I'm a curious designer, researcher, and software engineer who loves to wear different hats to solve complex UX problems.

2022 - present · Senior UX Researcher ·MathWorks (opens in new tab)
2019 - 2021 · Frontend Engineer ·Helpshift (opens in new tab)

Projects

Explorations and projects I've taken on outside of work.

Experience

MathWorks Senior UX Researcher
2022 – present

Lead UX researcher for System Composer, a tool used by engineers to plan, design, and simulate large systems. Core member of the accessibility team, focused on making MATLAB and Simulink work for everyone.

In the age of AI, knowing what to build is as important as knowing how to build it. I am embedded within the engineering team and plan research activities to surface what users actually need, then prioritize those needs against engineering effort and impact. Without a dedicated PM on our team, I step into that gap, writing feature requirements and ensuring every decision is grounded in a user-centered lens rather than assumptions.
I run usability studies specifically focused on uncovering accessibility gaps, then work with teams to act on what I find. Beyond fixing issues, I build the infrastructure to prevent them, including plugins that help designers consider accessibility earlier in their process and tools that help QEs expand their test coverage to include accessibility use cases.
I mentor and run workshops for interns and new hires, teaching user research, design fundamentals, and how to think from a user-centered lens from day one. For more experienced researchers, I have led a training on mixed methods research to help them move beyond single-method studies and get to stronger, more nuanced insights. Behind the scenes, I am helping to establish the recruitment pipelines and processes needed to make continuous user research a reality in the org, shifting the team away from study-by-study thinking toward a more agile, always-on research mindset.
Exploring where AI meaningfully supports UX processes, and where human judgment remains essential. Building Claude-powered skills that apply UX evaluation frameworks to products and interfaces, thus making expert review faster and more consistent. Alongside that, rethinking what good research process looks like when AI is part of how products get built.
Helpshift UX Engineer
2019 – 2021

Frontend engineering and prototyping for an AI-powered customer service platform used by large gaming companies to provide quick support to their users.

I handled frontend development for new product features end to end. My biggest project was leading the frontend for a no-code support page builder, a tool that let customer support agents independently set up and manage FAQ pages for their users without needing engineering help.
As the team transitioned to a new design system, I helped build and refine UI components to bring consistency and polish across the product, bridging the gap between old and new.
I prototyped emerging frameworks and libraries to assess whether they were the right fit for our codebase and the problem at hand. After testing, I made a case for or against adoption based on technical feasibility and codebase constraints, and gave internal talks to walk the team through the technologies I evaluated.

Education

About

Portrait of Anushree Abhyankar

Hello World! I'm Anushree. I started my career as a software engineer, and discovered my interest in UX along the way. After studying the art of human-centered design at CMU, I blended my tech and design backgrounds to work on UX for technical tools at MathWorks. I'm excited about how AI is bridging the gap between design and development, and love how AI makes it possible to just do things without constraints. My areas of interest are accessibility, user research, and novel user interaction patterns in the age of AI.

I live in Boston and like to run, read, crochet, and explore new cafes to recharge in my free time.