# Colleen Carroll (she/her) > User Experience and Insights Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/colleencarrollsheher User Researcher | Design Researcher Equal parts data wrangler, wordsmith, and puzzle-solver with deep experience working domestically and around the world. Most comfortable turning ambiguous or uncertain problem spaces into clear work streams and insights. Fascinated by FinTech and it's abilities to drive wider financial and economic inclusion. Deep experience across diverse sectors, including tech, health care, finance, real estate, legal, and transport. Wanna-be Amazing Race participant. ## Work Experience ### Design Research Manager @ Affirm Jan 2022 – Present Returning to Affirm as part of the Fast acquisition. Currently supporting teams developing Affirm's debit and financial instruments. ### Director, Research and Insights @ Fast (acquired by Affirm) Jan 2021 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco, California, United States ### Design Research Manager @ Affirm, Inc. Jan 2018 – Jan 2021 | San Francisco Leading user research for Affirm's consumer borrowing and merchant experience product teams. I partner with design, engineering, product management, our commercial team, analytics, marketing, and customer support to build new, direct-to-consumer financial products that inspire financial freedom and confidence. Helping grow the User Research team, and excitement and demand for user research across the company. ### User Researcher @ Digit.co Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area Save money, without thinking about it. As a User Researcher with Digit, I craft, execute, and analyze research that puts our users at the front and center of product design. We work across functionality and across all product phases, making sure research results generate actionable insights for engineers, ops, and design. Our team marries diverse categories of research methods, continually striving to understand our user's financial lives and build products that take the guess work out of personal finance. ### Research Strategy Consultant and Analyst @ Independent Contractor Jan 2011 – Jan 2018 Working in public, private and non-profit sectors, my work deployed design thinking principles to craft and execute custom research strategies on three continents. I work through all phases of research with clients- refining the problem setting, designing research strategies, hiring/managing/leading research, prototyping and testing, and managing follow up on research results. Research methods I frequently use include: qualitative + cognitive interviews, ride alongs + ethnographic studies, surveys, UX testing, task analysis (of the JTBD variety), and diary studies. Sharing research with stakeholders throughout the process is my norm. I also translate final results into journey maps, personas, cohesive stories, MVPs, product roadmaps, design criteria, and written content for stakeholders, designers/engineers, business, policy, government, and academic professionals. More recently, my work has focused on tech take up and tech innovation, but I also work on policy projects (trade, political parties, industry groups) and agricultural issues. About 9 years experience collaborating multilingual clients and audiences (ENG – NL – FR- ESP). ### Research Fellow @ Leuven Center for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven Jan 2012 – Jan 2015 | Leuven, Belgium Researcher within the Programme on Global Governance and Democratic Government, focusing on the role of representation in democratic systems. Responsible for the design and execution of data-based and theoretical research agendas, including original data collection via interviews and surveys. Created network analyses of international trade negotiations to explore theoretical questions of international cooperation. Sector-specific research on R&D and innovation policies in trade negotiations, industrial development policies. ### Research Assistant @ Leuven Center for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven Jan 2011 – Jan 2012 Investigated the political incentives for trade and economic integration. Specific focus on the negotiation, implementation, and implications of bilateral trade and investment agreements. Additional research concentrates on competitiveness as a political strategy, motivations for participation in the political decision making process, and the politics of agriculture. Valorization of multidisciplinary database via quantitative analyses. Contributed to and edited department textbook on EU Foreign Policy. Served as English language editor for department publications. ### Consultant @ Chicago Partners Jan 2007 – Jan 2009 Provided quantitative and qualitative assistance in economic and financial analyses as support for expert witness testimony Created and analyzed data sets from information obtained in discovery, and collected related company, industry and academic literature Developed analytical economic and financial models and drafted expert reports Conducted personal research to supplement the research interests of in-house academics and further company's business development. ## Education ### Advanced Masters in Economics of the EU KU Leuven ### MA in Studies of the European Union (Economics and Trade Focus) UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia ### Graduate Student at Large: Statistics University of Chicago ### B.A. in Economics, International Affairs, Spanish Marquette University ### Economía Internacional y Español in Políticas de la Competencia Universidad Pontificia Comillas ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/collcarr --- Source: https://flows.cv/colleencarrollsheher JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/colleencarrollsheher/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13