Yeow Sheng Tan · Senior User Research Manager · San Francisco
Hi, I'm Yeow. I'm a mixed-methods researcher with 14 years of experience, 7 of them leading research teams. My work has shaped AI hardware and software, trust and safety on a platform used by more than a billion people, and public policy that touches people's daily lives.
I'm a researcher who cares most about what happens after the readout. The studies I'm proudest of didn't just describe a problem. They changed a price, a policy or a metric that teams kept using long after I'd left the room. I work closely with product, design, data science, policy and legal partners, and I'm at my best on messy, high-stakes questions where nobody is quite sure what to ask yet.
I started at Kantar, running more than 100 studies for global brands. At Singapore's Ministry of Digital Development and Information I did research that fed national policy, from what counts as a basic need to retirement savings for gig workers. At TikTok I set up the global Trust & Safety user research function and studied the safety experience of users and creators at a billion-user scale. Now at Plaud I work on AI note-taking hardware and software, from launch readiness to pricing, across both consumer and business customers.
Across all of it, I'm hands-on. I still love designing the study, sitting in the interviews and finding the one chart that settles the argument. I build Python and Claude workflows to speed up synthesis, I've facilitated over 20 roundtable discussions, and I've mentored researchers and trained 40+ civil servants in qualitative research. If you have a hard question, let's talk →
From brands to policy to platform safety to AI hardware. The questions got harder; the job stayed the same: get evidence into the decision.
100+ brand and communication studies for global clients.
A Singapore government ministry. Cross-agency research shaping national policy; trained 40+ officers in qualitative research.
Set up the global T&S research function; mentored 6 researchers across the US, China and Singapore.
Plaud makes AI note-takers: recording hardware paired with AI software. Growth, monetization and AI products, partnering with the CEO and senior leadership.
Nine studies across three organisations, each led by its impact, then the call I made and how. Open any card for the detail.
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Email[email protected] LinkedInyeow-sheng-tThree habits behind the numbers above, and where you can see them in the work.
The brief is a starting point. The useful question is usually one step behind it, and finding it is most of the job.
Qual where we don't know the shape of the problem, quant where we need to size or price it, and both when leadership needs speed and the team needs depth.
A finding isn't done until it's a number, a rule or a tool a team uses after the readout.
Smaller studies and earlier chapters.
Qualitative research across global moderator hubs on decision workflows, and how AI-generated cues affect reviewers' judgement and confidence.
Interviews with early adopters, IT admins and decision makers, mapping entry points and barriers to rolling out AI note-taking across an organisation.
Plaud's first brand health tracker, setting baselines for awareness, perception and consideration.
100+ consumer insight studies for clients including Google, Shiseido, FrieslandCampina and Unilever, from study design to executive synthesis.
What I'm doing when I'm not running a study. Drawn, with some licence.
