Apr 2021 – Oct 2021 · 6 mos

• I worked as a research and design consultant on a project that aims to understand the demand of education for girls in Pakistan. The research team is studying this by exploring how low-income parents in Pakistan perceive their daughters' marital outcomes to be related to their educational attainment.
• The core project team was made up of Rice University and World Bank researchers, while my role included:
• 1. Helping the core team test and finalise the content of the survey.
• 2. Creating contextual visuaizations to help low-literate users understand the survey.
• 3. Designing the digital interface for remote dissemination of the survey.

Mar 2021 – Jul 2021 · 4 mos · Karāchi, Sindh, Pakistan

• Taught a course titled Philosophy of Interaction.
• About the Course:
• This course explores the field of interaction design by looking at its philosophical and academic origins; its place in our world today; and how it may change as the arc of technological progress continues to move at exponential rates.
• The course starts by connecting interaction design to earlier discussions about our place in the world in fields like philosophy, psychology and sociology.
• We then explore how those discussions developed through the industrial revolution, and into the digital age – focusing especially on the journey from the first machines we could call computers, to their current place in our lives. We also look at the role of the designer in today’s world: the what, why and how of interaction design today.
• Towards the end of the course, we delve into the fields of futurology and design fiction; asking where we might be headed, where we want to go, and how we might align those possible futures.

Jan 2021 – Oct 2021 · 9 mos

• I led the MobileLive service design team in researching and redesigning the investor experience for the town of Innisfil (Ontario, Canada).
• The project was made up of the following major phases:
• 1. Scoping and research on the current state of the town’s investor experience
• 2. User journey mapping and service redesign of the entire experience
• 3. Strategic recommendations for long-term process redesign and implementation
• 4. Change management assistance

Aug 2020 – Jan 2021 · 5 mos

• 1. Led weekly skills-building workshops with the design team.
• 2. Managed the industrial and UX design teams working on a robotics product in the healthcare space.

Nov 2019 – Aug 2020 · 9 mos

• After 20+ years of developing software solutions for some of the world's largest businesses, Xavor has now added significantly to its already extensive technological and logistic capabilities, with the aim of designing and developing physical products that solve real-world problems in new and delightful ways.
• As the Head of Design at Xavor, I am responsible for helping move the company towards becoming more product-focused, by implementing a human-centred, exploratory approach to identifying, understanding and solving problems.
• Our current design team is made up of industrial and interaction designers from across Pakistan and China. Apart from working closely with the embedded systems, artificial intelligence, mobility and cloud teams within Xavor, we also collaborate with partners and subject matter experts around the globe, from the inception of each idea, to its commercialisation, and beyond.

Aug 2020 – Present · 5 yrs 8 mos · Dubai, United Arab Emirates · Hybrid

• Lead the research & design practice for a 15+ person consultancy; partner and primary decision-maker for strategy, standards, clients, and delivery quality. Co-own P&L, hiring, and growth.
• What I’m responsible for:
• → Practice strategy + P&L: annual plan, resourcing, pricing, and growth targets.
• → Clients & BD: shape briefs and proposals, negotiate scope/fees, and manage senior relationships.
• → Quality & decision gates: set the bar, run critiques, and sign off on key deliverables.
• → Executive facilitation: design and run senior stakeholder workshops to ensure alignment.
• → Key project leadership: closely lead complex, strategically important projects.
• → Team & capability: hire, mentor, and codify policies and practices that help the team grow.
• Selected projects I’ve led:
• → State Bank of Pakistan (central bank): country-wide research and global scan; sector-wide workshops; localized design principles; and 15+ merchant journeys for the national fast-payments network.
• → Ministry of IT & Telecommunications (federal ministry): industry–academia leadership workshops and consultations leading to a policy blueprint for bridging Pakistan's IT employability gap.
• → Mashreq Bank (UAE): research workshops with Emirati users, informing an insights-led brand strategy.
• → Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (regulator): startup summit facilitation, and moderation guides; and interviews with key decision makers; resulting in a recommendations report.
• → Global foundation program (ongoing, confidential): stakeholder mapping, public and private sector interviews, and a multi-day workshop to build the implementation roadmap.

Jan 2019 – Jul 2019 · 6 mos · Lahore, Pakistan

• I taught DLab; a course that helps engineers learn human-centred design techniques in order to develop and deploy practical interventions to solve global poverty challenges.

Sep 2016 – Dec 2018 · 2 yrs 3 mos · Lahore, Pakistan

• I managed Makeistan, Pakistan's first academic makerspace; alongside teaching the following courses in the university's Electrical Engineering department:
• Lab (Design & Development Lab)
• Computer-Aided Engineering Design
• Electronics Workbench

Sep 2018 – Nov 2019 · 1 yr 2 mos · Lahore, Pakistan

• I led the UX research and design of Ricult's digital products, including a smartphone application for smallholder farmers in Pakistan and Thailand.
• We took a human-centred design approach to learning about our users, identifying their needs, before co-designing, and iterating on solutions with them.

Mar 2017 – Jan 2019 · 1 yr 10 mos · Greater Denver Area

Feb 2016 – Jul 2016 · 5 mos

• Working as Design Consultant to GRID Impact on a project for Karandaaz. The project aims to utilize mobile technology to promote financial inclusion in Pakistan. My role requires involvement across four stages of the project: field research, concept development, prototyping and user testing.

Aug 2015 – Sep 2016 · 1 yr 1 mo · Lahore

• Courses taught:
• Interaction Design
• Design Portfolio
• Branding
• Contemporary Design Seminar
• Introduction to Computer Graphics

Jun 2014 – Jun 2015 · 1 yr · San Francisco Bay Area

• Industrial design conceptualization, 3D mockups, consumer journey research, user interface design and branding.

Jun 2013 – Aug 2013 · 2 mos · Savannah, Georgia

Mar 2013 – Jun 2013 · 3 mos · Savannah, Georgia, United States

Aug 2012 – Aug 2015 · 3 yrs · Savannah, Georgia Area

Aug 2012 – Aug 2015 · 3 yrs

Aug 2011 – Jun 2012 · 10 mos · Lahore

Jan 2011 – Jul 2012 · 1 yr 6 mos

Jul 2010 – Aug 2011 · 1 yr 1 mo · Lahore, Pakistan