Karina van Schaardenburg

Karina van Schaardenburg is an experienced professional in the field of design and research, currently serving as the Director of Design and Research at Opower, which is part of Oracle Energy and Water.12 Her career spans over 1.5 decades in the tech industry, focusing on strategy, research, and design.4

Professional Experience

Karina's career trajectory includes:

• Director of Design and Research at Opower (current role)16
• Director of Research at Opower (2020-2022)6
• Principal User Experience Researcher at Opower (2018-2020)6

Prior to joining Opower, Karina held significant roles in UX research at several prominent tech companies:

• Lyft
• Foursquare
• Twitter
• Sachs Insights1

She also worked as a Research Analyst at Meetup earlier in her career.1

Education and Background

Karina holds a BA in Anthropology from Bowdoin College.1 Her academic background in anthropology likely contributes to her human-centered approach in design and research.

Work at Opower

At Opower, Karina leads efforts to combine design with psychology to influence utility customers' energy choices. The goal is to help customers make better decisions that benefit the planet, the power grid, and their own finances.2 Her work involves creating smarter energy use solutions, encouraging customer behavior changes, and contributing to the development of renewable energy grids.3

Expertise and Contributions

Karina has experience in setting up new UX Research practices. She has shared her knowledge by writing about practical steps to establish a UX Research practice, drawing from her experiences at companies like Meetup and Foursquare.5

Personal

Currently, Karina resides in San Francisco, California. Her diverse background includes living in eight different countries, which likely contributes to her broad perspective in her work.2

Karina van Schaardenburg's LinkedIn profile can be found under the username karina-van-schaardenburg-38755b5.4