Hey! I’m Patrick
I’m Patrick - a design leader, strategist, and community builder. I love working at the intersection of design, technology, and people, helping organisations make complex systems simple and impactful. After more than 25 years in this field, I’m still energised by curiosity, collaboration, and creating change that matters.
Career History
Patrick Mooney is a Senior Director of User Experience with over 25 years of experience shaping enterprise-scale digital products, systems, and strategies. Based in Dublin, he is recognised as both a trusted people leader and an international keynote speaker, known for building high-performing design teams and aligning design practice with business strategy.
Patrick first joined Optum in 2016 to establish and lead the Dublin office of the Optum User Experience Design Studio. Under his leadership, the Dublin studio grew into a multi-disciplinary hub of over 30 designers, researchers, and accessibility specialists, later expanding to global responsibility as Group UX Director overseeing more than 90 professionals worldwide. Throughout, he has been driven by a passion for building strong teams and culture, creating the conditions for designers to thrive, and ensuring that design is represented at the highest levels of business strategy.
Before Optum, Patrick spent 18 years at British Telecom (BT), where he helped pioneer lean and agile approaches to UX. As UX Design Lead at Osmosoft, he transformed internal operations and delivered innovative digital products. Earlier, as Content Management Design Lead at BT Innovate & Design, he shaped web content strategies and guided design teams supporting BT’s global business.
Beyond his corporate leadership, Patrick is the founder and host of Dublin UX, Ireland’s largest design community, with over 4,200 members and 55+ live events since 2015. He also serves as Chair of the Pride Employee Resource Group for UnitedHealth Group in Ireland & UK, championing inclusion and belonging across the region.
At the core of Patrick’s career is a belief that design is not just about interfaces, but about people, systems, and culture. He is proudest of the impact he has made in building teams, nurturing talent, and creating frameworks where design can flourish and drive meaningful business change.
2025
Senior Director, User Experience Design, Optum
I was promoted to Senior Director of User Experience in 2025 and continue to lead a global design team supporting product for Optum Technology, UHG and OptumInsight.
2024
Chair, Pride at UHG Employee Resource Group for Ireland & UK
I was appointed the Chair of the first Pride employee resource group for UHG across Ireland & UK, launching in September 2024.
2021
Group Director, User Experience Design, Optum
User Experience Design Studio is part of Optum Digital. We are a team of 182, providing full service design, research and accessibility services to the enterprise.
I was promoted to Group UX Director, expanding my role from Dublin to lead our global studios. I lead a team of 90+ including directors, UX managers and designers (interaction/visual/conversational/content). Working with my peers in Accessibility and Research, we are responsible for almost 180 people, supporting over 270 projects and $31 million in billable hours each year between our groups. I am responsible for the organisational design and business growth strategy for my design group as I scale up our operations to support a global fortune 5 company. Our design values guide me which includes Inclusion & Accessibility, Reusability, Usability and Productivity.
2018
Director of UX, Optum
Based in Dublin, I grew the Dublin Studio to 33 team members, split between 4 core areas (design, research, accessibility, and a product team responsible for our design system). I reported into the VP of Design (US based) with design and product mangers reporting into me. As part of the UXDS leadership team, I collaborated with other directors on strategic initiatives. I continued to run our Dublin Studio, inspiring my teams to perform to their best and inspiring business partners around design thinking.
2016
UX Design Manager, Optum
I joined Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group, to found and lead the new Dublin office of the Optum User Experience Design Studio (UXDS). UXDS is a 160+ strong studio supporting UnitedHealth Group and its subsidiaries in their mission to help people live healthier lives and to help make the health system work better for everyone.
2014
UX Design Lead, Osmosoft, BT
Osmosoft was a small team of designers, developers and UX consultants with a mission to transform how British Telecom operate using Lean and Agile UX methodologies. Headquartered in London my team shared a vision that solutions start and end with the user. We promoted the web as a platform for change using open-source solutions and modern web based collaborative techniques.
2012
UX Designer, Osmosoft, BT
I was responsible for enabling an agile UX engagement model. I successfully positioned UX at the heart of the Osmosoft proposition introducing new approaches using user-centred design techniques and rapid prototyping. I was focused on building mobile web solutions and applications. I got to work directly with customers, users, external agencies and sub-contractors in these engagements.
2006
Content Management Design Lead, BT Innovate & Design
Working in BTs central design team into the platform Chief architect, I had design authority for content/website management implementations across all lines of business. I owned and set the web content management strategy in addition to managing the deliveries from our offshore developers. I had line management responsibilities for UK based design team.