Graham
Beale
A design and product leader with a strong focus on collaboration and human-centred AI.
Director/VP-level design leadership · Remote-first or light hybrid, up to two days a week in London · Available from July 2026
Background
- Moved Yell from -1 to +47 NPS
- Mimecast team: 4 → 8 across 3 disciplines
- 25+ years, 8 organisations
- ISO 30071-1:2019 accessibility programme delivered
I make complex systems work for the people who use them. Twenty-five years across media, finance, telecoms, edtech and cybersecurity, and the thread has stayed the same: find what an organisation isn't ready to tackle, build the evidence to make the case, then create the team and product conditions that make the work stick.
At Yell, consumer NPS was sitting at -1 and Google was eating into the core business model. I led the research and validation behind a two-sided marketplace concept, tested with twelve vertical competitors and twelve users across two groups. It launched and reached a touchpoint NPS of 47.
At Mimecast, I built three practices from nothing: a research function aligned to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, an accessibility programme built to ISO 30071-1:2019, and Mimecast Elements, a design system that became the shared standard across the product portfolio. When the organisation moved to an AI-first operating model, I turned the design function into a guild, with designers prototyping in Figma Make and engineering leaders running Cursor training for the team.
That experience shaped how I think about AI in product organisations now. When AI removes the technical barriers between roles, the question stops being about capability and starts being about legitimacy: who has the right to do what, and who's accountable for the result. Legitimacy comes from outcome ownership, not from who held the skill first. I call the conditions that make that possible care capital: the confidence, collaboration and open critique that let people exercise genuine judgement instead of just executing.
I'm looking for a director or VP-level design leadership role where design, product and engineering work as genuine partners, and where human-centred AI is central to the work rather than a line in the job spec.
Education and professional development
Falmouth University College
BA (Hons) Graphic Communication, First Class Honours
PAIR — Google People + AI Research
Hands-on AI Masterclass: Fundamentals, Proficiency, and Mastery — issued June 2025
Certified PRINCE2 Practitioner
Nielsen Norman Group
Designing Multi-User Services · Expert Reviews · How to Communicate Test Results · Interaction Design 2
Adaptive Path
Design Research · Design Strategy · Information Architecture · Interaction Design
What colleagues say
“Graham hired me and created the accessibility role I stepped into at Mimecast. He understood accessibility as an essential part of creating better experiences for everyone, not just a compliance exercise.”
Andrew Doyle — Senior Accessibility Specialist, ClarivateReported to Graham at Mimecast
“He consistently advocated for the value of user research, and grew the team to two full-time researchers, whilst enabling designers to also carry out research. He aligned researchers to specific product pillars, building real continuity and domain expertise.”
Vasiliki Georgiou — UX ResearcherReported to Graham at Mimecast
“Graham tirelessly works behind the scenes, never seeking the spotlight, always working for the benefit of the end user.”
Harvey Seale — SVP Governance and Certification Office, Global DPOSenior colleague at Mimecast
Elected councillor
I've been an elected Borough Councillor for Warden Hill ward, Cheltenham Borough Council, since May 2022, re-elected in 2024. The role involves decisions on local services, planning and community wellbeing on behalf of residents. It calls for the same discipline as senior product leadership: listening carefully, weighing competing interests, exercising judgement under uncertainty, and being accountable for the outcome.
I also sit on the One Legal Management Board, the shared legal service across Cheltenham Borough, Gloucester City, Stroud District and Tewkesbury Borough councils.
For roles where governance, public accountability or community impact are central to the work, this isn't a side interest. It's directly relevant experience.
Career history
-
Design & Research Director → User Experience Director Oct 2020 — Mar 2026
— Cybersecurity SaaS
Joined as Design and Research Director and grew to UX Director over five years. Built three practices from the ground up: a user research function embedded across product squads, an accessibility practice aligned to ISO 30071-1, and Mimecast Elements, a design system that became the shared standard across the portfolio. When Mimecast moved to an AI-first operating model, restructured the team as a guild, with designers and engineers sharing tools and skills daily.
-
Lead UX/UI Design Instructor Jun 2019 — Sep 2020
— Global Technology Bootcamp
Led a six-month UX/UI bootcamp as senior instructor, teaching and coaching over 300 students through a significant career change. Graduates have gone on to design roles at Sky, British Airways, Oracle, Starling Bank, HMRC and the Home Office.
-
Head of User Experience Design May 2015 — Jun 2019
— Digital Marketplace
Led UX across three cross-functional product teams during Yell's shift from directory to marketplace. With consumer NPS at -1 and Google eroding organic search, led the research and validation of a two-sided marketplace built on trust signals and co-created quoting. The business built it, took it from beta to scale in nine months, and reached a touchpoint NPS of 47.
-
Senior Manager, User Experience Dec 2013 — Apr 2015
— Financial Services
Joined the innovation team to lead experience design for PayM and Zapp, two new payment systems integrated into the Nationwide app. In a strict waterfall environment with a divided design organisation, started a voluntary Lightning Talks programme that drew 20 to 30 people from across the business and built the cross-functional trust that made delivery possible. Both systems launched at full customer scale.
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Head of User Experience Oct 2012 — Dec 2013
Everyclick — Charitable Giving
Led UX for a startup directing a share of affiliate marketing revenue from everyday online shopping to charitable causes. The most significant project was a marketplace developed with Age UK, connecting older consumers with relevant products and services while generating charitable income.
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Principal Information Architect Apr 2012 — Oct 2012
— Global Telecommunications
Brought in to lead the evolution of Vodafone's UK online presence, taking over from an external contractor team. Led design on NewCo, a strategic digital platform built in partnership with Hewlett Packard.
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User Experience Team Manager Apr 2009 — Apr 2012
— Enterprise Cybersecurity
Led UX for a pilot mobile app giving enterprise email administrators the ability to manage critical security tasks away from their desks. Customer feedback led directly to an iPad version the following year. The work was recognised with the Symantec CEO Applause Award in FY11 and FY12.
-
Senior Interaction Designer Oct 2007 — Apr 2009
— Global Digital Media
Led experience design for Yahoo! Finance's currencies section across European and US markets, at the time the most widely used financial website in the world. Research revealed that many European travellers had no idea what currency was used at their destination. The result was a location-first converter that let users search by country, city or resort name rather than currency code. Every competitor used a dropdown list. This was the first tool to start from where users actually were.
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Interaction Designer May 2002 — Oct 2007
— Radio, Innovation & News
Five years across three internal roles: Radio and Music Interactive, Innovation and Research, and BBC News. Partnered with Flow Interactive to bring user-centred design into the Radio and Music department, one of the first teams at the BBC to work this way. Early concepts for BBC content aggregation pages were later developed into BBC Topic.
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Web Designer Jun 1999 — Nov 2001
— National Newspaper
Part of the team behind the redesign of one of the UK's first newspaper websites, repositioning the brand from Electronic Telegraph to telegraph.co.uk.
Selected work
Four case studies covering the Yell marketplace redesign, Mimecast's accessibility practice, Mimecast Elements design system, and the AI-first guild model. Password-protected. The password is included with the CV.
Get in touch
Open to conversations about VP-level design and product leadership opportunities, advisory roles, and collaborations where design thinking can make a genuine difference.