# Deirdre McGruder

> Senior UX Researcher | Paralegal 2026 | AI Legal Tech

Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/deirdremcgruder

UX research leader with 13+ years turning user insights into product decisions. Built research teams from scratch, trained product teams in methods, and contributed to $100M+ strategies across financial services and SaaS. 

Currently pursuing paralegal certification (Fall 2026) and working as an AI model evaluator at Mercor, where my journalism background — 20 years as a critic, editor, and reporter — turns out to be exactly the right preparation for spotting bias, verifying facts, and knowing when something doesn't add up. 

Uniquely positioned for UX research roles at AI companies serving the legal industry.

## Work Experience
### AI Evaluation Specialist @ Mercor
Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area
EVALUATE AI model outputs for accuracy, completeness, tone, and bias across journalism and political domains. 

FLAG bias and informational gaps in responses to complex, contested topics. Build and apply rubrics to assess whether prompts are pulling the right responses from models. 

COMPARE outputs across criteria, annotate data, and review multimodal content, including audio, video, and images

### UX Research Consultant @ Unknown
Jan 2023 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area
HELPED small businesses optimize digital products through customer interviews, usability testing, and journey mapping

DELIVERED research insights that drove measurable improvements, with one client reporting 70% increase in user engagement and appointment bookings

CONDUCTED stakeholder interviews and surveys to identify business opportunities and inform product decisions

### Director of Research | Product Platform, Product Growth and Channel Partners @ BILL
Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Jose, California
INTRODUCED contextual inquiry framework, creating templates and training that enabled 150+ product managers, designers, and engineers to conduct customer research

ESTABLISHED heuristic evaluation practice from scratch, documenting workflow issues that contributed to product improvement goals

LED Accounts Payable JTBD research initiative with 50+ interviews that informed product strategy

### UX Design Research Lead and Research  Manager | Mobile and Digital @ U.S. Bank
Jan 2016 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco, California
SCALED research team 25% to ~50 researchers; managed 8-13 direct reports and mentored 5 researchers through promotions

HELMED mobile app pilot with 5,000-member panel that eliminated hundreds of bugs pre-launch and increased mobile usage from 44% to 65%

ESTABLISHED Wealth Management research focus that contributed customer insights to $100M+ go-to-market strategy

DIRECTED nationwide ethnographic research that informed app navigation redesign and underpinned Goals Portal serving 330,000+ customers

### Senior User Researcher - Digital Channels Group @ Wells Fargo
Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area
STRATEGIC partner for 20+ research projects across web and mobile, managing vendor relationships and defining research roadmaps

HELPED build business case for first in-house UX Research team, achieving significant cost savings through reduced outsourcing

### User Experience Researcher | Digital and Mobile @ Fidelity Investments
Jan 2012 – Jan 2014 | Boston, Massachusetts
EXECUTED ~95 research projects across investment platforms serving 40+ million users, including consumer-facing sites, mobile apps, and internal tools

APPLIED research recommendations to optimize user experiences and increase engagement across complex financial workflows

### Entertainment Editor, Online Producer, News Editor, Copy Editor @ CharlotteObserver.com, The Charlotte Observer
Jan 2006 – Jan 2011 | Charlotte, North Carolina


## Education
### MS in Human Factors in Information Design
Bentley University

### B.A. in Journalism
The University of Alabama

### Paralegal
California State University, East Bay - Continuing Education


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/deirdre-mcgruder-73780511

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Source: https://flows.cv/deirdremcgruder
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/deirdremcgruder/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-05