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Photo by Tamta Batmanashvili
Senior UX Researcher · Deutsche Bank · Berlin

The best insights come from the people who almost didn't speak. I make sure they do.

Five years at Deutsche Bank. Built the practice from scratch. When not in sessions — film camera, macro lens, the details most people walk past.

Usability testing User interviews Research Ops NN/g certified Stakeholder advocacy Mentoring
At a glance
5+
Years at Deutsche Bank
5
NN/g certifications
90%
Tollgate task completion threshold
0→1
Research practice built from scratch
Tamta Batmanashvili
About me

MSc International Finance. Five years at Deutsche Bank Autobahn. I noticed the gap between how institutions thought users behaved — and how they actually did.

I'm drawn to people — what drives them, how culture shapes their expectations, why the same product feels different to different people. Anthropology is a hobby, but also a lens I bring to every session. I've worked across multicultural teams and find that diversity of perspective makes research sharper, not harder.

Finance taught me the business. Empathy taught me the person. Photography taught me to notice what's overlooked.

Skills
Moderated usability testing User interviews Research Ops Synthesis & analysis Stakeholder management Prototype review Multicultural teams Mentoring
Platforms
Deutsche Bank Autobahn Corporate Banking Portal
Tools
Dovetail Ballpark HQ Figma Excel MS Teams Jira Confluence Copilot
Languages
Georgian — native English — fluent German — intermediate
Outside work
B&W · macro photography Cinema Anthropology Yoga Knitting
Background
2012–2016
BBA
Int'l Black Sea University · Tbilisi
2017–2020
MSc International Finance
HfWU · Nürtingen, Germany
2019–2020
Intern, Investment Bank
Deutsche Bank · Frankfurt
2020–2021
Graduate
Deutsche Bank · Frankfurt
2021–2022
Product Analyst
Corporate Banking Portal · Berlin
2022 → now
User Researcher
Deutsche Bank · Berlin
2024
NN/g certified · 5 courses
Nielsen Norman Group
Macro photography by Tamta Batmanashvili
Macro photography · Tamta Batmanashvili
Selected work

Case studies

Four studies from Deutsche Bank Autobahn — Corporate Banking Portal (CBP) · all confidential, no screenshots

Product context
Deutsche Bank Autobahn — Corporate Banking Portal (CBP)
Digital gateway for corporate clients to access Deutsche Bank products & services in a single portal · Powered by Autobahn · Available via Web, Desktop, Mobile and API
autobahn.db.com ↗
1
Kickoff
Research onboarding for the team
2
Prototype review
Fix flows before testing
3
Discussion guide
Rewrite to goal-based tasks
4
Recruitment
Via service team leads
5
Sessions
Team observes · debrief
6
Synthesis
Excel + Figma · severity
7
Report
UX rationale + business impact
Case 01 · Usability testing · Exploratory

Standing Orders —
launching the wrong thing

Role
Sole researcher
Method
Moderated usability
Participants
Mid-cap corp clients
100%
Participants agreed
0
Freq/time changes ever needed
Reverted
Feature scope before launch
The challenge

The team was digitising a fully manual standing order process — fax and scanned emails, 1–2 weeks per change. They assumed clients needed frequency & time controls and built the prototype around these. In practice, standing orders in the corporate space are used almost exclusively for paying rent — and rents increase annually by a fixed or percentage amount, meaning the only thing clients ever change is the amount.

How might we
Validate whether the planned features match how corporate clients actually use standing orders — before development locks in?
What needs improvement
Missing form features
No end date option — most users want unlimited SOs. Execution date needed weekday clarity: "When's my money arriving?"
Changing active SO
All users change amount — driven by Indexmiete (annual rent increases). No one mentioned frequency changes. That feature doesn't matter to users.
Navigation & back button
Stepper navigation was hard to discover — users expressed uncertainty: "How can I go back?" Draft page caused confusion about how to edit or navigate.
Outcome
Feature scope reversed before launch. Amount editing shipped as the primary capability. Frequency controls deprioritised.
Moderated usability testingExploratory questionsMid-cap corporate clientsCross-team alignmentExcel · Figma
My role
Before

Reviewed prototype · rewrote leading questions to goal-based tasks

During

Think-aloud + exploratory questions. Product and design attended as observers

After

Post-session debrief. Aligned service, product, tech. Presented to senior stakeholders

Why this method

No discovery research in the org — embedding exploratory questions inside a usability study was the only way to validate both scope and interaction in one pass.

What I'd do differently

Push for a lightweight discovery session before the prototype was built. Even 3 interviews would have surfaced the Indexmiete pattern weeks earlier.

Confidentiality

Designs in UAT / pilot. No screenshots shared.

Case 02 · Usability testing · Pre-launch

Corporate Client Onboarding —
testing before go-live

Role
Sole researcher
Participants
7 · moderated
Timing
Pre-launch
3
User flows tested
5
Prioritised pain points
3 High
Severity findings
The challenge

Deutsche Bank's first fully digital corporate client onboarding — replacing a branch and paper-based process across three flows: initial document submission, rejection handling, and legal representative review. Never tested with real clients before launch.

How might we
Surface the friction points in a complex, multi-flow onboarding process before corporate clients encounter them?
Key themes
Country-specific customisation
Users lacked clarity on required documents per jurisdiction — missing country-specific requirements caused rework and delays
Terminology confusion
"Legal representative" was unclear; signing rights misread as payment permissions — users needed contextual definitions
Repetition & reusability
Re-entering legal representative details for multiple entities seen as inefficient — users wanted to duplicate configurations
Top pain point (High severity)
Missing country-specific docs list → repeated rework with the bank → weeks of delay for clients
JTBD framework3 user flowsSeverity analysisExcel synthesisCorporate clients
My role
Before

Mapped 3 user flows · designed discussion guide with JTBD-framed tasks · briefed team as observers

During

7 moderated sessions across all flows. Team observed and debriefed after each one

After

Excel severity analysis across all observations · JTBD synthesis · prioritised pain points with business impact framing for product and stakeholder teams

Why this method

Behavioural observation was essential pre-launch. JTBD framing helped the team connect findings to user goals, not just interface problems.

Confidentiality

Designs in UAT / pilot. No screenshots shared.

Case 03 · Research advocacy · Process design

Tollgate Process —
making research non-negotiable

Role
Sole researcher
Standard
90% task completion
Status
Ongoing · 4 years
90%
Task completion to pass UAT
All
Client-facing products covered
2022
Still in place today
The challenge

No structured research existed before. Product teams shipped client-facing features on assumptions. Research was seen as a delay, not a safeguard.

How might we
Make usability testing a mandatory, measurable quality gate — not an optional step teams could skip under delivery pressure?
Per-study approach
Prepare
Research onboarding for team · prototype review · discussion guide rewrite
Run + Debrief
Facilitated sessions with team observing · post-session debrief after each one
Report
UX rationale + business impact · clear pass/fail vs. 90% threshold
90% completion thresholdPrototype reviewDiscussion guide QCStakeholder advocacy
My contribution

Sole researcher across every Tollgate study — responsible for study design, facilitation, analysis, synthesis, and stakeholder reporting for every product team in the portal

What I'd do differently

Standardise the research onboarding into a fixed 20-minute deck. The message was the same every time — the inconsistency cost time.

Case 04 · Research Ops · Org building

Research Infrastructure —
built from nothing

Role
First researcher
Started
2022
Status
Ongoing
0→1
Practice built from scratch
6
Artefacts created & adopted
2023
Mentoring ongoing since
The challenge

No templates, no synthesis process, no onboarding for researchers who came after me. Everything needed to be built while simultaneously running a full study load.

How might we
Build a research practice that scales beyond a single researcher — so that quality and process don't depend on one person?
Templates
Discussion guide · screener · synthesis · 1-page insight summary — adopted across the team
Mentoring
Onboarding path and coaching framework for interns and junior researchers · ongoing since 2023
Impact
Research Ops practice actively maintained. Not a project — a living infrastructure.
Discussion guide templatesExcel analysis frameworkFigma synthesisMentoring guides
What was built
Templates

Discussion guide, screener, and stakeholder report format — used across every Tollgate study

Process

Excel analysis structure + Figma synthesis workflow adopted as team standard

Mentoring

Coaching framework for interns and juniors — no formal management title, ongoing since 2023

Research practice

The infrastructure behind the studies

The artifacts I built weren't just for my own use — they were designed to raise the research capability of everyone around me. This is the work that most researchers never have to do, and rarely show.

DG

Discussion guide template

Reusable structure covering screener, warm-up, goal-based tasks, and debrief — annotated with facilitation notes so junior researchers can run sessions confidently.

InterviewsUsability
SF

Synthesis framework

Step-by-step process from raw session notes to prioritised findings: observation tagging, affinity clustering, severity rating, recommendation mapping. Copilot used to support pattern identification and data analysis.

Affinity mappingPrioritisation
BP

Research best practices guide

Internal guide covering method selection, recruitment, session logistics, stakeholder readout formats, and common pitfalls — written so a non-researcher could follow it.

OnboardingResearch Ops
RP

Recruitment screener templates

Screener question sets for Deutsche Bank's niche user base: MNC vs mid-corp, Cash Manager vs DBDI, Treasury heads vs analysts across multiple regions.

Banking-specificRecruitment
IS

1-page insight summary format

Stakeholder-friendly output format: business context, top findings with UX rationale, business impact, and recommended actions — designed to be read in under 3 minutes.

StakeholdersCommunication
MG

Mentoring guide for junior researchers

Structured onboarding path: shadowing schedule, solo session milestones, common mistakes to watch for, and a feedback rubric for session quality.

MentoringCapability building
Participant recruitment

Recruiting inside one of the hardest user bases to reach

Deutsche Bank's Corporate Banking clients aren't on a research panel. They're Treasury heads and analysts at large corporations, MNCs, and financial institutions — busy, protected, and reachable only through trusted internal relationships.

MNC
MNC / Large-cap
Multinational corporations · highest complexity · multi-region treasuries
MID
Mid-corp
Mid-size corporates · primary segment for Cash Manager and standing orders
NBFI
Fintech / NBFI
Non-bank financial institutions · digital-first · fastest feedback cycles
Role: Senior
Treasury heads — strategic decisions, high authority, very low availability
Role: Analyst
Treasury analysts — daily platform users, operational detail, easier to reach
1
Define profile
Segment · platform (Cash Manager / DBDI) · region · role level — all decided before outreach
2
Email service leads
Study purpose · timeline · client profile · logistics — everything needed to shortlist clients
3
Alignment call
Present research plan · address reputation risk · build trust before any client is contacted
5+
Confirmed per study
Minimum target per region — buffer for last-minute cancellations from time-scarce clients
Platforms covered Cash ManagerDBDI · Segments MNC / Large-cap Mid-corp Fintech / NBFI
Methods & tools

How I work

I select the method based on the problem we're trying to solve and the phase of product development. Marked with ★ are my primary strengths.

Qualitative
Quantitative
Input
User interviews ★
Moderated usability testing ★
Unmoderated usability testing
Contextual inquiry
Exploratory research
Surveys — UMUX score ★
Post-launch product surveys
Benchmark usability testing
Task completion metrics
Output
Affinity mapping ★
Thematic analysis ★
Insight & severity report ★
Jobs-to-be-done
Mental models
Task completion rate analysis ★
Error frequency & severity scoring ★
Usability metric comparison

★ indicates primary strengths

Tools
Platforms
DB Autobahn
Core platform
CBP
Corporate Banking Portal
Research
Dovetail
Research repository
Ballpark HQ
Studies · testing
Figma
Notes · synthesis
Excel
Data analysis
MS Teams
Sessions
Workflow
Jira
Tracking
Confluence
Documentation
Evaluated & onboarded Dovetail and Ballpark HQ at Deutsche Bank
Languages
GeorgianNative
EnglishFluent
GermanIntermediate
Nielsen Norman Group

Certifications — and what they changed

I completed 5 NN/g courses in 2024, earning certification while running a full study load under the Tollgate process. Each one changed something specific about how I work.

01
Remote User Research
Building rapport, managing technical friction, capturing rich data in remote-first settings
Made me more intentional about warm-up structure and how to probe for depth when you can't read body language
02
Scaling Research
Growing research impact beyond individual studies — systems, templates, practices that scale across teams
Directly shaped how I built the discussion guide templates and synthesis frameworks the team now uses across all Tollgate studies
03
Assessing UX Designs
Heuristic analysis, expert review, structured methods for identifying usability problems before participant testing
Formalised my prototype review process — the check I do with designers before every study to catch broken flows
04
Discovery Research
Generative methods for understanding user needs before a solution exists — contextual inquiry, diary studies, JTBD
Sharpened how I write exploratory questions — particularly within usability studies, the only window into whether a feature was the right thing to build
05
User Interviews
Depth interviewing — question sequencing, probing for the story behind the answer, managing dominant participants
Changed how I handle silence — I learned to let pauses breathe rather than filling them, which surfaces richer, less rehearsed answers
Get in touch

Let's talk about your users

Open to Senior UX Researcher, Staff Researcher, Research Lead, and ResearchOps roles — in banking, financial services, enterprise SaaS, or any team serious about embedding research into how products are built.

tbatmanashvili@gmail.com LinkedIn Download CV
Curriculum Vitae

Tamta Batmanashvili

Senior UX Researcher · ResearchOps Leader · Mixed-Methods Specialist

tbatmanashvili@gmail.com · +49 160 8352274 · linkedin.com/in/tamta-batmanashvili · Berlin, Germany

Profile

UX Researcher with 5+ years at Deutsche Bank. I came to research through finance — drawn to the gap between how institutions thought users behaved and how they actually did. I work with hard-to-reach corporate clients, care deeply about making research non-negotiable, and believe the best insights come from the people who almost didn't speak.

Experience
Senior User Researcher
Deutsche Bank — Corporate Bank, Digital Channels · Berlin
May 2022 – Present
  • Planned and conducted moderated usability and exploratory studies with hard-to-reach corporate clients, directly shaping product decisions — including reversing a feature's scope pre-launch.
  • Designed and embedded a mandatory 90% task-completion threshold (Tollgate) across all client-facing releases. In place since 2022 and still active.
  • Built the research practice from scratch — templates, in-house recruitment methods, research repository, and tool evaluation.
  • Mentored junior researchers and product teams; presented research to senior stakeholders at VP/MD level.
Product Analyst
Deutsche Bank — Corporate Bank · Berlin
Jul 2021 – May 2022

Bridged quantitative analytics with qualitative insights to inform prioritisation and product strategy across the Corporate Banking Portal.

Graduate Rotation Program
Deutsche Bank — Corporate Bank · Frankfurt
Oct 2020 – Jul 2021

Rotated across four teams (institutional products, EMEA strategy, trade finance, supply chain finance), building domain expertise in complex B2B financial systems.

Business Process Management Intern
Deutsche Bank — Investment Bank · Frankfurt
Feb 2019 – Feb 2020

Mapped and optimised operational processes across the Investment Bank.

Education
MSc International Finance
HfWU · Nürtingen, Germany
2017 – 2020
BBA Business Administration
International Black Sea University · Tbilisi, Georgia
2012 – 2016
Volunteering
Volunteer Interpreter, Georgian & German
Caritas · Berlin · 2023 – 2024

In-person Georgian–German interpretation for Georgian refugees navigating social services, housing, and administrative appointments.

Tools
FigmaJiraConfluenceCopilot
Languages
Georgian — Native English — Fluent German — Intermediate