Linda Martinez Senior User Researcher

510-299-1009 | lindamartinez100@gmail.com | linkedin.com/in/lindamartinez100 | lindamartinezportfolio.com 

Dedicated user research professional highly regarded for progressive experience driving product decisions through research insights and developing junior researchers across the full UX research spectrum. Recognized as a motivated self-starter with expertise in enterprise data and AI products, and stakeholder management. A strong communicator and collaborator who works well with diverse personalities and people across all levels of an organization. 

KEY SKILLS

Actionable Insights | Qualitative Research | Enterprise Data & AI| Stakeholder Management | Mentor

Interviews | Concept Testing | Journey Map | Usability Testing | Personas | Heuristic Evaluation | A/B Testing

Information Architecture | Card Sorting | Tree Testing | Workshop Facilitation | Storytelling | Surveys 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 

IBM | San Jose, CA 2021 – Present

User Research Lead

  • Led research studies across 6 enterprise data and AI products across distinct product teams, covering data governance, AI-driven process automation, data integration, privacy, and data product lifecycle management.

  • Delivered impactful research by collaborating closely with product managers and designers to shape research roadmaps and ensure alignment on key deliverables.

  • Conducted generative research for 3 MVPs to learn about the users, understand their roles, existing processes, pain points, and unmet needs, contributing to one product winning an iF Design Award in 2025.

  • Identified feature enhancements and new capabilities to improve competitiveness in 5 products.

  • Facilitated concept and prototype testing on 4 products to get early feedback on MVPs and new product features.

  • Provided research insights that shaped the go-to-market strategy for 2 new product launches.

  • Refined terminology in 3 products to better reflect user mental models and support consistency across the portfolio.

  • Conducted generative research exploring opportunities to integrate Generative AI in our products.

Western Digital | San Jose, CA 2016 – 2018

Financial Analyst

  • Oversaw credit analysis for a $3.4B portfolio and presented recommendations directly to the CFO. 

  • Played a vital role in the post-acquisition integration of 3 separate ERP systems, creating new credit processes to support system migration without interruption in business, and receiving the Power of We Award for efforts.

  • Managed and forecasted customer accounts with receivables worth $1B in annual billing. 

EDUCATION

University of Washington: 2021

Master of Science in Human Centered Design and Engineering

San Jose State University: 2015

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration