Flora MacLeod

Flora is a Design Lead at IBM iX, IBM’s digital consultancy. On completion of a degree in User Centred Design, incorporating internships at both IBM and TomTom, she began working at IBM as a UX Design Consultant on the graduate scheme. Since then, she has worked with a variety of clients across banking, logistics and transport, oil and gas, however her focus is design for governments and healthcare. As a Design Lead, she is responsible for leading design teams working with clients such as the Department of Work and Pensions, NHS England or Scottish Government through user research, into concept designs and eventually creating and testing final designs to share with developers who build the screens and get the service into the hands of users. Flora also runs the early professional program for iX, responsible for the recruitment, onboarding and experience of over 200 early professionals. This includes school leavers joining IBM as apprentices, interns joining whilst they study for a degree, and graduates or post-graduates. She is particularly passionate about helping young people to realise the power of design, how to apply it across their education as a tool to achieve more with less, and specifically about raising awareness of digital design as a career in which the demand hugely outstrips the supply. With companies like Google, Instagram, Deliveroo, Babylon Health, Shazam and TikTok creating apps which change the fundamentals of how we consume and engage with the world around us, design has never been more important. We need inspired and driven young people to join the team to continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible to design ethical services for the future.