Donal O'Mahony, Career Coach and Product Design Mentor in Dublin, Ireland

Transformational Coach, Mentor & Advisor

Helping people and teams move from where they are, to where they want to be.

I’m a product and user experience leader with over 20 years in tech, SaaS, and creative industries. I’ve built and led teams across Ireland, Europe, NZ and the US through transformation - from the dot-com shift to the AI era.

Now, I bring that experience into coaching, mentoring, product and advisory work. I work with individuals and teams who want to find clarity, confidence, and fulfilment through change - whether that’s a career crossroads, AI disruption, or the next big chapter for their company.

About me

I have spent my career at the intersection of creativity, people, and technology - from composing film soundtracks to leading global design and product teams. Along the way, I’ve seen every kind of transformation: dot-com crashes, acquisitions, AI revolutions, and leadership transitions.

What’s stayed constant is my fascination with human potential - how people adapt, reconnect, and rediscover purpose. That’s what coaching, mentoring, and advisory work are really about.

I believe that:

  • Everyone is creative, capable, and resourceful.

  • Progress in one area of life lifts the rest.

  • Collaboration and humour make growth sustainable.

  • Leadership starts with awareness, empathy, and trust.

My professional background:

I’ve led design, research, and UX organisations at Verizon, HMH, Fleetmatics, Riverdeep, and Contentful, helping teams navigate global scale, acquisitions, and AI-driven transformation.

I hold a B.Sc. in Management, two M.Sc. degrees (Digital Media and UX) and a Professional Diploma in Coaching & Mentoring.

Cartoon sketch illustration of Donal O'Mahony Product Design Leader, coach & mentor

Coaching

Transformational Coaching for Life, Work, and Fulfilment

Coaching is about helping you get unstuck - moving from reaction and burnout to energy and creative flow.

Many of my clients come to coaching during times of stress or transition: layoffs, leadership changes, AI uncertainty, or simply a loss of fun and purpose in their work. Together, we design your next chapter around what truly matters to you and what you can truly control and influence.

We’ll explore the big questions - Who am I becoming? What energises me? What do I want to create? and turn them into tangible next steps.

The Coaching Journey

1. See Your Patterns & Map Your Path Forward

We make the invisible visible. Through visual mapping and reflection, you’ll identify recurring patterns, hidden strengths, and unspoken blockers. You’ll begin to see your career or leadership story as a connected journey - not a series of disconnected roles.

2. Build from Fun, Momentum & Solutions

Rather than fixating on what’s broken, we’ll amplify what gives you energy. You’ll rediscover confidence and motivation by focusing on strengths and possibilities, not problems.

3. Design Your Next Chapter

We’ll creatively prototype your future - testing ideas, exploring options, and designing tangible next steps. You’ll walk away with clarity on what you can control, a roadmap for change, and excitement about what’s ahead.

Who it’s for:

  • Mid-career professionals feeling stuck or burnt out.

  • Leaders managing through uncertainty or redundancy cycles.

  • Anyone seeking balance, clarity, and renewed purpose.

Contact
A man standing in front of a presentation slide titled 'Cheesy Summary' which lists five points about change, with a small image of a piece of cheese in the bottom right corner.

Mentoring

For Product and Tech Professionals

I’ve mentored product and UX professionals for over 15 years - from emerging designers and PMs to Finance and Tech VPs.

My mentoring is not about advice from above; it’s a collaborative partnership that blends coaching insight with hands-on product experience.

We focus on topics like:

  • Navigating leadership transitions or team growth.

  • Building trust, influence, and design maturity.

  • Communicating strategy and purpose clearly.

  • Leading creative teams through transformation.

It’s grounded in empathy, storytelling, and practical design leadership - shaped by my own experience scaling teams across continents.

Contact
People in a room with colorful cartoon posters on the wall, including characters from The Muppets, Sesame Street, and other animated shows. One person is speaking while others listen.

Advisory roles in an Age of Change

I help leadership teams create clarity around customer focus, product direction, and customer centred design culture.
Having led through multiple waves of disruption - from dot-com to generative AI - I bring a calm, strategic, and human-centred approach to transformation.

Focus areas:
- Building or augmenting design and product teams
- Integrating AI, UX and human-centred innovation
- Aligning leadership, culture, and customer value

Public Speaking

I’ve presented at conferences such as Google IO, Makers conference & UXDX. My talks combine storytelling with practical frameworks to help audiences navigate uncertainty and lead with confidence - especially in the midst of rapid technological change.

Topics include:
- Leading through disruption
- The human side of AI and design
- Finding purpose through transformation

Get in touch

If any of this resonates, let’s have a chat.


Whether it’s exploring coaching, mentoring, or a collaboration, I’d love to connect.

You can use the meeting scheduler to book a call at a time that suits you.

Or alternatively you can just drop me an email 👉 here 👈

“Whether you think you can,

or you cannot,

you are right”

Henry Ford

FAQs

  • Sessions are 60 minutes and can be conducted via Zoom, in person (Dublin), or in the wild such as walking or coffee chats.

  • Thre is a wide array of tools that we can use but here are some of my favourites:

    • Wheel of Life: A visual tool to assess balance across key life or career areas.

    • SOAR: Focuses on your Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and measurable Results to build a positive growth plan.

    • Positive Psychology: Evidence-based practices that build resilience, optimism, gratitude and motivation.

    • Force Field Analysis: Helps you weigh driving and restraining forces around a change to plan effective action.

    • Journey Mapping: Visualising your career or life path to identify key milestones and future possibilities.

  • Coaching is a collaborative process focused on your growth, clarity, and accountability, often using tools like GROW, journey mapping and positive psychology.

    Mentoring offers targeted guidance based on lived & shared experience, in my case especially tailored for creative, UX, product management, and software professionals.

  • I coach anyone, across all industries and roles who want to grow, pivot, or find clarity.

    Mentoring is more specialised for creative industries, UX designers, product management, I coach professionals across industries and roles who want to grow, pivot, or find clarity.

Donal Coaching Ireland - Wheel of Life