About
Experience, education and skills.
a little about me
- ·Understand the person before the problem.
- ·Prototype early — be wrong cheaply.
- ·Regulation is a design constraint, not an excuse.
- ·Hand sketches beat pixel-perfect mockups for thinking.
- ·Ship the work, not the deck.
- ·A stupid question on day one beats a confident mistake on month six.
Design for me isn't just about making things pretty — it's a team sport based on understanding people as much as the problem space, and knowing how to put the technology together to help.
Medical devices get used under pressure — by tired nurses, anxious patients, technicians mid-procedure. Designing for that context is a safety, dignity and cost issue long before it is a styling one. That belief is what I bring to every project, and what the rest of this page tries to back up.
Day to day I'm a Senior UX Design Engineer at BD-RCI Limerick, working in medical device new product development across hardware, on-device GUI and out-of-box experience — from early formative research through to manufacturable design.
Before BD I was a mechanical design engineer at Valeo Vision Systems and ran a small freelance and craft design practice on the side. The academic backbone is a BSc in Product Design and Technology from the University of Limerick, graduated with First Class Honours in 2020.
I work best in cross-functional teams that take research seriously, prototype early, and aren't precious about throwing work away when the user tells us we got it wrong. I'm comfortable from foam and sketch through SolidWorks and pixel-level GUI, and I'd rather ask a stupid question on day one than ship a confident mistake on month six.
10+ yrs
Studying & practicing design (since 2015)
4+ yrs
Medical device NPD
Hardware + GUI
Plus out-of-box experience
First Class
BSc Product Design, UL
Cross-functional
Research → design → manufacture
IEC 62366 & HE75
Human factors for medical devices
Capabilities
what I bring to the bench
Research & Human Factors
- Human-centred design & ergonomics
- UX research — interviews, ethnography, qualitative
- Formative & summative usability testing
- Feasibility studies & design research
- Inclusive & accessibility-led design
- Usability engineering (IEC 62366 / HE75 in practice)
- Design for sustainability & circularity
UX & Interaction Design
- Information architecture
- Wireframing & interaction design
- Visual design & design direction
- Design systems
- Mobile, touchscreen & web UI
- UX for regulated medical software
Industrial & Mechanical Design
- Product ideation & concept development
- Engineering design & medical device R&D
- Surface & block modelling
- Engineering drawings & GD&T
- Materials, prototyping & test rigs
- Out-of-box experience & packaging
Prototyping, Visualisation & AI-augmented Design
- Foam, 3D-printed & machined prototypes
- KeyShot photoreal rendering
- Graphic design, motion & infographics
- Vizcom — sketch-to-render & ideation
- Lovable — rapid interactive prototyping
- LLM-assisted research synthesis
- Codex & coding assistants for design tooling
- Light software development for design workflows
- Generative AI for research stimulus & assets
Ways of working
- Stakeholder management
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Strategic planning
- Critical & analytical thinking
- Attention to detail
Tooling
CAD & 3D
Design & docs
Regulated practice
standards I work to
Experience
the road so far
- Oct 2025 — Present
Senior UX Design Engineer, BD-RCI Limerick — Medical Device NPD
I translate what's said — and unsaid — by our stakeholders into user needs, then product requirements, then a tangible concept, always keeping outcomes for the patient and the user top of mind.
- Jul 2021 — Oct 2025
UI Design Engineer III, BD-RCI Limerick — Medical Device NPD
GUI design and human factors support across multiple device programmes; contributed to two BD RCI Hackathon-recognised concepts.
- Dec 2019 — 2021
Design Partner, Wildflower Crafts
Designed moulds and tools for a jewellery and accessories line, 3D-printed custom parts, shaped product strategy with the team and produced the marketing materials behind the launch.
- 2020 — 2021
Freelance Designer, Independent (Upwork & direct clients)
Remote contracts spanning packaging, logo design, market research and marketing collateral — primarily in Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.
- Jan 2019 — Sep 2019
Mechanical Design Engineer, Valeo Vision Systems — Tuam
Destructive and non-destructive testing of self-driving-car cameras, X-ray and microscope defect inspection, competitor teardowns and CATIA design of test rigs — trained in cleanroom protocol, additive manufacturing and DFMEA.
- 2016 — 2018
Manager, McDonald's, Castletroy
Inventory, staff welfare, customer relations and complaint resolution, deliveries, cash handling and health-and-safety compliance — ran the floor while studying full-time.
- Summers 2015 — 2017
Drainage Survey Technician, Spotless Drains Systems
Surveyed drain and sewer systems with robotics, relined damaged sections and maintained the robots, curing lamps, compressors and control interfaces — responsible for site and public safety.
Education
where I learnt the rules
- 2015 — 2020BSc Product Design and Technology — First Class Honours, University of LimerickView parchment (PDF) →
Awards
moments that mattered
- 2025BD RCI Hackathon — recognised concept
- 2024BD RCI Hackathon — recognised concept
- 2020First Class Honours — Letter of Recognition from UL President Des Fitzgerald
Volunteering
Industry mentor to UL's MSc in Design for Health & Wellbeing, a decade with Down Syndrome Ireland and summers building stages at Valley of Art.
- Annually, multi-year
Industry collaborator & mentor, MSc Design for Health & Wellbeing — University of Limerick × BD
I lead BD's collaboration with UL's MSc in Design for Health & Wellbeing. I scope a relevant brief each year, guiding the multi-disciplinary cohort through research, concept reviews and human-factors thinking, and seeing their final design presentations at the grad showcase. Always staying on top of trends like hospital at home, wearable tech and the future of healthcare.
Course page →
- 10+ years
Volunteer — fundraising, construction, video editing, Down Syndrome Ireland
Long-standing involvement through family — fundraising drives, build projects and video editing for grant applications and events.
- Summers (pre-COVID)
Build crew & site safety, Valley of Art — Arts & Music Festival
Stage and installation construction, mural painting, attendee safety and post-event site clear-down.
Outside work
what keeps me curious
- Music — playing instruments and live cultural events
- Digital art, photography and drawing
- 3D printing and CAD as a hobby
- Gardening, nature and camping
- Longboarding
- Travel and experiencing different cultures
Happiest when there's a hard human problem and a team to work through it with. Always up for a conversation — there's a link in the header.