, then reframed the broader strategy around trust, timing, and reader value.

$125K ad revenue43% lower abandonment2.7x story depth
Mixed method research artifact showing eight proposed capabilities narrowed to two MVP priorities.
Mixed Methods Research

Evidence backed MVP prioritization

Structured the MVP decision around dealer value, narrowing eight capabilities to the two strongest first release priorities.

8 to 2 MVP prioritiesNearly 50% lower staffingRoadmap placement
Research prioritization framework visual showing a four factor model and demand planning outputs.
Research Operations & Strategy

Strategic research portfolio planning

Built a simpler prioritization model that made demand, tradeoffs, and staffing implications visible to leadership.

25% more strategic requests6 requests deprioritized1 additional researcher headcount
Segmentation Hub visual showing how personas, tagging, and evidence retrieval improved adoption.
Persona Adoption

Scalable persona adoption with AI

Turned behavior based personas into a reusable operating system through AI assisted tagging, evidence retrieval, and planning.

2 week buildShared customer languageRoadmap planning
Product research artifact showing build, remove, and continue decisions supported by usability testing and analytics.
Product Decisions

Faster product decisions

Combined usability testing and behavioral analytics to guide three product decisions: build, remove, and continue investing.

UMUX 58 to 84$35K annual savings49% engagement lift
Vendor evaluation scorecard showing a weighted comparison and final platform recommendation.
Research Operations

Collaborative platform selection

Led a weighted vendor evaluation that aligned stakeholders, saved $10K, and supported a 20% YoY increase in research volume.

$10K savingsDscout selected20% YoY volume

Research strategy

Align research to business priorities and drive focus.

Service design

Design end to end experiences that build trust and value.

Better decisions

Turn evidence into clear tradeoffs and confident recommendations.

Measurable impact

Deliver outcomes that move metrics, not just present findings.

Practice building

Build scalable systems and capabilities that last beyond projects.

Varun Khanduja

Looking for a research leader who can connect insight to action?

I am open to research leadership, principal research, and service design opportunities where strategic influence, practice building, and measurable impact matter.

Email VarunView LinkedInDownload resume