Sprintpilot®
Running design programmes with clarity, pace and outcomes.
A practical approach to leading design teams through discovery, delivery and transformation using a weekly outcome-driven sprint rhythm.
User-Centred Design Leader • AI Strategist • DesignOps Pioneer
Vijay Kandhalu
Human-centred process, AI-first delivery — at the speed teams actually need.
For over 10 years, I've led and scaled User-Centred Design across government, healthcare, finance, energy, aviation and enterprise organisations. From discovery through delivery, I bring together service design, user research, interaction design, AI and operational excellence to help teams build the right things — and build them well.
Today, my focus is on two connected missions
UCDOps®
Building the operating system for User-Centred Design.
Helping organisations scale DesignOps, ResearchOps, Service Design and Product Design through governance, standards, capability frameworks and measurable ways of working.
UCDOps® Agent
The future of AI-powered User-Centred Design.
Exploring how intelligent agents can accelerate research, design, accessibility, service design and delivery while keeping humans at the centre of decision-making.
What I do
Design Leadership
Building and leading multidisciplinary design teams — setting direction, raising the bar, and creating the conditions for measurable outcomes across discovery and delivery.
Product Design
UX, UI and design systems — from design thinking and user journeys through to design handoff, ready for teams to ship and scale.
End to End UX Design
End-to-end, hands-on UX — from discovery and research through prototyping, testing and delivery to go-live, with evidence at every step.
Digital Transformation
Helping organisations modernise products, services and operating models — aligning policy, technology and operations around what users need, without losing focus on evidence or quality.
AI for Design
Applying AI, automation and agent-based workflows to accelerate research, design and delivery — with human judgement, traceability and approval at every step.
Organisations I've worked with
UK Government
NHS
Financial Services
Energy & Utilities
Aviation
Healthcare Technology
Enterprise Platforms
Startups
Including programmes across UK Export Finance, Ofgem, FCDO, HMRC, Home Office, NHS, Canon Medical Systems, British Airways and other large-scale public and private sector organisations.
My Philosophy
Technology changes. Methods evolve. AI will transform how teams work.
But one thing remains constant: the organisations that succeed are the ones that understand people, design around evidence, and build systems that scale.
That's where I work — at the intersection of people, design, operations and AI.
Let's build what's next
Whether you're scaling a design function, transforming a service, embedding AI into delivery, or building UCDOps capability — I'd love to talk.
Designing the future. Operationalising experience. Scaling with AI.