Hillary Heckwolf
Senior UX & Software Design Leader
I lead UX and software design - grounded in the belief that usability is a responsibility, not a nice-to-have.
I'm Hillary Heckwolf, I bring 11 years of leading UX and software design, preceded by 7 years managing nonprofit programs and teams. Based in Baltimore, MD, partnering with mission-driven and enterprise organizations on research, cross-functional leadership, and shipped product.
Why This Work
Software has become daily infrastructure. Just as essential as roads, buildings, and the other services we rely on without a second thought. UX is the strategic thinking and design choices that makes that infrastructure usable.
I think of the work the way a building inspector thinks about code compliance: someone has to make sure the ramps are where they need to be, the exits are clear, and nothing confuses or strands the people who depend on it. Online, that responsibility falls to us. Usability, accessibility, and ethical growth tactics aren't extras anymore. They're the baseline for infrastructure people can't opt out of using. That's why I do this work, and why I take it seriously.
Selected Work
Case studies
Four projects spanning current product leadership, IA strategy, and applied research.
UX Design Lead · NGP VAN (Bonterra) · Current
Modernizing Core Workflows & AI Strategy
Over the last 6 months, I've introduced design and workflow improvements of NGP VAN's most heavily-relied-on workflows — Bulk Upload, Disclosure Reporting, and Create a List — improvements that touch nearly every user's daily work. In parallel, I'm shaping how AI enters the product: identifying where it adds real value, not just where it's trendy, while using AI tools myself to move faster through research and design.
I also built a Research Circle to keep user input continuous rather than episodic — a standing panel that cut recruitment and scheduling time from about a month to a single day.
Product UX Design Lead · Information Architecture
Rebuilding EveryAction's IA (Bonterra)
EveryAction's navigation had grown wide and flat over years of updates. Onboarding took months, and even veteran users needed training to find core features. I led a year-long overhaul: auditing the system, running tree tests and card sorts, and landing on three task-based hubs — Contacts, Engagement, Reporting.
We shipped it as an opt-in beta to validate with real usage before retiring the legacy UI. By late 2024, adoption and satisfaction targets were trending positive, and the framework became the base for aligning EveryAction with its sister product, NGP VAN.
Lead UX Strategist · Catholic Relief Services
CRS.org: Enterprise Redesign Discovery
As lead UX specialist for a digital team serving 7,000+ global colleagues, I ran intake for every web request — scoping, requirements, and roadmaps — while managing 20–30 projects at a time within a cross-functional agile team.
In 2022, I led a year-long discovery to merge 40+ CRS microsites into one platform, turning feedback from 100+ stakeholders into personas, journey maps, and requirements — then built consensus across executives and division directors with a structured vote on the 10 highest-impact decisions.
UX Design · Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
LiST: Turning a Modeling Tool into an App
The Lives Saved Tool helps researchers model how public health interventions affect maternal and infant mortality — but it required manuals and in-person training just to use. JHSPH wanted it rebuilt as a guided online app, closer to TurboTax than research software.
I trained on the original tool, mapped use cases into wireframes, then ran two rounds of moderated remote testing — one on workflow, one on the highest-impact visual screens — before finalizing the design.
How I Work
Process
Discover
Every project starts by aligning user needs with business goals; I define scope and requirements before a single screen mocked up.Recently, that's included leveraging AI to ensure my business case is solid before the design work kicks off.
Stakeholder interviews · Competitive analysis · Card sorting · Contextual inquiry
Design & Prototype
Research insights become sketches, then clickable prototypes — built with front-end feasibility in mind from the start. Using AI to design early concept prototypes with tools like Claude Code, Figma Make, and vercel/v0 allows me to show, not tell where I want the work to go.
Low-fi sketches · Clickable wireframes · Annotated hi-fi designs
Test & Refine
Design decisions get validated at every stage of a project, not just at the end. Usability testing and continuous discovery allows me to pressure test my concepts and revise where we get user or stakeholder feedback that we're not hitting the mark yet.
Tree testing · Usability testing · Stakeholder readouts · Iteration
About
A senior leader in UX and software design
Baltimore, MD
I've spent 11 years leading UX and software design work, and 7 years managing nonprofit programs and teams before that. Leadership has been the constant, what's changed is the discipline, and I've used that range to sharpen both how I manage and how I design.
I run complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives end to end: scoping requirements, leading research, aligning executives and cross-functional teams around a roadmap, and staying accountable for delivery. I'm equally comfortable setting strategy at the platform level and getting hands-on in the details — research plans, wireframes, front-end feasibility, final QA.
People-first leadership matters to me as much as the work itself. I lead teams the same way I lead projects: with clear priorities and direct communication. But the goal is always the same: helping the people I manage grow into who they're capable of becoming. That's meant mentoring designers, supervising up to 10 interns a semester, and running hiring processes. I want to build teams where people do their best work because they feel invested in, not just managed.