Aleksei Shipulin

# Aleksei Shipulin

Head of Product Research · AI Ambassador

Paris, France

Research for Search & AI, tools for researchers, and products taken from idea to release.

- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/shipaleks)
- [Email](mailto:shipaleks@gmail.com)
- [Human–Agent Interaction](https://t.me/humanagentinteraction)
- [Research Corpus](https://ux.shipulin.md/)

## Experience

### Head of Product Research, Search & AI — Yandex

August 2025 — present

Lead UX and market research for Search & AI. Set research priorities and combine qualitative and quantitative methods.

Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)

### AI Ambassador — Yandex

June 2026 – present · Parallel role

Help non-technical marketing teams access frontier AI models and adapt their everyday workflows to use them.

Sources: [1](https://ux.shipulin.md/cv) · [2](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)

### Lead UX Researcher, Search & AI — Yandex

May 2019 — August 2025

Researched search and human–AI interaction: trust in answers, source attribution, follow-up conversations and answer evaluation.

Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/) · [2](https://ux.shipulin.md/cv)

### Co-Founder — Papper OÜ

September 2022 — January 2025

Conceived the product, recruited ML and iOS engineers, led design and took the app to an App Store release.

[Papper case study](https://shipulin.md/en/projects/papper/)

Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)

### UX Researcher — Yandex

September 2015 — May 2019

Ran interviews, usability studies and behavioural research for core products, advertising, Alice and smart devices.

Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)

### UX Researcher — Usethics

March — September 2015

True Intent Study of visitors to a mobile operator website.

Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)

### UX Research Intern — USABILITYLAB

May 2014 — February 2015

First UX research practice, including work on Internet Banking Rank.

Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)

## Research tools I built

### [Qualitative Research Corpus](https://ux.shipulin.md/) · 2026

Built an interview archive with metadata, vector search and MCP. The public demo shows the Atlas and agent access using synthetic data.

[Demo Atlas](https://ux.shipulin.md/demo/insights) · [Demo MCP](https://ux.shipulin.md/demo/connect)

Sources: [1](https://ux.shipulin.md/cv)

### [Grounded](https://shipulin.md/en/projects/grounded/)

Built an AI tool for open-response coding with categories, explanations and a second-model check.

## Practice

- **Human–AI interaction:** Trust in AI answers, conversational journeys and evaluation.
- **Research methods:** Interviews, usability, surveys, qualitative and quantitative analysis.
- **Working with teams:** Research priorities, AI teaching, product and design.

## Education

### Lomonosov Moscow State University

Social Psychology · Master’s degree · 2011–2018

Interpersonal relationships in virtual social networks. Cognitive science focus.

Sources: [1](https://ux.shipulin.md/cv#education) · [2](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeishipulin/)

## Teaching

### [AI in UX Research](https://practicum.yandex.ru/user-experience-research/)

Authored and taught the course at Yandex Practicum. Run practical workshops on using AI and building with coding agents.

Sources: [1](https://ux.shipulin.md/cv#teaching)

## Team awards

- **2026 · [1st place · Google DeepMind](https://shipulin.md/en/projects/flowtwin/).** RAISE Summit Hackathon · FlowTwin · team win in the track
- **2024 · 1st place · Telegram TON.** Paris Hackathon · TO-DO ESCROW · team prototype

## Languages

- Russian — native
- English — fluent
- French — A2

## The full edition

### Now

Research leadership, AI and working with teams.

I connect UX and market research, from discovery and framing questions to ongoing tracking. I align priorities with product, ranking, design and marketing.

I help teams use AI through training, model access and tools that account for research methodology.

#### Yandex · Head of Product Research, Search & AI

August 2025 — present

Lead UX and market research for Search & AI. Set research priorities and combine qualitative and quantitative methods.

#### Yandex · AI Ambassador

June 2026 – present

Help non-technical marketing teams access frontier AI models and adapt their everyday workflows to use them.

#### AI in research practice

Date not specified

Training in agentic coding, a shared skill library and adapting AI tools to researchers’ work. This is a separate programme from the AI Ambassador role in marketing.

### The path

From research practice to leading Search & AI research.

I began UX practice in 2014. After USABILITYLAB and Usethics, I joined Yandex’s UX Lab, running interviews, usability studies and behavioural research for Search, advertising, Alice and smart devices.

I was Lead UX Researcher in Search & AI from May 2019 to August 2025, then became Head of Product Research. Entrepreneurship, teaching and building tools developed alongside this work.

#### USABILITYLAB · UX Research Intern

May 2014 — February 2015

First UX research practice, including work on Internet Banking Rank.

#### Usethics · UX Researcher

March — September 2015

True Intent Study of visitors to a mobile operator website.

#### Yandex · UX Researcher

September 2015 — May 2019

Ran interviews, usability studies and behavioural research for core products, advertising, Alice and smart devices.

#### Yandex · Lead UX Researcher, Search & AI

May 2019 — August 2025

Researched search and human–AI interaction: trust in answers, source attribution, follow-up conversations and answer evaluation.

### Research and launches

My research contribution to products shipped by teams.

I worked on Yandex’s LLM answer mode, Neuro, later Alice in Search: the April 2024 pilot, main Search in October 2024 and feature expansion in June 2025.

My contribution covered research questions, methods, testing user journeys and evaluating answers. Product launches were the work of a cross-functional team.

#### Human–AI interaction

Date not specified

Researched search and human–AI interaction: trust in answers, source attribution, follow-up conversations and answer evaluation.

#### Alice & smart speaker · public launches

2017–2018

Contributed to the voice assistant and smart speaker line’s launches at Yandex UX Lab.

#### Neuro · pilot

Apr 2024

Pilot of Yandex’s LLM answer mode, later Alice in Search.

#### Neuro · main search

Oct 2024

Yandex’s LLM answer mode reached main search.

#### Neuro · feature expansion

Jun 2025

Feature expansion of Yandex’s LLM answer mode.

#### Trust in AI answers

Date not specified

Studied trust in answers, source attribution, image enrichments and the transition from a search query to a follow-up conversation.

#### Tone-of-Voice evaluation

Date not specified

Designed task-specific rubrics and ran blind, side-by-side AI answer studies. The study design included 200 paired answers and 64 users.

#### Search ad load

Date not specified

Studied ad density, satisfaction and perceived search quality alongside the product team.

### Tools I built

Research workflows as a product problem.

I build tools that help researchers work with evidence, from open-response coding to an interview archive and an AI copilot for the study lifecycle.

Published projects have their own case studies. The archive demo uses synthetic data; real interviews require authentication.

#### Agentic research copilot

Date not specified

A modular skill set covering the study lifecycle, with conditional branching by methodology.

Re-platformed UX & MR research onto a modular agentic copilot covering the full study lifecycle, from the brief to the final deck. The skill set branches by methodology and is now standard tooling across the team.

#### Research repository + MCP

2026

Built an interview archive with metadata, vector search and MCP. The public demo shows the Atlas and agent access using synthetic data.

- [Demo Atlas · synthetic](https://ux.shipulin.md/demo/insights)
- [Demo MCP · synthetic](https://ux.shipulin.md/demo/connect)

#### Grounded / LLM Survey Analyzer

Date not specified

Built an AI tool for open-response coding with categories, explanations and a second-model check.

- [Project story](https://shipulin.md/en/projects/grounded/)
- [Telegram bot →](https://t.me/grounded_en_bot)

#### Bot Voyage

Date not specified

Location-based tours that help people notice unusual places around them.

Geofenced “environmental awareness” tours in the style of Atlas Obscura.

- [Project story](https://shipulin.md/en/projects/bot-voyage/)

### Scale and context

Numbers with dates and a clear scope.

My UX practice dates to 2014. Fieldwork markets include Russia, Qazaqstan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and the US.

Grounded: the author’s August 2026 usage report records 7,202,087 processed responses and 5,616 runs.

The Tone-of-Voice study involved 200 paired answers and 64 users.

### Hackathons

Prototypes, teamwork and testable decisions.

FlowTwin won the Google DeepMind track at RAISE Summit Hackathon 2026 as a team project. I owned the codebase through agentic coding; the prototype used live open data.

Other hackathon prototypes include the Eidetic voice research agent, TO-DO ESCROW and AI Craft for multi-agent furniture sourcing.

#### Telegram Hackathon · Paris

2024

TO-DO ESCROW: a team accountability-escrow prototype; 1st place at Telegram TON Paris Hackathon 2024.

#### Mistral Hackathon · Paris

2026

Eidetic · shortlisted; a voice research agent adapting its protocol mid-study.

#### RAISE Summit Hackathon · Paris

4–5 Jul 2026

FlowTwin: a team prototype for emergency-care capacity management using open data. Team winner in the Google DeepMind track.

I owned the full codebase via agentic coding; the key research decision was live data over synthetic.

- [Project story](https://shipulin.md/en/projects/flowtwin/)
- [Live demo →](https://divine-roch-grounded-bf796e9a.koyeb.app/)
- [Source on GitHub →](https://github.com/shipaleks/raise-hackathon-flowtwin)

#### Anthropic × Motier Ventures hackathon

Date not specified

AI Craft · multi-agent furniture sourcing pipeline.

### Teaching

AI as a practical skill for researchers and teams.

I design and teach sessions on prompt engineering, AI in UX research and building with coding agents.

Practical sessions connect problem framing, product requirements, structured prompts and implementation. Formats include a Python-and-LLM Telegram bot and an AI agent workshop for Yandex leadership.

#### Prompt Engineering programme

Date not specified

Designed and taught a prompt-engineering programme covering problem framing and reusable prompt libraries.

#### AI in UX Research · Yandex Practicum

Date not specified

Authored and taught the course at Yandex Practicum. Run practical workshops on using AI and building with coding agents.

- [AI in UX Research](https://practicum.yandex.ru/user-experience-research/)

#### Agent-coding workshop

Date not specified

Python + LLM → Telegram bot; PRDs, structured prompting and implementation plans for code agents.

### Education

Social psychology and cognitive science.

Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2011–2018. Master’s degree in Social Psychology with a cognitive science focus. My thesis concerned interpersonal relationships in virtual social networks.

#### Lomonosov Moscow State University

2011–2018

Interpersonal relationships in virtual social networks. Cognitive science focus.

Social Psychology · Master’s degree

### Founder

Products of my own, from concept to everyday use.

For Papper, I conceived a product for handwritten to-do lists, designed its interface and brought together ML and iOS engineers. We released the app on the App Store in 2023.

Ad:res began during my student years, applying social-network analysis to brand and civic challenges. In 2017, I worked on Monchegorsk’s urban-revitalisation programme for the city administration.

#### Papper OÜ · Co-Founder

September 2022 — January 2025

Conceived the product, recruited ML and iOS engineers, led design and took the app to an App Store release.

Created and published the Figma design system.

- [Project story](https://shipulin.md/en/projects/papper/)
- [papper.co →](https://papper.co)
- [Figma design system →](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1382855305698901598)
- [GitHub →](https://github.com/shipaleks)

#### Ad:res · co-founded startup

2014–2016

Co-founded as a student, applying social-network analysis to brand and civic challenges.

#### Monchegorsk · urban-revitalisation programme

2017

A programme for the city administration; a keynote at the Tretyakov Gallery in 2017.

Led Monchegorsk’s urban-revitalisation programme for the city administration in 2017: trendsetter mapping and change-forum design.

Keynote at the Tretyakov Gallery, 2017

- [Watch on YouTube →](https://youtu.be/uYLIE6bALsI)

### Method

Choose the method around the question and the decision.

Qualitative methods include interviews, usability studies, ethnographic fieldwork, focus groups and Grounded Theory. I use JTBD and CJM to understand tasks and journeys, alongside eye-tracking and psychometrics.

Quantitative methods include surveys, sampling and quotas, tracking, ANOVA, conjoint analysis and MaxDiff. AI evaluation uses scoring rubrics, blind paired comparisons, longitudinal studies, human-in-the-loop evaluation and LLM-as-judge.

Tools include Dovetail, Figma, Miro and Jira; I work with R, Python and SQL. Automation helps revisit the evidence and check decisions, while the researcher remains responsible for interpretation.

### Colophon

Paris, France.

Professional links and contacts are at the start of this CV. Languages: native Russian, fluent English and French A2.

#### Paris, France

Paris, France

Paris, France

Updated: 2026-10-26

Plain text, ready for your notes or agent.