Career Coaching for Mid Level UX Professionals
You’ve worked in UX for a few years, and you’re no longer a junior. But being mid-level comes with its own challenges.
You might be asking yourself: How do I make the leap to senior?
Or maybe you’re trying to break through a skill or salary plateau, or not sure how to move into UX leadership.
You’re struggling to communicate you’re ready for the next level. You’re in the right place, and we can help!
Hi, I’m Sarah Doody! I applied my 22 years of UX experience to create the best career coaching program for senior UX people!
Some companies my mid level UX career coaching clients have been hired at:
Facing any of these challenges as a senior product designer, UX researcher, or product professional?
Position your UX skills and business knowledge
Trying to move to senior, lead, or principal?
Creating a UX portfolio to move past mid-level?
Facing a UX job search after years in the same role
Does your experience as a mid-level UX professional feel overlooked or not enough?
Your 3 to 7-ish years of UX experience should be the foundation for your next move, not the reason you feel stuck. The problem isn’t your skills, it’s showing the UX job market you’re ready for more.
- Not enough years: Worried you’ll be passed over because you don’t have the exact number of years in the job description.
- Hard to show your impact: Concerned your UX portfolio isn't good enough and your case studies don't have enough results.
- Stuck in the middle: You’re no longer junior, but you’re not treated as senior either, leaving you plateaued in skills, title, or salary.
How mid-level UX and Product people position themselves for senior roles
Mid-level UX professionals get stuck in their careers or hit a salary plateau because they don’t position themselves for senior roles.
The products you design always have a roadmap, but does your UX career?
Similar to a product roadmap, your career needs a roadmap for how to go from doing the work to leading the work and being involved in strategy and decisions that shape the product.
“Working on your job search, resume, portfolio, etc without a UX career roadmap is like writing an essay without a thesis.”
Sarah Doody
Founder of Career Strategy Lab
What coaching looks like for mid career UX professionals
As a mid-level professional, the problem isn’t likely your skills, it’s showing you’re ready for senior roles.
Our career coaching approach helps you bridge the gap between doing the work and being seen as a leader so you can:
- Stop feeling invisible by reframing your portfolio, resume, and LinkedIn to highlight your strategic thinking, not just execution.
- Get noticed for senior roles by showing hiring managers you can influence, collaborate, and deliver impact beyond deliverables.
- Show leadership potential by uncovering examples of decision-making, or cross-functional influence you may have overlooked.
“The average salary increase of UX people who work with me and get hired is 5-figures.”
Sarah Doody
Founder of Career Strategy Lab
A Few of the mid career UX Product People We've Worked With
See how Sarah Doody’s UX career coaching program, Career Strategy Lab, has helped UX people like you get hired and advance their careers.
How Marcus rebuilt his confidence and got hired as a UX Researcher at Nava
After being unemployed for nearly a year and struggling to get interviews, Marcus came to us for help. He revamped his portfolio, shifted his mindset, and built relationships that led to a referral. Marcus got hired at Nava to work on meaningful federal projects.
How Kristin leveled up and got hired as a Senior UX Designer
Kristin had been doing UX but wanted to get out of just doing the work and wanted to have more impact and influence on strategy and the whole product. Kristin landed a Senior UX Designer role with only 2 projects in her UX portfolio.
How Ellie is advancing her UX career as a former technical recruiter
Ellie’s UX job search hit a wall, despite having worked as a technical recruiter. Ellie shares how she rebuilt her confidence and stop applying out of panic in her job search. She also discusses why asking for help was a major turning point in her job search.
Is UX career coaching with Sarah Doody right for you?
Want help leveling up to the next step in your UX or Product career? Ready to learn timeless, and proven, career advancement strategies you can use now, and for years to come? If so, I’d love to help.
This is for you if:
- You want expert help and realize what worked in past UX job searches doesn't work in today's job market.
- You want to reach your goals faster and recognize your DIY approach may take you longer than you want it to.
- You're tired of your current approach and want to pivot your job search strategy.
“I put my 22 years of experience in UX Research & Design into creating the best UX career coaching program.”
Sarah Doody
Seciton about ROI of UX Career Coaching
Next steps for UX career coaching with me, Sarah Doody
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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.
How long does it take UX professionals to get hired with coaching?
Most UX professionals who get UX career coaching from Career Strategy Lab are hired in 6 months or less.
32% are hired in under 3 months.
35% are hired within 4–6 months.
The time to great hired in UX depends on many factors including your starting point when you begin UX career coaching. For example, if you haven’t touched your resume or portfolio in 10 years, it make take you longer than someone who’s already been applying for roles and isn’t starting their resume or UX portfolio from scratch.
Do senior UX designers still need a portfolio?
A UX portfolio is still valuable for senior UX professionals because it highlights not just what you delivered, but how you think and lead. Recruiters want to see your decision-making, how you approached problems, worked within constraints, and influenced stakeholders.
Even if you never present it in interviews, creating a portfolio equips you to tell your story with clarity and confidence.
How can a career coach help senior UX professionals?
A career coach helps senior UX professionals by turning years of experience into a clear, marketable story that gets the attention of UX recruiters and hiring managers.
Coaching provides the strategy and accountability to stop underselling your value, refine your portfolio and resume to highlight impact, and prepare for senior-level interviews or leadership roles. With personalized guidance, you gain the clarity and confidence to move beyond “stuck at senior” and position yourself for your next step.
What’s the difference between a UX mentor and a UX career coach?
UX mentorship often means getting advice from a manager, colleague, or community member who shares their perspective on different areas of UX and Product Design such as UX research, UX writing, product strategy, and career advancement. A UX mentor doesn’t always leave you with concrete tools to act on because it’s often a just a conversation.
UX career coaching, on the other hand, is structured and goal-oriented: a great coach gives you a plan of action and tools to execute that plan. For example, a great UX career coach can give you the advice, instruction, and templates to help you reframe your portfolio to show decision-making, sharpen your resume and LinkedIn for UX hiring, and build a strategy for moving from senior roles into leadership.
How can I get back into UX as a senior professional after a career break?
A career break as a UX professional will not ruin your career. Coming back into UX after a career break isn’t about proving you still have the skills, it’s about repositioning your experience so hiring managers see your value today.
The mistake many professionals make is trying to explain away the gap instead of owning their story. A UX focused career coach can help you reframe your portfolio and resume to highlight your decision-making, leadership, and impact, while weaving your career break into a narrative that makes sense. With a clear strategy, UX professionals return to the job market with confidence and get hired faster than if they try to DIY the process.
Can career coaching help me move into UX leadership?
Yes, career coaching can help senior UX professionals move into leadership by positioning you as more than an individual contributor. Chances are you’ve already been doing leadership activities, like mentoring teammates, influencing stakeholders, or shaping strategy, even without “leader” in your job title. A UX career coach helps you see those patterns and make sure they show up in your resume, portfolio, and interviews.
Coaching also helps you highlight UX leadership skills such as managing teams, driving vision, and making decisions under constraints. Instead of focusing only on UX related design deliverables, you’ll learn to tell stories that demonstrate impact at a higher level on the business and team. With the right positioning and a clear plan, you can confidently move from “senior” into lead, principal, or manager roles.
Can career coaching help me move back to IC work after being a manager?
Yes, UX career coaching can help you transition back to IC work by repositioning your leadership experience so it’s seen as an asset, not a liability. Many UX hiring managers worry former managers won’t want to get their hands dirty again. A coach helps you show that you still have the craft skills and decision-making needed for IC roles, while also highlighting how your leadership background makes you a stronger UX candidate.
Here’s how coaching supports that transition:
Reframe leadership experience so it shows relevance to hands-on design or research work.
Highlight IC strengths, like problem-solving, systems thinking, and UX skills.
Position you strategically to avoid being boxed in by your last job title.
With the right positioning, you can confidently move back into the UX work you enjoy while leveraging your leadership experience as a differentiator.
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.
Advance your career with the only UX career coaching program built by a UX designer with 22 years of experience.
