UX Career Coaching To Get You Hired or Promoted Faster
Regardless of what you do within UX or Product and how much experience you have, my UX career coaching services will help you take the guess work out of your career development.
Learn more about how you can get hired, promoted, or make a confident next move in your UX or Product career.
Sarah Doody
UX Researcher & Designer with 22 years experience
Some companies my UX career coaching clients have been hired at:
How UX career coaching can help you advance your career
UX career coaching focuses on strategy, positioning, and removing the guess work.
It helps you clarify your direction, translate your experience into a compelling career story, and navigate UX job searches, promotions, or career transitions with intention.
- Career direction and role clarity: Figure out the next step in your UX career, despite how messy it may feel.
- Identify your unique strengths: You've worn many hats, let's identify the ones you actually want to wear next.
- UX job search & interview strategy: Get interviews faster with strategies that work for today's UX job market.
- Portfolio and case study positioning: Tell recruiters and hiring managers exactly what they want to hear.
- Resume and LinkedIn: Optimize your resume and LinkedIn for recruiters, hiring managers, and the algorithms.
- Networking & relationships: Learn how to invest in relationships so they're ready when you need them.
Disciplines supported by my UX career coaching program, Career Strategy Lab, established in 2017
I work with UX and Product professionals across many disciplines. While each role has different expectations, the career and job search strategy fundamentals remain the same.
Product Design
UX Design
User Research
Interaction Design
Content Design
UX Writing
Service Design
Information Architecture
Product Strategy
Product Management
UX career coaching for full-time, contract, and freelance roles
UX careers don’t follow a linear path.
Our UX career coaching supports professionals pursuing full-time roles, contract work, freelance opportunities, or a mix — depending on their goals, experience, and lifestyle.
With the rise of career minimalism and professionals wanting to take control of their careers, my popular UX freelance course has helped people land multi-year UX freelance projects.
Full-time roles
Some alumni have even been in their roles long enough to be promoted, too. Others are now hiring alumni for their teams.
Contract roles
Contracts aren’t bad. Sometimes a 3 month contract turns into a 3 year contract, and even a full-time job offer.
Freelance projects
Alumni are securing freelance UX contracts and some like Steven, a UX Researcher, are even hiring alumni.
UX career coaching rooted in real UX hiring and industry experience
Career Strategy Lab was founded by Sarah Doody, a UX researcher and designer with 22 years of industry experience.
Sarah created Career Strategy Lab after seeing talented UX professionals get stuck in their careers, not because they lacked skills, but because they lacked clarity, positioning, and a repeatable career strategy.
Every framework inside Career Strategy Lab is grounded in UX and Product strategies and principles, based on what Sarah’s research into what UX recruiters and hiring managers want.
UX career coaching results from real people
How UX designers, researchers, leaders, and career switchers leveraged a proven job search strategy, got interviews, and hired.
How Manny got hired as a Senior UX Designer at Fidelity in 77 days
But after a layoff, his UX job search hit a wall, despite 5 years of experience in UX and 10 in design. He spent weeks spinning in circles, tweaking his resume, second-guessing his UX portfolio, and applying to jobs that led to nowhere.
Laura got hired in 47 days as a Principal Product Designer because the CEO found her
In this interview with Laura Acosta, hear how she got hired with just 1 project in her portfolio. And, the role she was hired for found her. In other words, the CEO sent her a DM after he found her on LinkedIn.
Fritz got hired in 89 days at Amazon after a previous 2-year job search on his own
Fritz spent 2 years job searching after being laid off, stuck in a cycle of rejection and self-doubt.
After getting UX career coaching from me, he rebuilt his confidence, refined his portfolio and resume, and land a leadership role at Amazon in just 89 days.
Many UX professionals I’ve coached have secured 5-figure salary increases after improving their positioning and career strategy.
Learn more about UX career coaching with Sarah Doody's Career Strategy Lab program.
I work with UX and Product professionals across many disciplines. While each role has different expectations, the career and job search strategy fundamentals remain the same.
Already working in UX for 10 or more years?
You’ve worked in UX and product for years, and need help defining your the next chapter in your career.
In a mid-level UX role and want to level up your salary or role?
You’re ready to position yourself for more or get hired at a new company that aligns with your values.
Pivoting to UX and need help connecting the dots?
You know you have the skills but you don’t know how to position yourself for UX roles in today’s job market.
FAQs about UX career coaching
Have a question that isn’t addressed below? Use the chat widget on this page to ask and I’ll get back to you in 24 hours, or feel free to send me, Sarah Doody, a message on LinkedIn here.
Is this for UX designers only, or also researchers, writers, and PMs?
UX career coaching supports a wide range of UX and Product roles, including UX designers, researchers, writers, content designers, and UX-adjacent product professionals. The strategy is tailored to the expectations of each role and hiring market and backed by what UX recruiters and hiring managers tell us they want to see in candidates.
Do you help with salary negotiation?
Yes — coaching includes guidance on how to approach compensation conversations with clarity and confidence. The focus is on positioning your value and making informed decisions, not using scripts or pressure tactics.
Can this help if I’m looking for contract or freelance UX work?
Yes. UX career coaching can help you position yourself for full-time, contract, freelance, or consulting work depending on your goals, experience, and market. The strategy adjusts based on how clients evaluate and hire for each type of work.
How do you deliver 1:1 coaching and personalized feedback?
I’m able to deliver 1:1 feedback through these parts of my career coaching experience:
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Critiques of your materials such as your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn profile. You will be able to receive 8 critiques, included with your career coaching package. The critiques are done asynchronously through a tool called Loom. Critiques are conducted by me, Sarah Doody, and my team of UX career coaches who I’ve personally trained.
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Weekly Q&A and Mindset calls. Each week we have a live Q&A and a separate Mindset call with all the coaching clients who choose to attend. You can submit questions in advance and the calls are recorded. And, you’ll benefit from hearing our answers to questions that others have asked.
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Questions and feedback in the community. You may also post questions in the community and our team. Our coaching clients often say they value the feedback they receive from other coaching clients as well, especially if someone’s already working at (or interviewed at) the company where another member is currently interviewing.
We’ve been delivering 1:1 career coaching in a group experience since 2021. The mix of 1:1 feedback and group interaction means you don’t just advice – you also benefit from the accountability, connections, momentum, and motivation that comes from being in community with others who share a similar goal.
To be clear though, Career Strategy Lab doesn’t offer packages of 1:1 calls with Sarah Doody or any of the other UX career coaches.
Ready to take the next step in your UX career?