Alexander McIlwraith

Alexander McIlwraith

Design Systems & UX Leader ● UX Strategy, Governance & Scalable Experience Design

UX Master Certification Badge from Nielsen Norman Group

Summary

Design systems and UX leader focused on improving organizational alignment through scalable systems, governance, accessibility, and cross-functional collaboration.

Over the past decade, I've worked across enterprise platforms, B2B systems, internal tools, and large-scale content ecosystems, helping teams create more consistent and sustainable user experiences. My work includes design systems adoption, UX standards, operational process improvement, accessibility, and mentoring teams through evolving UX maturity.

I'm particularly interested in long-term platform thinking: creating systems, patterns, and workflows that help organizations make better design decisions at scale.

Professional experience

Web Communications Consultant / Senior UX Designer, Agricorp

January 2013 – Present

  • Led organization-wide adoption of a unified design system and standards framework spanning web, applications, and forms platforms; established principles and patterns supporting 7,500+ pages while improving accessibility compliance and strengthening design–QA collaboration across products.
    I have to consider how a decision plays out across existing systems — and across things we haven’t even designed yet. - Alexander McIlwraith
  • Defined UX strategy for B2B and internal platforms serving 50,000+ external users, delivering redesigns that increased conversion rates by 20%.
  • Mentored and guided 500+ staff through organization-wide design-thinking initiatives, helping establish scalable UX practices and reducing design-review cycles by 30%.
  • Optimized forms and workflows by eliminating unnecessary fields, reducing complexity by 75% and lowering abandonment rates by 15%.

Digital Communications Lead, Department of Psychology, University of Guelph

November 2004 – January 2013

  • Led adoption of a new CMS platform across the department, training 30 faculty members and contributing to a 15% increase in programme enrolments within one year.
  • Coached 120+ researchers on survey UI design; data-quality errors decreased 40%, accelerating research timelines.
  • Developed a custom resource-management tool (PHP/MySQL/JS) used by 150+ staff and students, generating efficiencies and reducing costs by 60%.

Change Analyst (Secondment), Computing and Communications Services, University of Guelph

June 2006 – June 2009

  • Re-engineered campus-wide software distribution workflows, transitioning support operations to a scalable call-centre model while reducing response times by 30% during a 50% increase in ticket volume.
  • Delivered workshops to 1,500+ staff and authored 100+ support procedures; escalations fell 25%.

Digital Consultant (freelance contract), Flavours of Canada

May 2004 – August 2005

  • Designed the digital experience for a national campaign and nationwide events, supporting 2,000+ annual registrations while helping shape the organization's online communications strategy.

Education

  • 2026 – B.P.A., Communications Studies, Athabasca University
  • 2024 – UX Master Certificate, Nielsen Norman Group (ID #1004329)
  • 2021 – UX Certificate (Research & Management), Nielsen Norman Group (ID #1004329)
  • 2015 – Certificate in Business Communications, University of Waterloo
  • 2002 – B.A., University of Guelph

Areas of Expertise

  • Design Systems & UX Governance: standards frameworks, accessibility, scalable UX patterns, documentation
  • Design & Research: Figma, Balsamiq, usability testing, analytics, journey mapping
  • Front-End & Accessibility: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, WCAG 2.1 AA, ARIA, screen reader testing
  • Collaboration & Operations: cross-functional facilitation, stakeholder alignment, design-thinking workshops

Volunteering and advisory roles

  • Programme Director & Team Lead, Central Church (2016 – Present) – oversee volunteer operations across multi-team programming and outreach initiatives involving 70+ contributors; member of the governing management team.
  • Director of Communications, Clan Donald (2013 – 2018) – created web assets used at 10+ events annually, boosting member recruitment by 15%.
  • Web Advisor, Central Church (2003 – Present) – shaped content strategy and IA; weekly podcast attracting 50% more listeners over two years and online social media viewership and generating worldwide donations.
  • Advisor, IABC Canada (2011 – 2013) – designed communications strategy for event expansion; ensured 100% uptime of web/social platforms.

References available upon request.