Rob Sharp Résumé

1200 North Veitch Street, 926, Arlington, VA 22201, USA
+1 845 729 8930 / rob@robsharp.co.uk
/

Professional Experience

  1. Product Design Lead & Strategist

    , London
    –

    Created and led a interdisciplinary team to define, design and deliver Which? University, the new flagship education product for the largest consumer body in the UK (very similar to Consumer Reports in the US).

    As part of a wider change management process I was instrumental in transforming how digital products are conceived and delivered in the large digital department.

    Establishing new internal client-focussed approaches to planning, releasing the potential of existing agile processes with User-centred design and new technologies. Drove through new approaches to development, introducing the first uses of Lean UX practices, responsive design, Ruby on Rails, Git, cloud services with AWS and the Facebook social graph.

    Helped define new team structures and processes, plus coached existing employees taking on new product focussed roles.

  2. User Experience & Technical Architect

    , London
    –

    A dual role leading UX and technology centric projects for this business strategy and creative communications agency working with many global brands. Highlights include researching, designing and delivering a new global intranet strategy for HSBC, in addition to full redesigns of their Global Banking and Markets and Learning Management intranets.

    Provided UX, technical architecture and digital strategy services to Adidas, Allen & Overy, BSkyB, E.ON, Reed Elsevier & Rolls-Royce.

    Led the development team defining internal technology strategy & mentoring team members.

  3. Digital Producer

    –

    Project lead for this marketing and corporate communications agency. Delivered online tools and digital marketing campaigns for global brands including Shell, Thomson Reuters and Whitbread. Development of IA and technical specifications.

    Front-end development lead, creating design and development frameworks to streamline workflow in the young digital department.

  4. Digital Consultant

    Independent, London & Buenos Aires
    –

    Technical consulting and IxD for a wide client base. Included managing the design, development and delivery of the worldwide campaign and e-commerce sites for H&M. Also designed and delivered products for Canon and Soho House.

  5. Digital Producer

    –

    Performed UX design and front-end development for the respected London marketing agency’s new digital division. Created and improved upon design, development and client service processes. Led design and development teams for their flagship digital client TJ Maxx; delivered new e-commerce UX, mobile sites, online magazines and marketing campaigns.

    Introduced usability best practices in the creative department and accessibility compliance in development.

  6. Lead Developer & Project Manager

    , London
    –

    Ran the digital team and client services for interactive projects. Developed and executed pitches for all digital work. Promoted a new focus on IA and usability. Initiated new development best practices for the technical team. Performed interaction design and front-end development. Designed and developed CMS and webapp products that drove the acquisition of significant new clients.

  7. Designer & Developer

    –

    Designed and developed websites and multimedia works for this innovative digital agency, producing in HTML, Flash and 3d.

Education

BA Fine Art
Croydon College of Art & Design, London 2000
Art & Design Foundation
Camberwell College of Arts, London 1996

Skills

Leadership

A track record of helping businesses deliver on change management strategy; delivering design and technology led innovation. Thrives in these challenging and dynamic environments.

Enjoys leading interdisciplinary teams of creative and technical people in agile contexts.

Comfortable managing and growing senior client relationships.

Design

Product strategy

Product development through competitive and market analysis, user research, ideation, prototyping and concept development. Requirements and roadmap definition. Digital brand development and service design planning.

User-centred design

Planning and facilitation of workshops (Design Thinking, Participatory design); user and stakeholder interviews; persona development; story-boarding.

IA & UI

Prototyping in HTML5, wireframing; information design; user journeys; card-sorting; art-direction; content strategy.

Very experienced in all Adobe Creative Suite applications, Visio and Omnigraffle.

Technical

Solution Design

Well-versed in many models, from basic CRUD applications to SOA and related web service approaches.

Development

Twelve years front-end experience with HTML (inc. HTML5); CSS; JavaScript libraries: jQuery, MooTools, Ext JS, Raphaël and CoffeeScript; Flash, WAI accessibility.

Six years of PHP and SQL development. Three years of Ruby on Rails. Use of Cloud services with AWS and Heroku. Source Control with Subversion and Git.