Stage 1 Application Review: UX Researcher - Exceptional Promise

Stage 1
1

Hi everyone,

I am getting ready to submit my application for exceptional promise. The information on this forum has been very helpful and I would love to get feedback before submitting it. Please let me know how I can improve anything.

Thank you so much!!

Background
I have ~10 years of research experience across academia and market research. For the last 4.5 years, I’ve worked in UX research within digital tech—first at a mobile gaming company for 1 year, and then at a large streaming company (3.5+ years). Both are US-based public tech companies.
My current company has a UK office, and I’m framing my application around transferring internally to support UK market efforts.

LOR

  1. VP/GM of Product at Company A (mobile gaming) – worked closely together for a year on a major game launch. They’re also a GTV recipient.
  2. VP of Product at Company B (streaming) – product partner on several strategic projects.
  3. Director of Product at Company B – collaborated on multiple launches and long-term initiatives.

MC

  1. I developed a proprietary framework 1) to measure sentiment and 2) to map it to revenue forecasting. It has since become a key KPI used across leadership. My evidence includes internal documentation, messaging, models, code snippets, and revenue impact.
  2. A reference letter from VP of UX confirming I’ve developed this framework and how it is being used at the company.
  3. Salary + stock evidence showing my compensation is in 90+ percentile industry (via Payscale/Glassdoor etc benchmarks)

OC1 – Innovation

  1. My eye-tracking research that led to the development/launch of a first-ever streaming feature at Company B. I included my eye-tracking, A/B test, user satisfaction results in addition to earnings from shareholder letters (+$10M revenue) and mentions of the feature in media as innovative. Confirmed by LORs #2 and #3.
  2. Sole researcher on a high-impact ad experience. I ran early-stage concept testing and user interest validation, which guided product strategy. The product was highlighted in media for innovation and continues to use foundational insights from my work. Confirmed by LOR #2.
  3. Letter from Research Director (also my current manager), specifically addressing my role in the above ad product and its long-term impact.

OC3 – Impact

  1. How my research informed design of a product (not the ones in OC1) and increased positive sentiment and revenue at Company B. Confirmed by LOR #3.
  2. I documented how my research impacted player experience and retention metrics of a mobile game pre-launch at Company A. I include a lot of slides from my work here. Confirmed by LOR #1.
  3. A reference letter by UX Research Director from Company A talking about my contribution to the ad experience (OC 3 #2)
2

From the numbers, you have 1 document left to be added.

3

Thanks, @Onye. I thought it was up to 10 documents, not 10 documents exactly. Do you know 9 versus 10 would make a difference?

4

Yup. It strengthens your application overall.

1 Like
5

Your application shows good focus on product impact, but two areas need adjustment for Tech Nation’s criteria.

First, your Mandatory Criteria relies heavily on internal frameworks. Tech Nation requires evidence of recognition beyond your organization, like third-party validation or sector-wide adoption. Can you share any external mentions or industry reports referencing your framework’s methodology?

Second, the OC3 evidence mentions revenue increases but doesn’t clearly separate your personal contribution from team efforts. Tech Nation needs direct links between your research activities and measurable outcomes. Could you specify what percentage of the $10M revenue uplift was directly attributed to your eye-tracking research?

6

Thank you for all your suggestions @Akash_Joshi!

  • I will add a 10th document based on your suggestion.
  • Unfortunately, my company does not want to share this methodology externally given it gives them an advantage in the field. I also included an internal letter from the CEO saying this is a major strategy/priority for the company going forward. I am not sure how else I can support this but some of the other LOR writers touch upon this as well. Do you think these would be helpful?
  • I feel like it is hard to specify a percentage in revenue but I am showing a graph of user sentiment increase before and after my research to narrow it down to my impact alone.
  • As for the eye-tracking research, it was my research itself that convinced the executive leadership to work on this product and launch it to begin with. I specify this and it is also confirmed by LORs.

Please let me know if you think I can improve any of these further. Thanks again!