Head of Accessibility @ Miro | Ex- Google, Apple, Spotify 

Philip Strain

Ph.D. in Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction) with over 15 years product experience from Google, Apple and Spotify combining strong technical knowledge with ux research skills to create experiences that are delightful for everyone.

Head of Product, Accessibility & Design Systems

Lead product manager for accessibility and design systems at Miro.

Lead Product Manager, Accessibility & Design Systems

Hiring manager for Insights roles (Data Science and User Research) in Design Platform.
Strategy lead for accessibility and inclusive design.

Strategy Lead / Staff User Researcher: Accessibility

Manage a team of user researchers and data scientists located across London and Stockholm, focusing on the podcast user experience on iOS and Android.

Insights Manager (User Research+Data Science)

Founded and lead the accessibility guild at Spotify - a cross-functional network of designers, engineers, researchers and product managers collaborating to ensure Spotify is accessible to all.

Accessibility Guild Lead

2017-2019: Platform & Partner Experience tribe
Implemented a methodology to scale user research across a tribe responsible for Spotify products outside of mobile including:
	•	Car: Tesla, Android Auto/CarPlay, BMW, Bluetooth
	•	Wearables: Apple Watch, Garmin, WearOS
	•	Speakers: Google Home, Alexa, Sonos
	•	Third-party integrations: Facebook Messenger, Tinder, Google Maps, Google Clock
	•	Other: Web, Desktop, Tablet, TV, XBox, Playstation

2016: GLUE (Global Language for a Unified Experience)

Senior User Researcher

Contributed to the European Accessibility Act by informing a study on the current practices regarding accessibility statements, reporting mechanisms and mobile monitoring methodologies and invited to European Commission headquarters in Brussels to participate in Accessibility of Web and Mobile Apps workshop.

Advisor, Web Accessibility Directive

As a senior iOS accessibility engineer embedded in engineering teams across Apple, my
role was to conduct heuristic evaluations against iOS, OS X and web products, produce proof-of-concept prototypes, develop accessibility guidelines and promote accessibility within Apple.

Senior Engineer, iOS Accessibility

Led user research on Adsense and a range of Google Publisher products.

User Experience Researcher Lead, AdSense

Embedded in Google’s Accessibility Engineering team, I utilised user experience research skills across a range of methodologies including
surveys, focus groups, usability studies and workshops to inform strategic
direction and provide tactical insights for key Google products such as
Chrome and Android. Developed interactive Web and iOS prototypes to communicate approaches.

User Experience Researcher lead, Accessibility

Founder and director of Ecliptic Labs Ltd, a mobile r&d consultancy. 

My role involved:
+  leading and overseeing all phases of UX
+ hiring and managing a team of designers and developers
+ implementing R&D processes including prototyping, detailed design, usability testing, and implementation.
+ Projects ranged from exploring multimodality to facilitate non-visual input for a sports analytics company, to creating mobile prototypes (eg eHarmony) to publishing fully featured apps (eg Mailchimp)

User Experience Director

Conducted UX research studies for Google Docs team in NYC to inform accessibility strategy and improve the usability of Docs features.

User Experience Research Intern

Accessibility Subject Matter Expert

U.K. lead for the HaptiMap project, a European Project that aimed to improve navigation and way-finding among the disabled community by researching mobile solutions. My role in the project was to lead research into how the older population perceive and use mobile devices.

Research Fellow

Advised and assisted Computer Science undergraduate students to develop their skills in various programming languages, applications and thesis work.

Teaching Assistant

Designed and conducted user studies with both sighted and visually impaired participants. 

Analysed and interpreted data resulting from user studies for purposes of technical reports and research publications.

Developed internal resources such as guidelines and style guides.

Created accessible mockups and prototypes to demonstrate techniques and concepts.

Presented study findings to management and design teams, leading to many enhancements in the accessibility of Google products

First employee to work full time on accessibility and UX at Google. Designed and conducted user studies with sighted and visually impaired participants that led to tangible improvements to Google.com and Google search results page.

Usability Analyst Intern

“UX Engineer” for the team’s error management system, FEKAT.  Proposed and developed an automated system to reduce a daily task from 30 mins per day to 0.

Developed software using Perl, JavaScript and HTML in a UNIX environment. 

Produced and executed test plans for the main software system, the Reliant Telecommunications Platform. 

Produced user documentation, liaised with management and delivered presentations.