Back to blog
Back to blog

10 Best UI/UX Consultants: Leading Experts in 2027

Explore our list of established UI/UX experts and learn how to choose the best one for your project.
Published
November 10, 2026
Read time
9
 min read
Natalie Savenko
Chief Marketing Officer
Published
November 10, 2026
Read time
9
 min read

TL;DR

  • What the list covers: 10 consultants with expertise in UX strategy, conversion optimization, AI product design, enterprise UX, and design operations.
  • How to evaluate candidates: Check their individual contributions to past projects, ask for examples of research, and see if they challenge your assumptions.
  • Before committing: Prepare a brief with your goals, budget, and timeline. Start with a small paid project to assess the consultant’s approach and results.

The longer you work on a product, the tougher it gets to notice new strategic opportunities or blocks in user flows. In-house designers who spend 40 hours a week with the same product often fall into patterns: they lean on old design solutions, miss friction in user journeys they know by heart, or make tiny tweaks without ever questioning if the foundation needs a change.

Bringing in a fresh set of eyes changes things.

Enterprise Research Centre shows that UK SMEs who brought in outside business advisors boosted labor productivity by an impressive 22.1% compared to those who didn’t.

A good UI/UX consultant can challenge the team’s unexamined assumptions, uncover problems nobody noticed, and help everyone zero in on usability improvements without wasting resources. In short, they work faster and more strategically, drawing from years of experience.

But turning UX expertise into real business results? That takes the right person, and finding them is a process.

That’s why we at Linkup ST handpicked 10 UI/UX consultants to watch in 2027. And later in this article, we’ll share insider tips for picking the expert who fits your project — someone who gets your product, knows how to tackle obstacles, and can help you move forward.

Top UI/UX consultants in 2027

Nataliya Sambir — Senior Product Design Consultant & CDO

Experience: 12+ years in product design; 150 products across 25 countries.

Expertise: UI UX consulting, product strategy, UX research, AI interfaces.

Track record: Design Director on Red Dot-winning YachtWay and SkinSpotter.

Areas they can help with:

  • Conversion bottlenecks within key user flows.
  • UX strategy and redesign prioritization.
  • Product concept validation through UX research and usability testing.
  • Design-to-development handoff optimization and rework reduction.
  • Product experience, visual consistency, and market readiness.

Best for: Scaling SaaS platforms, marketplaces improving search and conversion, and AI products with complex user interactions.

Pavlo Savchenko — Senior UI/UX Consultant & Product Design Strategist

Experience: 8+ years in UI/UX and digital product design.

Expertise: UI/UX consulting, funnel drop-off analysis, fintech payment flows, AI prototypes, Figma-to-code handoffs.

Track record: Projects for Red Dot-winning GlamdPro and Red Dot-recognized CashFlowApp and Element-X.

Areas they can help with:

  • Sign-up and activation friction analysis.
  • Targeted user flow improvements without full redesigns.
  • UI UX consultant expertise in payment flow and complex dashboard simplification.
  • Feature adoption analysis and identification of underused capabilities.
  • Redesign scope definition and investment prioritization.

Best for: Fintech and DeFi platforms, AI marketing SaaS, and AR-powered learning apps.

Sophia Korynets — Senior Product Designer & UX Strategy Consultant

Experience: 7+ years in UX/UI and digital product design.

Expertise: UI UX consulting services, conversion UX, information architecture, AI product design.

Track record: Projects for Silver A' Design-winning CodeUA and Red Dot-winning GlamdPro.

Areas they can help with:

  • UX friction analysis through click and task data.
  • Search, filter, and conversion flow optimization.
  • Pre-development AI interaction testing.
  • UX improvement prioritization based on product impact.

Best for: B2B marketplace design, online auction platforms, and AI-powered SaaS.

Darya Ebadian — AI Product Design & UI/UX Consultant

Experience: 5+ years in digital product design.

Expertise: AI UI UX consulting, AI product UX, complex user flows, web/mobile interfaces, usability testing.

Track record: Projects for Red Dot-winning Toto, SkinSpotter, TripPal, and Element-X.

Areas they can help with:

  • AI workflow simplification with user control.
  • Friction reduction in multi-step booking and onboarding flows.
  • Prototype validation before development.
  • Clarity and user trust in sensitive user journeys.

Best for: AI-powered SaaS, digital health apps, and travel booking platforms.

Jaime Levy — UX/Product Strategy Expert & Consultant

Experience: 35+ years in UX and digital product strategy.

Expertise: UI UX consulting, product discovery, customer interviews, competitive UX audits, storyboards, AI product strategy.

Track record: UX projects for Oprah.com, ABC, AOL, GE, and Union Bank.

Areas they can help with:

  • Product demand validation before UI design.
  • Competitor user flow analysis and gap identification.
  • Feature prioritization based on user interviews.
  • Pre-development AI concept storyboarding.

Best for: Digital media platforms, fintech, and early-stage SaaS and AI products.

Kristin Skinner — Design Strategy & UX Leadership Consultant

Experience: 20+ years in design leadership and operations.

Expertise: UI UX consulting services, DesignOps, UX leadership, design operations.

Track record: Design leadership for Expedia, Chase, and Capital One.

Areas they can help with:

  • UX team structure aligned with customer journeys.
  • Ownership of shared UI patterns across applications.
  • Research and content team expansion as products scale.
  • UX review processes before engineering handoff.
  • Design workload management and project delay reduction.

Best for: Enterprise UX teams, scaling SaaS, multi-product companies.

David Wenk — UI/UX Consultant & Enterprise Product Designer

Experience: 9+ years in UX/UI design.

Expertise: UI/UX consulting services, B2B product discovery, user journey mapping, information architecture, Figma/Storybook design systems.

Track record: Projects for Laserhub, thinkproject, and WOLF GmbH.

Areas they can help with:

  • Product search and ordering flow analysis.
  • Complex equipment configuration flow simplification.
  • Quote form optimization and usability testing.
  • Consistent navigation and UI components across products.
  • User flow optimization and pre-development design validation.

Best for: Industrial SaaS, manufacturing and procurement platforms, and construction management software.

Peter Merholz — Design Leadership Consultant & Founder, Humanism at Scale

Experience: 25+ years of UI/UX design experience.

Expertise: UI UX consulting services, UX strategy, design systems, user research, design quality standards.

Track record: Projects for Groupon, Capital One, Roblox, Target, and The New York Times.

Areas they can help with:

  • Cross-product navigation and interaction consistency.
  • UX standards development for design teams.
  • Design review and feedback process optimization.
  • User research integration into product decisions.
  • Shared UI component ownership and governance.

Best for: Fintech, enterprise SaaS, and multi-product digital platforms.

Muskan Bhargava — Senior Product Designer & Design Advisor

Experience: 5+ years in digital product design.

Expertise: UI UX consulting services, search/filter UX, AI email flows, dashboards, usability testing.

Track record: Projects for ContactOut, Athena VC, and DigiDisha.

Areas they can help with:

  • Lead search optimization through filters and bulk actions.
  • Contact table and saved list usability improvements.
  • Editable AI draft integration into Gmail workflows.
  • Data visualization and tooltip design for API evaluation.
  • Pre-development prototype testing and user flow validation.

Best for: B2B SaaS platforms, SalesTech products, AI-powered outreach tools.

Aarron Walter — UX Design Strategist & Consultant

Experience: 20+ years in UX and digital product design.

Expertise: UI UX consulting services, SaaS UX, design systems, UX research, UX writing.

Track record: Projects for Mailchimp, WHO, Africa CDC; Snap won a 2015 Webby.

Areas they can help with:

  • Mobile email campaign workflow simplification.
  • Form and table standardization across features.
  • Team inbox optimization through tags and assignments.
  • Pre-release usability testing and interface messaging improvements.

Best for: Email marketing SaaS, customer communication platforms, and public-health applications.

Soft blue gradient blur with a crescent shape fading into black background at the bottom center.

Best UI/UX consultants: how to choose the right expert in 2027

As promised earlier, we're also adding practical advice from our team on what to consider when choosing a UI/UX consultant who will fit your project and deliver tangible business results.

Ask for recommendations and check past work

A consultant’s self-presentation and portfolio are key factors to consider when evaluating potential specialists for collaboration. However, nothing replaces practical experience. Therefore, when beginning your search, consider asking industry peers or in-house colleagues with experience in hiring UI/UX consultants for recommendations. If you don’t have any referrals, look for reviews of the specialists' work on platforms like LinkedIn or Clutch.

Additionally, during the final stages of the selection process, do not hesitate to ask for the contact details of a UI/UX consultant’s previous clients to briefly verify their approach to work quality and reliability.

Define the problem before asking for quotes

Prepare a concise brief outlining clear requirements:

  • Design challenges to be addressed
  • Business goals to be achieved
  • Budget
  • Terms of cooperation
  • Timeline

When you negotiate, this information will help the vendor understand exactly what you expect and figure out if they can deliver what you need in the timeframe and under the conditions you’ve set.

Verify individual contributions

When reviewing a portfolio, be sure to clarify the candidate’s specific contribution to a project, especially if the project is presented as the work of an entire team or company.

Ask about the reasoning behind specific decisions, as well as the UI/UX consulting services, methodologies, and work approaches used, to ensure the candidate is truly well-versed in the details of the project presented.

If you are interested in going deeper, you can also ask for anonymized research results, UX audit reports, decision logs, or real examples of recommendations they turned into production.

Find someone who pushes back on your assumptions

A solid UI/UX consultant wants to get to the root of the issue before jumping into fixes. When you first chat, lay out your problem and ask how they'd dig into it.

Watch for whether they challenge your thinking, request data, and look at options besides just tweaking the design.

Ask them how they plan to explore your UX issues

You want to know if the consultant can actually uncover real UX problems, not just prove their own guesses.

On the initial call, go over the problem your product is facing and ask:

  • What research methods will you use, and why?
  • How will you choose the right users for testing?
  • How will you make sure your findings are accurate?

That’s how you figure out if the UI/UX consulting expert gets how UX works in practice — not just on paper.

Start with a small paid project

Thinking about a bigger partnership? Try working together on something smaller first — a paid assignment. Pick an important user flow, like registration or checkout. Make sure everyone knows what to expect: the scope, the fee, and the deadline.

This way, you get to see how the consultant communicates, handles problems, and what their work actually looks like before you commit to a larger contract.

Conclusion

The modern digital space provides unlimited opportunities to find a skilled UI/UX consultant. However, finding the perfect fit still takes effort, patience, and attention to detail.

Look closely at each expert’s background. Ask about their previous projects. Make sure their skills and way of working fit what you’re looking for.

If you need more help finding a design expert or have questions about UI/UX consulting, reach out to our team at Linkup ST — we’d be glad to help you.

In this article
Linkup ST
Gradient background transitioning from light blue at the bottom to dark blue at the top.
Craft your idea into
awesome digital experience
Let's talk
Let's talk
Share link: