A little about me.
I’m Ataur Rahman, a UX researcher based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. My route into research ran through engineering and design. I began by building software, moved into shaping how it looks and works, and eventually found my place in the questions that come before any of it: understanding people. More than a decade on, that journey still shapes how I work, bringing together technical understanding, sensitivity to people’s experiences, and a drive to help teams make better decisions.
Most of my career has unfolded inside large, distributed organisations working on complex products: e-commerce, travel, logistics, and digital banking. The products I’ve helped shape are used by millions of people around the world, and that combination of scale and complexity is where I thrive. I enjoy untangling ambiguity, partnering closely with product and design, and working alongside other researchers to build a fuller picture of customers.
Today I work across the global e-commerce organisation at Decathlon Digital, primarily serving the search and navigation team while also supporting customer growth, alongside six other researchers. Earlier chapters took me through Booking.com, FedEx, Flexport, and Backbase, each adding a different lens to how I think about customers and the decisions they shape.
I’m drawn to fast-paced digital organisations building products that reach people at global scale. I value teams that listen to people, use evidence to inform decisions, and measure whether their work makes a difference. My academic grounding includes a master’s in Human-Computer Interaction and a Professional Doctorate in Engineering in User-System Interaction, alongside research published at CHI and SIGIR. I care about bringing that rigour into practical decisions.
The people and culture around me matter just as much as the problems I work on. I enjoy being in rooms where others challenge my thinking and where I have plenty to learn. I value autonomy, trust, and the freedom to explore ideas, make mistakes, and grow from them.
Experience
Decathlon Digital
Staff UX Researcher
Research across the global e-commerce organisation, primarily serving the search and navigation team, alongside six other researchers. Core research ran approximately nine weeks, followed by periodic evaluation and rollout support.
November 2024–present
Career sabbatical
October 2023–June 2024
Booking.com
Senior UX Researcher, Freelance
Mixed-method research informing the guest review go-to-market strategy.
March–September 2023
Flexport
Senior UX Researcher
Foundational and evaluative research across logistics workflows.
June 2022–February 2023
FedEx
Chapter Lead UX Research
Strategic and tactical research across product domains.
January 2021–May 2022
Backbase
Lead UX Researcher
Established the UX research practice and led research for digital banking.
January 2019–December 2020
Backbase
Senior UX Designer
March 2017–December 2018
Education
- PDEng, User-System Interaction — Eindhoven University of Technology.
- MSc, Human-Computer Interaction — University of Nottingham.
- BSc, Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering — North South University.
Beyond product research
My work also includes research publications and community building. I co-founded the ACM SIGCHI Dhaka Chapter and have contributed to publications at CHI and SIGIR.
Giving back to the UX community is an important part of my life. I regularly take part in UX boot camps and meetups, present what I’ve learned, and mentor designers and researchers on ADPList, where I’ve been recognised among the top 50 CX mentors globally six times. Mentoring lets me support others while continuing to learn from their experiences and perspectives.
Outside work, I enjoy cooking, cycling, reading, and digital painting, spaces where I can slow down, follow my curiosity, and create something simply for the pleasure of it.
Selected publications
- “Exploring Opportunities to Facilitate Serendipity in Search.” — SIGIR 2015.
- “Money Whispers: Informality, International Politics, and Immigration in Transnational Finance.” — CHI 2021.
- “Institutionalizing HCI in Industry: Challenges, Opportunities from Bangladesh Perspective.” — HCIxB, CHI 2018.