Patrick Mooney Bio

Patrick Mooney is a strategic UX design leader with over 23 years of experience driving human-centered product innovation across telecoms, healthcare, and enterprise sectors. As Group Director of User Experience Design at Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group, he leads global design teams within the Consumer Experience and Digital Product division, shaping digital experiences that impact millions of users worldwide.

In 2016, Patrick established the Optum User Experience Design Studio (UXDS) in Dublin, growing the team from inception to 33 co-located specialists across design, research, accessibility, and design systems within the first year. His leadership later expanded to oversee global studios, managing a team of 90+ professionals. Before Optum, he played a key role at British Telecom (BT), leading UX for Osmosoft, an innovation unit that pioneered Lean and Agile UX methodologies. He also served as Content Management Design Lead at BT Innovate & Design, setting enterprise-wide digital strategies.

Beyond corporate leadership, Patrick is a driving force in the design community. In 2015, he founded Dublin UX, now Ireland’s largest UX community, growing to 4,000+ members with 55+ live events. He is a frequent conference speaker and a dedicated mentor, advocating for best practices in user-centered product design.

Patrick is also deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As the Chair of the Pride Employee Resource Group (ERG) for Ireland & UK, he champions initiatives that foster an inclusive workplace, with a particular focus on supporting the LGBTQIA+ community.

At his core, Patrick thrives on building and empowering high-performing teams, fostering curiosity-driven cultures, and ensuring that complex systems become intuitive, scalable, and impactful digital experiences.