by Strategic UX Research and Design for Platform and Ecosystem Experiences
UX360 EU speaker interview with Shamindri Perera, Head of UX, Airline Solutions at Amadeus
Shamindri Perera is a UX Leader with 18 years of experience across industries, including consumer electronics, gaming, enterprise software, and travel technology. She has held key roles at Dell, Razer, Samsung, Oracle, and Indeed, and currently serves as Head of UX for Airline Solutions at Amadeus. With deep expertise in design, research, strategy, and data-driven UX, Shamindri specializes in transforming product-focused experiences into scalable platform solutions that drive user engagement and business impact.
UX360: What motivates you to join the UX360 conference, and what is the core message of your talk?
Shamindri: One of the best things about being a UXer is the wonderful global community in our profession. The UX360 conference is an opportunity for me to give back to the UX community by sharing some of my experiences and learnings, in the hope that it might benefit others as well.
The core message I would like to share during this conference is how our UX team at Amadeus is moving from designing multiple individual products to designing and researching across a portfolio ecosystem and platform.
UX360: How has this impacted your own work and your organisation?
Shamindri: This new approach has fundamentally changed our ways of working – how we work within teams and across teams – to define and deliver a more ecosystem experience that is consistent across the platform. It has also enabled our UX team to play a more strategic role and helped us shift left within the organization.
UX360: How has UX as a practice evolved in the last couple of years, and how would you like to see it evolve in the next few?
Shamindri: I think one of the biggest shifts I’ve observed is the transition from focusing on specific user problems to taking a step back and looking at a user’s end-to-end experience across a system and solving user problems and addressing their needs in the context of this bigger picture. As technology evolves and new interaction modes emerge, it’s important that we don’t lose sight of these bigger picture needs of our users.
UX360: Given this evolution, what are two expected and two less obvious skills UXers should possess, and why?
Shamindri: As technology evolves into platforms and AI solutions, there is a potential risk of UX being pushed out of the loop. So, as UXers, we should continue to have a firm footing on the fundamentals of UX (deep understanding of our users and their underlying needs + understanding of the problems to solve), and have good communication skills as we work with different stakeholders, who may not be used to working with UX.
Perhaps less obvious skills are to connect UX work with business goals, as well as the ability to work with metrics, including how UX metrics and data analytics evolve in the world of AI and platform based solutions.
UX360: Apart from work, what can delegates at the event talk to you about? Do you have any particular personal interests, hobbies or extracurricular activities and engagements?
Shamindri: I’m a big TV and movie buff and love a show that gets me immersed in a good plot or character. I’m always on the lookout for something new to watch, so do say hi, and I’d love to hear your recommendations!
UX360: Last but not least, favourite recommendations to make to industry colleagues for inspiration, innovation, guidance and leadership:
Shamindri: This may be a bit of a cheat, but I find that Medium often has great leadership and UX case studies being showcased. It often gives me interesting food for thought, and I think makes me a better leader.
UX360: Thank you so much, Shamindri! We look forward to hearing more from you at UX360 Europe 2025!
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