QASIM MALIK
UX RESEARCH

I investigate the problem, shape the product, and build enough to learn what happens next.

UX Researcher and product builder working across AI, technical, and emerging products, using research, design, and rapid prototyping to turn ambiguity into product direction.

SELECTED WORK

DATABRICKS

AGENTIC AI / 0→1 UXR

2026

Established research for a new agentic AI experience, shaping product strategy and interaction models for trust, control, and adoption.

FORMATIVE RESEARCH / MOBILE

2025

Helped adapt a key entry-level advertising experience from desktop to mobile and converge three competing product directions into one.

AMTRAK

SERVICE DESIGN / BUSINESS STRATEGY

2024

Used frontline field research to reframe historic-station modernization and guide executive prioritization of a new sustainability initiative.

EXPERIENCE

DATABRICKS

UX RESEARCH INTERN

2026

MATERIAL / META

ASSOCIATE UX RESEARCHER

2025

UX RESEARCH INTERN

2025

AMTRAK INNOVATION

UX RESEARCH INTERN

2023

UCONN DIGITAL HEALTH LAB

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

2022

UCONN HEALTH

RESEARCH ASSISTANT II-III

2022

CT CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER

RESEARCH ASSISTANT I

2021

EDUCATION

M.S. HUMAN–COMPUTER INTERACTION

PRATT INSTITUTE

2026

B.S. COGNITIVE SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

2021

TOOL STACK

I use AI-assisted tools to synthesize and prototype ideas quickly, moving from research insights to testable concepts.

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

Qualtrics · User Interviews · Optimal Workshop · Lyssna · SPSS · Marvin · UserZoom · TheyDo

PROTOTYPE & BUILD

Figma · Cursor · Claude · CODEX · Vercel · Voiceflow · Unity · A-Frame

ABOUT ME

Outside work, I’m usually reading, taking photos with my far too large collection of early-2000s CCD sensor digicams, or looking for something sweet to eat.

READING NOW

Água Viva - Clarice Lispector

CURRENTLY SHOOTING

Olympus C-4040Z

SWEET OBSESSION

Hellenika Ube & Coconut ice cream

Qasim Malik / UX Research

Resume

01 / Case study

CustomerLake

UX Research Intern
Databricks

2026

Establishing UX research for a priority 0→1 agentic AI initiative.

⧉ Introducing CustomerLake: The Agentic CDP embedded in Databricks

I joined the Customerlake team as its first researcher to support development of Databricks's new flagship agentic Customer Data Platform (CDP). Through three phases of mixed-methods research and design workshops, I shaped both the long-term vision and immediate product requirements for agent trust and adoption.

mixed-methods research phases

15+

cross-functional stakeholders engaged

roadmap items informed

in-flight design changes

02 / PROJECT NOTE

This project is under NDA.

Because this work is confidential, I can’t show product interfaces or detailed findings publicly. Below is a brief overview of my work. More details coming soon.

CustomerLake is currently progressing toward its H1 FY27 general-availability target.

03 / PROJECT CONTEXT

Researching how people trust, control, and collaborate with autonomous agents.

As an agentic CDP, CustomerLake introduced novel interaction and trust questions: how much autonomy should an agent have, what guardrails are needed, and what evidence do users need before acting on its recommendations?

I combined mixed-methods research, design workshops, and interactive concept development to connect emerging user needs with both the product’s longer-term vision and its near-term roadmap.

04 / CONTRIBUTION

Translating open product questions to a concrete interaction direction.

Established the research foundation

Designed and led three phases of research for a priority initiative that had not previously had dedicated UXR support.

Connected research to the roadmap

Translated findings with cross-functional stakeholders, strengthening nine roadmap bets and informing eight active design changes.

Turned emerging behaviors into concepts

Designed and built interactive concepts that helped the team explore agent trust, control, and collaboration before committing those behaviors to production.

05 / STATUS

Coming soon.

Read the pre-launch announcement in the meantime: ⧉ Introducing CustomerLake: The Agentic CDP embedded in Databricks

Qasim Malik / UX Research

Next — LinkedIn / Mobile Boosting →

01 / Case study

Mobile Boosting

UX Research Intern
LinkedIn
2025

Bringing LinkedIn’s entry-level advertising experience to mobile.

I led formative research for LinkedIn’s first mobile Boosting experience, helping the team understand how mobile-first SMB advertisers make promotion decisions and evaluate three competing product directions.

3 → 1

Design directions converged

Design changes across three iterations

$35M+

Estimated incremental revenue opportunity de-risked

02 / Opportunity

Boosting worked on desktop. But the audience was increasingly mobile.

Boost allows members to pay to extend an organic post beyond their network. More than half of new advertiser acquisition came through Boost, while many SMB advertisers operated mobile-first.

80%

of LinkedIn sessions were mobile

40%

of weekly posts were mobile

$35M+

estimated opportunity to bring Boost to mobile

03 / Product decision

Three fundamentally different ways to translate Boosting to mobile.

Single

Desktop-like, information-dense long scroll.

Stepped

Focused flow with fewer decisions per screen.

Simple

Preset packages with estimated outcomes responding to selections.

What does a genuinely mobile-native Boosting experience need to do differently?

04 / Research questions

What changes on mobile?

How do mobile context, behaviors, and needs affect design and feature prioritization?

Which direction?

How do advertisers respond to the three interaction models?

What creates confidence?

What information proves a Boost is worth the investment?

05 / Approach

Generative exploration with evaluative concept testing.

moderated remote sessions

60 min

interview + concept testing

design directions

SMB

advertisers with Boost experience

The team had limited understanding of the mobile user group but already had concepts to evaluate, so the study combined contextual interviews with think-aloud prototype testing.

Collaboration

Product · Design · Data Science · Engineering · Research Ops

06 / Process

Recruit → Observe → Synthesize + Recommend

Recruit

Partnered with Data Science on participant identification and Research Ops on screening and scheduling.

Observe

Invited stakeholders to sessions, note-taking, and emerging-findings updates.

Synthesize

Moved from findings to insights, takeaways, recommendations, topline, and full shareout.

07 / Finding 01

Advertisers couldn’t configure a Boost confidently without understanding what their choices would produce.

INPUTS

Audience + Goal + Budget + Duration

→

EXPECTED RESULT

Estimated reach and impressions respond to configuration choices.

→

CONFIDENCE

Is this configuration worth the investment?

Product implication

Show expected outcomes while users configure the Boost by dynamically updating estimated results as variables change.

08 / Finding 02

More control wasn’t necessarily more empowering.

“I’m not a marketer… if there was some kind of AI advisor that could give me: 'people have done this,' or the reason you might want a longer duration, or do this audience — that’d be cool.”

Product implication

Turn setup from a configuration form into a guided decision-making experience: recommendations, smart defaults, and contextual assistance.

09 / Finding 03

Mobile changed the acceptable level of complexity.

Reduce cognitive load

Less content and scrolling at once.

Reduce typing

Favor tap-to-select, steppers, and lightweight controls.

Reduce simultaneous decisions

Focus attention on one configuration choice at a time.

10 / Finding 04

The mobile opportunity didn’t end when the Boost launched.

Respond

React to engagement while momentum is high.

Track

Know when performance reaches meaningful milestones.

Re-engage

Quickly Boost again when something is working.

11 / Direction

Three directions became one.

3 EARLY CONCEPTS

Single · Stepped · Simple

→

RESEARCH

Needs, evidence, tradeoffs, recommendations

→

1 REFINED DIRECTION

Understandable, guided, mobile-native, lifecycle-aware

Make outcomes understandable. Guide instead of overwhelm. Design for mobile behavior. Support the full Boost lifecycle.

12 / Impact

Research changed the product direction.

3 → 1

Convergence from divergent directions to one refined concept.

Design changes across three iterations.

MVP

Priority features shaped the roadmap and MVP PRD.

$35M+

Estimated incremental opportunity de-risked

13 / Reflection

Research isn’t neutral facilitation. It requires a point of view.

I entered a project with three plausible product directions rather than a blank canvas. My role wasn't to just ask users to choose a design. It was to dig into what lay underneath — what information, guidance, control, and feedback made the experience valuable — and use that evidence to recommend where the product needed to go.

Research, at its best, helps teams choose a direction with a clearer understanding of what will make it work. Doing that well requires owning your insights and being opinionated about what the evidence supports.

Qasim Malik / UX Research

Next — Amtrak / Historic Stations of the Future →

01 / Case study

Historic Stations of the Future

UX Research Intern
Amtrak Innovation
2024

Using frontline research to shape sustainable modernization at Amtrak.

I led ethnographic research inside a working historic station, translating frontline needs into opportunity areas that informed an enterprise-wide innovation challenge and executive prioritization.

2 days

Embedded fieldwork

5 roles

Observed and interviewed

9 opportunities

Translated from themes

1 initiative

Prioritized for development

02 / Opportunity

How do you modernize a historic station without erasing what makes it historic?

Amtrak serves more than 500 stations, roughly one-third of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These buildings hold significant cultural value, but preservation requirements complicate the infrastructure updates needed to support modern operations and Amtrak’s Net-Zero by 2045 strategy.

500+

stations served

~1/3

listed as historic

2045

Net-Zero target

Strategic question

How might Amtrak modernize its historic stations sustainably while preserving their cultural identity?

03 / Reframing the problem

Not just an infrastructure problem: a system to improve.

The original challenge focused on buildings and sustainability. But frontline work crossed physical spaces, digital systems, customer interactions, and informal team dependencies. Improving the station required understanding how all of these elements worked together, not simply identifying new technology to install.

Initial framing

What sustainable upgrades could Amtrak introduce?

→

Research framing

What must sustainable modernization improve for the people operating the station?

04 / Approach

Discovery → Participatory Design → Prioritization

Rather than moving directly into solution generation, the project connected frontline evidence to enterprise decision-making.

Discover

Study frontline work and identify operational friction, unmet needs, and sustainability opportunities.

Translate

Turn observations into themes, role profiles, and actionable opportunity areas.

Prioritize

Use the research to guide employee ideas and evaluate directions for desirability, viability, feasibility, and impact.

05 / Field research

To understand a historic station, I needed to understand the people who keep it running.

I coordinated two days of ethnographic research at Joseph R. Biden Jr. Station in Wilmington, Delaware. Together, five interconnected roles revealed how customer service, station information, safety, baggage operations, and facilities depend on one another.

PIDS operator

Customer service representative

Baggageman

Amtrak police officer

Extraboard employee

06 / Research under real conditions

Research inside an active train station meant being dynamic and adaptable.

Employees were serving customers, monitoring trains, and responding to unexpected events while participating. I structured the study around the Jobs to Be Done framework, then classified questions as essential or optional so each session could be flexible without losing the most important knowledge gaps.

Goals

Tasks and indicators of success

Dependencies

Tools, information, and team handoffs

Friction

Operational and environmental pain points

Context

Historic status and sustainability behaviors

07 / Synthesis

Nine findings converged into three opportunity areas.

Instead of treating each finding as an isolated issue, I organized the evidence into three strategic areas that leadership and employees could act on.

Preserve the station as a cultural asset

Historic character was something customers valued, not merely a constraint on renovation.

Modernize the operational foundation

Wayfinding, aging infrastructure, and internal systems created recurring friction.

Enable sustainable action

Employees wanted to contribute but lacked clear goals, visible progress, and practical tools.

Historic interior architecture at Wilmington Station

08 / The central tension

The station’s history created value and friction at the same time.

Historic architecture gave the station a distinctive identity and attracted public interest. But its layout, infrastructure, and preservation constraints also contributed to customer confusion and operational burden. The opportunity was not to choose between preservation and modernization—it was to make them reinforce one another.

Wayfinding

Poor signage generated frequent employee interruptions.

Infrastructure

Aging HVAC, ventilation, and plumbing affected comfort and safety.

Systems

Outdated tools and information gaps increased cognitive load.

Sustainability

Paper-heavy processes and inefficient energy use persisted in routine work.

09 / Translating research

Beyond a report: the research became a decision-making tool.

I translated findings into opportunity statements that connected observed problems to possible interventions. These gave employees and leadership a shared foundation for imagining solutions grounded in frontline reality.

Observation

Customers struggled with wayfinding and repeatedly interrupted employees for assistance.

→

Opportunity

Improve station orientation and signage so customers can navigate independently while employees remain focused on critical work.

10 / Participatory design

Frontline insights became an enterprise-wide design challenge.

Amtrak invited employees across the organization to propose ways of modernizing historic stations sustainably. The research gave participants and evaluators a shared view of problems occurring on the ground. I also helped two frontline employees translate ideas surfaced during fieldwork into formal submissions.

The strongest proposals advanced from open submission into a structured evaluation process.

Frontline evidence

Observed work and unmet needs

Opportunity areas

Research-backed strategic territories

Employee ideas

Enterprise participation

Executive prioritization

Evidence-informed selection

11 / PRIORITIZATION

Research became the lens for choosing what moved forward.

An Innovation Advisory Committee narrowed the submissions to three finalists. My research report gave evaluators evidence about the most pressing needs on the ground, helping them assess ideas against both frontline reality and organizational constraints.

Desirability

Does it solve an important human problem?

Viability

Does it make sense for the business?

Feasibility

Can Amtrak realistically deliver it?

Impact

Would it meaningfully improve the system?

12 / Outcome

The selected direction made sustainability visible and actionable.

The winning concept was Power Save Mode: a digital platform designed to help stations understand progress toward Amtrak’s sustainability goals and access practical resources for improvement. It directly addressed a major finding: employees were motivated to act sustainably but lacked clear goals, shared definitions, and visible feedback.

Selected direction

Amtrak’s Sustainability team selected the concept as its next large-scale initiative, with Innovation supporting development through research and iterative design.

13 / Impact

Research connected frontline reality to enterprise strategy.

The work grounded sustainability decisions in operating realities and created reusable research infrastructure for future modernization efforts.

1 initiative

Power Save Mode selected for development

25% participation

of idea-platform visitors submitted proposals — above industry average

5 role profiles

created as reusable research assets for future work

9 themes

translated into opportunity areas

14 / Reflection

The highest-leverage research impact was confident alignment.

This project reinforced that research can create impact before a product exists. By connecting frontline work, organizational goals, and evaluation criteria, I helped the team move from a broad question about future stations to a direction grounded in the realities of operating them.

Design research around the environment

While a researcher's curiosity is endless, the time you have with users is not. Flexible sessions and prioritized knowledge gaps preserved research intent without asking employees to step outside their environments.

Rapport is key for quality research

Meaningful research participation depends on trust. Rapport and transparency about how ideas would be used helped employees contribute more candidly and constructively, especially in a context where corporate hierarchies and social dynamics created obstacles.

Connect needs to business decisions

Insights gain influence when they are framed connected to the decisions leaders face. Framing employee experiences against feasibility, organizational priorities, and long-term service outcomes made them easier to act on.

Qasim Malik / UX Research

Next — Databricks / CustomerLake →

New York, NY

/in/qmal

qasimhmalik1@gmail.com

(860) 993-5148

Resume

Qasim Malik

Assembling sheet deck