Senior Service Designer

Overview

Are you seeking to make an impact? We are looking for a Senior (Sr.) Service Designer to be the design lead on a cross-functional team. In your work and through your design leadership you will improve customer experiences for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In this position, you will be working in a small, cross-functional team of Designers, Product Managers, Data specialists and Engineers alongside government experts to enhance the utilization of Veteran feedback data and related information across the VA. By focusing on specific jobs to be done, you will aid in streamlining processes, fostering personalized experiences for VA staff, and ultimately improve outcomes for Veterans.

If you have experience integrating HCD practices into the deployment of impactful, scalable digital services and enjoy simplifying complexity into intuitive experiences, we’d love to hear from you.

Successful candidates will have a track-record of building and sustaining high-performing design teams at scale. The willingness to dive in and build new systems and processes, sometimes from scratch, is essential, as is leading through uncertainty with influence within a matrixed environment. Previous experience working in a client services organization (i.e., consulting or a digital agency) is helpful but not required. A passion for our mission and civic design is a must-have.

This is a contractor role with a required term of approximately 15 weeks.

What You’ll Do

• Program/Project Leadership: Lead and manage complex projects, integrating service design practices smoothly. Develop CX strategies at the program/project level to align user needs, business goals, and technical capabilities for outstanding user experiences.
• Client Engagement: Act the main point of contact for clients regarding service design. Present and defend design decisions, collaborate closely to understand client needs, offer strategic insights, and ensure design solutions align with their objectives.
• User-Centric Discovery: Implement diverse discovery methods to uncover deep insights into customer behaviors, desires, and pain points. Use these insights to shape service and UX design strategies effectively.
• Prototyping and Testing: Lead the co-design, testing, and iteration of low and high-fidelity prototypes to validate assumptions, uncover design opportunities, and deliver solutions that resonate with people (customers).
• Design System Implementation: Collaborate with product, design, and development teams to implement designs successfully, ensuring consistency and accessibility across civic tech products.
• Metrics and Impact Analysis: Utilize data-driven insights to analyze the effectiveness and impact of design solutions, driving continuous improvement and innovation.
• Mentorship and Design Leadership: Provide guidance and mentorship to junior designers. Advocate for customer-centered design principles and practices with clients and stakeholders.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience: Industry experience of at least 4 years in customer experience and software development, preferably with PaaS and SaaS involvement.
• Passion for Social Impact: Commitment to social impact design, demonstrated through past projects and initiatives.
• People Advocacy: Track record of advocating for people (customers/users), including expertise in accessibility standards like Section 508 and understanding of user research challenges in public sector and healthcare domains (e.g., PRA, HIPAA).
• Leadership in Service Design: History of exceptional leadership in service design, contributing to experience strategies, UX design, and data visualization that drive both user satisfaction and business outcomes.
• Research Skills: Proficiency in conducting research across various problem spaces, utilizing design research and strategic thinking for framing opportunities, as well as employing co-creation, CX, and UX research and testing for product optimization.
• Organizational Skills: Excellent organizational abilities, enabling seamless management of complex engagements in fast-paced environments.
• Collaborative Leadership: Strong leadership qualities coupled with effective collaboration skills, encompassing articulate verbal, non-verbal, and written communication.
• Experience working with the federal government (VA experience preferred).
• All MO leaders are expected to lead with humility, embody our core values in their leadership, and to hold their team accountable to the same. MO leaders are expected to ensure we are always growing by tackling hard problems, being strategic, and learning from others.
• For your application, please include a portfolio or case studies that showcase your expertise in delivering impactful design solutions, complex project leadership, and strategic design thinking.

Perks

• A fun, dynamic working environment with an energetic and diverse team
• A REMOTE first work environment
• An inclusive culture where everyone is welcome
• Competitive compensation commensurate with experience
• Opportunities for ongoing engagement