Human Centered Design Engineer

WRS Health; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

WRS Health seeks a Human-Centered Design Engineer to bridge user needs and technical execution. You will lead qualitative research, map journeys, build interactive prototypes, and run usability tests to ensure our EMR and practice management tools are intuitive and safe for physicians, staff, and patients.

Ideal candidates have 3–6+ years in HCD/UX with a portfolio demonstrating end-to-end research, prototyping, and measurable impact, plus strong collaboration in Agile environments.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's in HCD, Human-Factors, or related field.
• 3–6+ years in HCD, UX design, or user research in enterprise or regulated industries.
• Proficiency in prototyping software (Figma/Sketch/Adobe XD) and qualitative research.
• Experience with accessibility standards (WCAG, Section 508) and HIPAA-safe practices.
• Strong empathy, storytelling, analytical skills; defend design decisions with data.
• A portfolio or case studies with end-to-end research and outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Conduct contextual inquiries, interviews, field observations, and surveys with users to uncover needs.
• Translate research into personas, journey maps, and system workflows.
• Prototype interactive designs in Figma/Sketch/Adobe XD and test with users.
• Plan and moderate usability tests; ensure safety-critical workflows are compliant.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and analysts in Agile/Scrum; ensure accessibility and HIPAA practices.
• Lead and mentor designers and researchers to scale the HCD practice.

Skills

Empathy

Verbal storytelling

Analytical problem-solving

Communication

Agile/Scrum

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in HCD/UX

Tools

Figma

Sketch

Adobe XD

Job description

Company Overview

Voted #1 EHR by PC Mag, WRS Health delivers a fully integrated cloud based EMR and practice management solutions to its clients. We bring solutions to physicians by providing constant enhancement of our products and services including EHR, practice management, marketing, patient coordination and billing.

Job Overview

We are seeking a Human-Centered Design (HCD) Engineer to bridge the gap between user needs and technical execution. You will lead qualitative research, map user journeys, build interactive prototypes, and run usability tests to ensure our products are intuitive, accessible, and impactful for the physicians, clinical staff, billers, front-desk teams, and patients who rely on them every day. In a clinical setting, a confusing screen costs a provider time, adds to burnout, and can affect patient safety, so this role carries real weight. You will thrive here if you love sitting with users in their actual workflows, can turn messy observations into clear direction, and can defend design decisions with evidence.

Key Responsibilities

User Research

• Conduct contextual inquiries, interviews, field observations, and surveys with physicians, clinical staff, billers, and patients to uncover explicit and latent needs.
• Partner with account managers and support teams to surface usability pain points from client feedback and support tickets.

Synthesis & Strategy

• Translate research into personas, journey maps, service blueprints, and system workflows across clinical, operational, and billing processes.
• Present insights to product and executive leadership to shape roadmap priorities.

Ideation & Prototyping

• Facilitate cross-functional design workshops and build low- to high-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototypes in Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD.
• Design AI-powered features (AI charting, AI agents) that keep clinicians in control and make AI output easy to review and correct.

Usability Testing

• Plan, moderate, and analyze formative and summative usability tests to iterate on designs before and during development.
• Evaluate safety-critical workflows such as medication management and e-prescribing, and support ONC Safety-Enhanced Design testing.

Collaboration & Governance

• Partner with product managers, business analysts, and engineers in Agile/Scrum teams to maintain design integrity from concept through release.
• Uphold accessibility standards (WCAG, Section 508) and HIPAA-safe research practices across all products.

Leadership

• Build and scale WRS Health's HCD practice, including research operations, templates, and standards.
• Mentor designers and researchers, and coach teammates on human-centered methods.

Qualifications

Required

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human-Centered Design, Human-Factors Engineering, Interaction Design, Cognitive Psychology, or a related field.
• Experience: 3 to 6+ years of professional experience in HCD, UX design, or user research, including enterprise or regulated-industry experience.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in prototyping software (Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD), qualitative research methodologies, usability testing frameworks, and Agile/Scrum delivery flows.
• Accessibility: Working knowledge of Section 508 and WCAG standards and how to apply them in practice.
• Core Competencies: Strong empathy, verbal storytelling, analytical problem-solving, and the ability to defend design decisions with data.
• A portfolio or case studies demonstrating end-to-end research, synthesis, prototyping, and measurable impact.

Preferred

• Experience designing for EHR, practice management, revenue cycle, telehealth, or other health IT products.
• Familiarity with clinical workflows and terminology across ambulatory specialties.
• Knowledge of ONC Safety-Enhanced Design (user-centered design and summative testing) requirements, NISTIR 7804, or ISO 9241-210.
• Experience designing AI-assisted or automation features, including human-in-the-loop review patterns.
• Prior experience leading or mentoring designers/researchers, or building a design function from the ground up.
• Experience with remote research and unmoderated testing tools and product analytics platforms.
• Clinical background or prior work in a medical practice setting.

A Day in the Life

Your days move between the field, the whiteboard, and the prototype. You might start by joining the product team's stand-up to flag a research insight affecting an upcoming sprint, then sit in (virtually or on-site) with a specialty practice to watch how the front desk, medical assistants, and physicians actually work, noting the workarounds they've built and where the screens slow them down. Later, you could be synthesizing those observations into an updated journey map, facilitating a workshop with product managers, engineers, and billing specialists to sketch solutions, or moderating a usability test of a new AI charting feature to see how a clinician reviews and trusts AI-drafted notes. Before the day ends, you refine prototypes in Figma based on what you learned, check designs against accessibility standards, share prioritized recommendations with product leadership, and make time to coach the designers and researchers on your team.

Success Metrics

• Measurable usability gains: Improved task success rates, time-on-task, error rates, and System Usability Scale (SUS) scores for redesigned workflows, including fewer clicks and less documentation time for key clinical tasks.
• Research-driven roadmap: Consistent monthly contact with users across specialties, with a clear, visible share of roadmap items originating from or validated by HCD research.
• Fewer usability issues post-release: Decline in usability-related support tickets, rework, and post-launch design defects.
• Accessibility and certification compliance: New and updated features meet WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA and Section 508 standards at release, and ONC Safety-Enhanced Design documentation is completed on time.
• Adoption and satisfaction: Higher feature adoption (including AI features) and improved client satisfaction or NPS for redesigned areas.

Job Details

• Job Type: Full-time | Independent Contractor
• Location: Remote
• Hours: Must be available during standard US business hours (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST or 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM EST)

Compensation will be based on location, experience, and qualifications.

This job description outlines the general responsibilities of the role and is not exhaustive. Additional duties may be assigned as needed to support business operations.

WRS Health is an equal opportunity employer.