A.j. Ayeni

Multidisciplinary UX researcher and program manager with 10+ years of experience spanning across neuroscience, human factors, healthcare, responsible AI, and financial services. Throughout my career, I have built and scaled research programs, led end-to-end mixed-methods studies, and partnered with cross-functional teams to shape product strategy, ethical AI development, and organizational decision-making. My background combines scientific research, human-centered design, and AI governance, enabling me to translate complex evidence into practical, business-focused outcomes.

Having worked across North America, Europe, and Asia, I bring a global perspective to research, stakeholder collaboration, and responsible innovation.

Assistant Vice President | UX Researcher at US Bank (2026-03 – 2026-07)

Led end-to-end mixed-methods UX research across business banking products, defining measurable research objectives tied to client acquisition, onboarding, and account management experiences.

• Designed and executed evaluative and generative studies to identify friction in critical flows such as digital onboarding, payments, and cash management, improving task success and user confidence.
• Synthesized qualitative and quantitative data into actionable insights and executive-ready deliverables, demonstrating measurable impact on product performance and return on design investment.

Responsible AI Program Manager at Microsoft Research (via Design Laboratory Inc.) (2024-08 – 2026-02)

Reviewed 200+ AI research proposals across Microsoft Research, applying Responsible AI, IRB, and regulatory frameworks to identify risks early and reduce approval cycle time by ~30%.

• Advised cross-functional research and product teams on IRB protocol design, human-subjects safeguards, and data governance, improving research approval rates and compliance consistency across global studies.
• Developed and maintained internal Responsible AI playbooks, templates, and decision trees that standardized mixed-methods evaluation and simplified onboarding for new researchers.
• Partnered with legal, UX, and engineering stakeholders to map user impact, inclusion risks, and downstream harms, influencing product roadmaps and experimental design for AI features.

Lead UX Researcher & Research Operations Consultant at AUX Consulting Services (2024-01 – Present)

Leads end-to-end UX research and operations for BIPOC-led startups, building research frameworks, roadmaps, and KPIs that connect user insights to product and business strategy.

• Planned and executed mixed-methods UX studies (usability testing, heuristic reviews, surveys, interviews) for web and mobile products, increasing task completion rates by up to 35% and reducing key friction points.
• Designed research roadmaps, journey maps, and KPIs aligned with product OKRs, helping founders prioritize high-impact features and avoid low-ROI design work.
• Established lightweight research operations infrastructure (templates, repositories, tagging), enabling teams to self-serve past insights and improve decision speed.

AI Model Evaluator & UX Research Contributor (Part-time) at Outlier.AI, Mercor, Handshake (2024-02 – Present)

Evaluated AI-generated UX content using mixed methods, analyzing user intent, behavioral patterns, and model outputs to improve intelligent experience quality and safety.

• Authored 50+ evaluation rubrics, prompts, and scenario-based test cases, enabling more consistent telemetry and model performance tracking over time.
• Identified behavioral patterns and failure modes in model responses that informed retraining priorities and product-level safety mitigations.
• Collaborated asynchronously with distributed research and engineering teams (Slack, Notion, Sheets) to triage issues and refine evaluation workflows, improving review throughput without sacrificing quality.

Senior User Researcher at Loyal Health (2021-10 – 2023-10)

Founded and scaled Loyal Health's first UX Research function, building research frameworks, repositories, and mentorship programs that enabled 10+ product teams to consistently integrate insights into their workflows.

• Led generative and evaluative mixed-methods research (interviews, contextual inquiry, surveys, usability testing) to unify multiple healthcare tools into a single cloud-based platform, improving provider workflow efficiency by ~28%.
• Developed reusable research templates, playbooks, and study patterns that cut research cycle times by 50%, helping design and engineering ship features faster with lower risk.
• Facilitated cross-functional alignment through insight readouts, workshops, and stakeholder interviews, directly influencing feature prioritization and product roadmap decisions.

Human Factors & UX Research Associate at Air Traffic Management Research Institute, NTU (2019-02 – 2021-09)

Conducted iterative UX testing and heuristic evaluations focused on accessibility and diverse user needs, reducing usability defects and improving task success metrics across critical flows.

• Led a $90K mixed-methods study using fMRI and fNIRS to evaluate fatigue and cognitive performance in air traffic controllers, producing insights that informed staffing and shift policies.
• Created novel measurement tools for trust in automation, validating them across multiple operational scenarios and contributing to predictive models of human-machine teaming.
• Mapped user workflows, tasks, and cognitive demands to inform human-system interaction frameworks used by internal partners and collaborators.
• Analyzed performance and behavioral telemetry from simulations to evaluate reinforcement and supervised learning algorithms, influencing how automation was introduced to operators.
• Authored IRB proposals and presented findings at neuroscience and aviation safety conferences, translating complex data into clear recommendations for stakeholders.

Master of Science in Clinical, Social & Cognitive Neuroscience – City St. George's, University of London

Bachelor of Science in Psychology – Northeastern University