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About

Portrait of Sam Medrington

I design human-centred AI systems in environments where complexity, consequence, and uncertainty intersect.

My background sits at the intersection of art and science - Psychology, Human Factors & Ergonomics, and Computer Science - grounding my work in cognitive ergonomics and the technical realities of interactive systems design.

Cognite
Principal Designer → Senior Director, AI Systems Design
2020–present

Joined to redesign Cognite Data Fusion - the data management layer for industrial AI customers. Led the AI and Robotics initiatives, connecting user research, UX design, and AI-assisted workflows to improve data governance and user trust.

Promoted to Senior Director, but hands-on by choice. Current work spans Data Quality governance and Foundation Model Anomaly Detection - structuring human-in-the-loop workflows between probabilistic model output and operational engineers.

Refinitiv / Thomson Reuters
UCD Governance Lead
2017–2019

First in-house UX designer on MyRefinitiv - a consolidation of ~67 customer portals into a single platform serving 400,000+ financial professionals. Defined and operationalised UX governance across 12 agile teams spanning London, New York and Bangalore - introducing evaluation standards, release gating thresholds and a shared design system. Bridged the gap between agency design and engineering delivery, translating high-fidelity concepts into production-ready patterns that shipped on time.

BAE Systems Digital Intelligence
Principal UX Consultant → Global Head of UX
2013–2017

Led user research, interaction design and front-end delivery for multi-million-pound programmes - including tactical decision support for military commanders (ATIX), investigative workflows for UK law enforcement (NLEDP), a £10M platform transformation for Lloyd's Register, and mobile applications for 600+ naval engineers. As Global Head of UX, grew and led a team of 20 and developed BAE's Human-Centred Engineering framework across global programmes.

System Concepts
Senior Usability Consultant
2007–2012

Trained under Tom Stewart, who chaired the committee that developed ISO 9241-210. Conducted ethnographic research, usability evaluations and accessibility audits for clients including the BBC, Vodafone, O2 and major hedge funds. Facilitated research with thousands of users across regulated and consumer sectors, developing a rapid ethnography method that became part of the consultancy's standard practice.

University of Leeds / Edinburgh Napier
MSc Human Factors & Ergonomics / PGDip Interactive Systems

Cognitive ergonomics, system safety, and the science of human-system interaction - then grounded in the technical realities of interactive systems through postgraduate Computer Science.

University of York
BSc Psychology

Where it started. Andrew Monk's The Psychology of Design - the intersection of art and science that set the trajectory.