UX Career Coaching & Pivot Strategy | Lisa Murnan

I spent 30 years in UX, most recently as a UX Director at Secureworks and Sophos, before leaving corporate life a year ago to go all-in on my own work – this coaching practice, plus Coolorado, a handmade dog gear brand I run with my husband. Best decision I’ve ever made.

Since then I’ve been deep in the trenches with clients every week – some fighting to land UX roles in a brutal market, others figuring out whether UX is even what they want anymore. I know what’s working right now, what isn’t, and where the real opportunities are.

The UX Market Is Weird Right Now.

The job market hasn’t just gotten harder – it’s gotten stranger. Companies are restructuring what they want from UX entirely, and AI is reshaping the work itself faster than most job postings reflect. Nobody really knows what UX looks like in three years, which is unsettling if you’re trying to build a career in it.

A lot of UXers are sitting with two questions right now: How do I even compete in this market? And: Do I even want to keep doing this? Both are valid. I work with people navigating both.

Two Paths, One Coach

Pivoting Out of UX – or Into Something Adjacent

This is the work I find most meaningful, and it’s where I’ve built real depth over the past year. If you’re anyone who’s built a career in UX or product design – designer, researcher, writer, strategist, manager, director – and you’re wondering whether there’s something better suited to you, this is what we’ll dig into together. A different role, a different industry, a completely different direction. All fair game.

UX people are genuinely versatile. You’ve spent years understanding systems, communicating complexity, advocating for users, and translating between business and design. Those skills travel. The problem is most people can’t see past the “UX designer” label on their own resume to recognize what they’re actually good at.

What pivot coaching actually looks like:

Figuring out what you’re genuinely good at beyond “making things look pretty”
Identifying where those skills are valued and well-compensated outside traditional UX
Reality-checking pivot ideas before you blow up your career on a bad one
Building a transition strategy that doesn’t require starting from zero
Personal brand and positioning work if you’re going solo or into consulting
The “through-line” work – finding the coherent story in your career that you can’t see because you’re too close to it (this one surprises people the most)

If you’re working through a pivot, I’ll send you pre-work first – a values audit and a set of excavation questions that take about an hour and do most of the heavy lifting before we talk. You’ll get a written summary afterward with your through-line, the directions worth testing, and what to do first.

One Thing to Keep in Mind

Pivots don’t happen overnight, but they don’t have to take forever either. Most people are closer to a viable next move than they think.

Staying in UX

If you’re committed to UX and want to become as competitive as possible in a tough market, this is where we focus. I work mostly with mid-level and senior UXers and design leaders – designers, researchers, strategists, managers, and directors who are stuck in a frustrating search, dealing with ageism or layoffs, or just can’t figure out why their materials aren’t landing.

What tactical UX coaching looks like:

Portfolio and case study overhauls that show real business impact (not just process documentation)
Resume strategies that get past ATS and actually get read
Interview and presentation prep for the new reality – more business-focused, less pixel-pushing
Collaborating on take-home design exercises – I’ll work through them with you, not just give you notes after the fact
Case study presentation run-throughs with honest feedback
Dealing with ageism, impostor syndrome, AI takeover, and the other landmines nobody talks about honestly

One thing that makes this work: I’m actively coaching people through real searches right now, every week. I know what interviewers are actually asking, which portfolio approaches are landing, and what’s changed in the last 6 months. This isn’t advice from 5 years ago dressed up as current wisdom.

Already landed?

Some of my most interesting work happens after the job search is over. If you’re a senior designer, design manager, or director who just stepped into a bigger role – or you’ve been at a company for a while and keep getting “you need to think bigger” or “work on your executive presence” feedback without anyone telling you what that actually means – this is work I find genuinely engaging.

I spent 30 years inside corporate America, most of it leading UX teams and the last several as a director. I know how promotion decisions actually get made, how visibility works (and doesn’t), and where the real leverage is – because I was in the room when those calls were made. This isn’t accountability coaching – we’re not doing weekly check-ins so I can ask if you did your homework. It’s more like having a senior advisor in your corner who’s seen the game from the inside and will tell you the truth about what’s actually going on.

If that sounds useful, email me with a quick summary of your situation.

Why Work With Me

I won’t blow smoke. I can’t guarantee a job offer or a perfect pivot. Nobody can. But I can promise you won’t be doing this alone, and you won’t be flailing.

I’ve coached 220+ UX professionals through career decisions – 60 of them in the past year alone – including job searches, pivots, layoffs, salary negotiations, and everything in between. I’ve been every kind of UXer – IC, design manager, UX Director, consultant. Agency and in-house, startups and enterprises. I’ve hired dozens of people, seen just about every resume mistake you can imagine, and spent 30 years watching what separates the people who figure it out from the ones who stay stuck.

One of the most valuable things I do is help people find the through-line in their own career – the coherent story that’s actually there but hard to see when you’re too close to your own work. Most people leave that session with a clearer sense of direction than they’ve had in years.

I use AI daily to navigate real problems. I’ll help you do the same instead of just worrying about it.

I’m not a therapist, but the conversations tend to go deeper than tactics, and that’s fine. I’ve heard a lot, I don’t judge, and nothing you tell me leaves the room. The tactical stuff (your resume, portfolio, positioning) matters, but what actually determines whether someone gets the job is usually whether they can show up as themselves under pressure. That’s the other thing we work on.

I’ll be honest with you even when it’s not what you want to hear – but I’m also genuinely rooting for you, and I’ll probably make you laugh at least once. (The occasional f-bomb may be involved.)

The Details

I keep my client load small by design, so I don’t do free intro calls – but here’s how it works:

First session: $350 (60-90 minutes)
Follow-up sessions: $300 each
3-session package: $850 total (saves $100, includes email access between sessions)

Every session includes:

A full review of whatever you send me beforehand – resume, portfolio, LinkedIn, case studies, job descriptions, presentation decks. I go through all of it before we talk, so we’re not spending your session on me reading.
60 to 90 minutes of actual conversation. Sessions are booked for an hour, but I build in buffer and most of them run long. I don’t watch the clock.
A written summary afterward with what we found and what to do first, in what order.
The full session transcript, so you can go back to it later or run it through AI to pull out whatever you need.

Some people just need one session to get unstuck. Others want ongoing support through a full pivot or job search. Either works, and you can roll into the package whenever it makes sense.

Payment: Due at booking. The payment link is included in your booking confirmation.

Location: Zoom (worldwide) or in person if you’re in the Boulder/Denver area.

Frequently Asked Questions

I’ve been applying for months and getting nothing. Is my portfolio the problem?
Usually not. More often it’s positioning – your titles don’t translate to the roles you’re applying for, or your resume doesn’t make it obvious you already do the job you’re asking for. I see this constantly with people coming out of agencies, or anyone whose internal title was creative in a way the outside world doesn’t parse. It’s often a much smaller fix than people expect.

I’m a UX designer who’s burned out and not sure if I want to stay in UX. Is that something you can help with?
Yes – this is actually one of the most common reasons people reach out. You don’t need to have a pivot destination in mind. A lot of the work is figuring out what you actually want, which requires some honest excavation before any strategy makes sense.

I’m actively interviewing and need help with a specific presentation or take-home exercise. Is that too tactical for coaching?
Not at all – it’s one of the most common single sessions I do. Send me the job description and your presentation ahead of time and I’ll go through it before we talk. We can run your portfolio presentation, work on how you’re telling your stories, or both.

I’m not a UX designer – I’m a UX researcher / content designer / product manager / [other adjacent role]. Does this apply to me?
Yes. I’ve worked with people across the spectrum of UX-adjacent roles. The coaching translates.

I’ve been in UX for 15+ years and I’m worried about ageism. Can you actually help with that?
I can, and I won’t pretend it’s not real. (I’m 57 and dealt with it for years – until I stopped working for other people and stopped caring.) But there are concrete strategies that help, and the experience that feels like a liability in some situations is genuinely an asset in others. We’ll figure out where to aim you.

What if I just want to talk through whether a pivot makes sense before committing to a full session?
Email me with a quick summary of your situation. I’ll give you an honest take on whether I think I can help, and we can go from there.

Do you work with people who want to leave UX entirely – not just pivot to adjacent roles? Yes. “What can I do besides UX” is a completely legitimate question and one I take seriously. The answer is usually more interesting than people expect.

I’m trying to break into UX from another field. Do you work with career switchers? It depends. If you have some professional experience to work with – even from adjacent fields like graphic design, research, product management, or anything involving systems thinking and communication – there’s usually plenty to build on. Where I’m less useful is with people who are truly just starting out with no professional experience yet, because the work is harder and the timeline is longer than one or two sessions can address. Not sure if you qualify? Email me a quick summary and I’ll give you a straight answer.

Someone is reaching out on behalf of a family member – a parent, spouse, or partner. Is that okay? Sure – it happens regularly. Just include a quick summary of their situation and what they’re hoping to get out of coaching. One thing worth knowing: the sessions work best when the person being coached is genuinely driving the process, so whoever I’m working with should be on board and not just humoring a well-meaning family member.

What if you’re not the right person to help me?
Then I’ll tell you. If we get into a session and I’m not the right fit for what you need, I’ll say so and I won’t charge you. It hasn’t happened yet, but the offer stands.

How to Book

Ready to book? Grab a time here

Not sure yet? Email me at lisamurnan@gmail.com with a quick summary of your situation and I’ll give you a straight answer on whether I think I can help.

What People Are Saying

I was one of many designers affected by the layoffs in 2025 and 2026. I reached out to Lisa because I wanted not only a competent career coach, but one who had extensive experience in the field of design. My goals were twofold: seek Lisa’s guidance on alternative career paths that I could pivot toward, and presentation/interview tips as I was still getting interview callbacks.

Lisa was incredibly thorough in her research before our first interview. Her work reflects someone who genuinely cares about her clients, and loves the design industry. We initially were going to talk about possible career path changes, but I suddenly had two job interviews fall on the same day. Lisa moved her schedule around so we could talk (and prepare) for these interviews, since they were scheduled a day before my meeting with Lisa. She also “pivoted” her own prep as our session went from talk of career pivoting to interview and presentation prep.

I am happy to say that I now have a full-time job after nearly six months of unemployment (and roughly 180 job applications filed and 20+ interviews). In this market, it takes a village to get hired. I highly recommend Lisa, not only for her extensive knowledge of the design industry and its current trends in 2026, but her empathetic, easy going demeanor. It’s easy to get discouraged in this market, but career coaches like Lisa give people who are either jobless, or are stuck in their careers a much-needed shot of hope.

– Sean McCarthy, Conversational AI Designer (April 2026)

Even with years of design experience, my final interview for a Senior AI Product Designer role felt incredibly high stakes. The pressure brought up a lot of anxiety, insecurity, and brain fog, and I knew I needed support. I found Lisa 3 days before the final round, and in one coaching session she helped me reset completely. I felt grounded, confident, and able to show up as my best self.

I got the job, and with Lisa’s support during negotiation, I also secured around $50K more in compensation.

What stood out most was how deeply she cared. Lisa helped me see my strengths clearly, position myself well, and move through the process with much more confidence and courage. I felt supported every step of the way. I highly recommend her to any designer who wants a coach who is strategic, positive, and truly invested in your success!

– Jung, Senior AI Product Designer (April 2026)

Lisa Murnan has spent 30+ years in UX – starting as a webmaster in the early days of the web, then moving into IA and interaction design, leading teams, and serving as UX Director at Secureworks and Sophos. She’s worked with IBM, Bank of America, TIAA, and Ally, taught UX at Boulder Digital Arts, and wrote How to Get a UX Design Job. These days she coaches UXers through career transitions and builds Coolorado, a handmade dog gear company she runs with her husband out of the Colorado mountains. Learn more about Lisa | LinkedIn