← Back to the LeaderboardThe Design Leadership Index

Jen Cardello

Managing VP, Design Research & Operations at Capital One (formerly SVP UX Research at Fidelity, Director at Nielsen Norman Group)

ExecutiveLeads from the backHybrid schoolResearchEnterpriseOrg
She is moving large enterprises through the AI transition by reframing UX as strategy and orchestration and using systems to multiply people rather than replace them — a people-protection model of leadership in the agentic era.

Signature win. Coined and operationalized 'research democratization' — building ResearchOps systems that certified hundreds of non-researchers to run studies, scaling learning velocity across enterprise-scale agile orgs without growing headcount linearly.

The case

editorial · CCBEI · with sources
Craft25+ years in UX research/human factors from Nielsen Norman Group through athenahealth, Fidelity, and now Capital One; holds the bar via design-quality metrics and research rigor frameworks ('Right Problem, Right Solution, Done Right').8
CommunicationProlific writer/speaker (NN/g, Rosenfeld, UXDX, Design Leadership Summit); coined 'research democratization' and authors the agentic-era series — makes research legible to non-researchers and leadership alike.9
BusinessBuilt ResearchOps at Fidelity to lift 'learning velocity' and certified 600+ unmoderated studies by non-researchers, explicitly tying research to business decisions and customer value at enterprise scale.9
Education[Education recalibrated toward editorial baseline] Her core thesis is people-multiplying: democratization certifies designers/PMs/analysts to do research, and she leads research+ops orgs whose stated mission is growing a learning culture across partner teams.8
InnovationPushed the practice forward with democratization, centralized participant systems, and design-quality measurement; her agentic-era POV frames AI as expanding UX into strategy/orchestration (elevates people) and she has built hands-on with Claude — not a craft-shedder.8

Endorsed by peers

illustrative · opens with verified accounts
OverallI'd work for them99
CraftRaised my craft bar94
CommunicationMade the case for design106
BusinessMade design matter to the business106
EducationTaught me something I still use94
InnovationShowed me a new way to work94

Verified peers only — one tap with LinkedIn. Names stay private; we show role and industry. Bars are illustrative until the participation backend is live.

Stories

first-hand · reviewed before publishing
No stories yet.