Building a High-Impact Design Research Practice That Transformed Walmart Data Ventures.

Executive Summary

I established the Design Research practice at Walmart Data Ventures, a B2B SaaS platform that empowers Walmart's top 300 suppliers to optimize their retail strategies. Building the practice from scratch, I developed the strategy, grew operations, and developed critical relationships across the business. I launched a 100+ participant research panel with hard-to-find professionals, enabling faster insights. In my first year, I led 14 projects across 7 teams, embedding research into workflows and improving cross-functional collaboration. I created self-service research training that provided designers with tools to conduct their own usability tests, resulting in 4 designers independently running tests and freeing Researchers for earlier-stage work.

Context

When I joined, the leadership team recognized the need for research but didn't know how to integrate it into their development cycles. I conducted a listening tour with key stakeholders, revealing that while they valued user insights, previous research efforts had been too slow and disconnected from business outcomes.

My Approach

I established Design Research as a strategic function at Walmart Data Ventures, embedding it into the design process and demonstrating its value across the business. By developing my skills in cross-functional influence, team building, mentorship, and prioritization, I transformed research from a new capability into an asset that shaped product strategy and delivered measurable value. My ability to build strong relationships and collaborate across the organization was key to driving this change.

Building Awareness and Advocacy

I positioned Research as an essential business function by developing an approach to advocacy.

  • Strategic Stakeholder Engagement: I identified key decision-makers across product, engineering, and design, and developed presentations demonstrating how UX research addresses their specific business challenges. This led to launching 14 research studies across 7 teams in the first 12 months.

  • Education and Workshops: I organized workshops to introduce UX research, focusing on its role in product development and value in mitigating risk, reducing development time and making more evidence-based decisions.

Building Infrastructure

I built the operational foundation for efficient, scalable research.

  • Participant Recruitment: I pitched, developed and launched a research panel in collaboration with other researchers, securing 100 participants. This streamlined recruitment, reduced recruitment time from 3 weeks to 3 days, and saved the organization $45,000 by eliminating the need for a recruitment agency. We ensured representation across roles, behaviors, and technical proficiency levels.

  • Research Repository: I built a searchable insights database that democratized access to research. This included tagging systems linking insights to business objectives and product features, enabling teams to leverage existing knowledge before initiating new research.

  • Research Request and Prioritization Tracker: I created an intake process with evaluation criteria tied to business impact, strategic alignment, and resource requirements. This managed leadership expectations, making sure projects were properly allocated. This revealed critical gaps in our staffing that justified team growth.

Stakeholder Partnership

I transformed stakeholder relationships from transactional to strategic partnerships.

  • Research Office Hours: Scaling Research Through Strategic Partnerships: I launched and led weekly Research Office Hours to support and empower design teams across the organization. These sessions offered hands-on guidance from UX Research specialists on writing research plans and discussion guides, conducting analysis and synthesis, and navigating best practices. By lowering the barrier to entry, we democratized access to research and enabled more team members to confidently run their own studies. This work grew design team participation in research from 3 to 8 teams and established UX Research as a collaborative, embedded partner in the design process.

  • Converting skeptics to advocates: Initially, I faced resistance from product leadership concerned about research timelines. To address this, I developed a rapid testing framework that delivered actionable insights within existing development sprints, converting skeptics into research advocates. It’s incredibly important for research to move at the speed of the organization.

  • Research Democratization: I created self-service research training that equipped designers with the guidance, templates, and confidence to conduct basic usability tests. The result was impressive: designers who had never conducted their own usability tests began doing so, scaling research freeing up bandwidth for UX Researchers to take on additional, earlier-stage research work.

Team Development

I developed a growth plan for the research function.

  • Organizational Design Blueprint: I developed an evidence-based staffing model outlining optimal researcher-to-product ratios based on product complexity, and strategic importance.

  • Hiring & Onboarding: I developed role-specific job descriptions, structured interview protocols, and assessments to identify researchers with research experience, collaboration, and business acumen.

  • Career Path Framework: I created a research career framework with clearly defined competencies, responsibilities, and growth opportunities. This helped attract talent by demonstrating long-term career potential within the organization.

Impact

  • Earned Walmart's highest performance rating

  • Scaled Team from 1 to 6 Researchers

  • Built 100+ Participant Panel

  • Launched 14 Studies Across 7 Teams in 12 months

  • Established Streamlined Intake Process

  • Created Research Tracker with 100% Project Visibility