Lead Service Designer

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority seeks a Lead Service Designer to provide structure across a complex program environment, aligning product workstreams, operations, policy, and frontline experience toward outcomes.

You will develop service blueprints, journey and capability maps, facilitate cross‑functional workshops, and translate insights into actionable plans while ensuring accessibility and regulatory compliance.

Qualifications

• Six (6) years of relevant professional experience in service design, UX design, UX research, or human-centered design.
• Experience leading service design efforts for complex, technology-enabled services.
• Experience planning and conducting service design activities and translating findings into decisions.
• Experience working on cross-functional teams with product, operations, policy, and other stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of accessibility standards and inclusive design practices.
• Experience developing strategic artifacts, frameworks, or recommendations for organizational planning.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain service blueprints, journey maps, capability maps, and other artifacts for shared understanding across teams.
• Facilitate cross-functional workshops to align goals, customer needs, and operational constraints.
• Partner with program leadership to define future-state visions and translate them into actionable plans and priorities.
• Identify risks, dependencies, gaps, and competing priorities, and communicate recommendations for decision-making.
• Synthesize research, operational data, and stakeholder input into clear frameworks guiding strategy and improvements.
• Ensure alignment of product delivery, operations, policy changes, and organizational readiness with desired outcomes.

Skills

Service design

UX design

UX research

Human-centered design

Stakeholder engagement

Systems thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

The Lead Service Designer works to provide structure and clarity across a complex, multi-variable program environment. This role maintains a coherent program-level view across product workstreams, operational realities, policy constraints, and frontline experience, identifying and mapping dependencies and helping the program stay oriented toward outcomes. This role creates the frameworks, maps, and shared understanding that allow diverse partners to move together effectively.

• Develop and maintain service blueprints, journey maps, capability maps, and other strategic artifacts that create a shared understanding of complex services across product, operations, policy, and frontline teams.
• Facilitate cross-functional workshops and collaborative working sessions that build alignment around service goals, customer needs, operational constraints, priorities, and future direction.
• Partner with program leadership, product teams, operational stakeholders, and policy partners to define future-state service visions and translate them into actionable plans and priorities.
• Identify risks, dependencies, gaps, and competing priorities across product, operational, policy, and organizational workstreams, and communicate recommendations that support informed decision-making.
• Synthesize research, operational insights, stakeholder input, and service performance data into clear frameworks and recommendations that guide program strategy and service improvements.
• Ensure product delivery, operational processes, policy changes, and organizational readiness remain aligned to achieve intended customer, business, and program outcomes.
• Develop models, documentation, and planning artifacts that improve program clarity, support prioritization, and enable teams to navigate complex, evolving service environments.
• Provide subject matter expertise through design critiques, mentorship, and collaboration, contributing to service design practices and continuous improvement across the organization.
• Protect data security, privacy, accessibility, and regulatory compliance by following MBTA policies, standards, and industry best practices throughout research, design, documentation, and service delivery.
• Perform all other duties and projects that may be assigned.

Additional responsibilities may include focus on one or more departments or locations. See applicable addendum for department or location specific functions.

Supervision

• No direct reports.

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
• Six (6) years of relevant professional experience in service design, UX design, UX research, human-centered design, or a related field, including experience leading service design efforts for complex, technology-enabled services that integrate customer experiences, operational workflows, policy or business rules, and multiple delivery teams.
• Experience planning and conducting service design activities (e.g., stakeholder engagement, service blueprinting, journey mapping, systems mapping, workshops, or research) and translating findings into program, service, or product decisions.
• Experience working on cross-functional teams with product, engineering, operations, policy, business, or other stakeholder partners.
• Working knowledge of service design methods, systems thinking, accessibility standards, and inclusive design practices.
• Experience developing strategic artifacts, frameworks, or recommendations that support organizational planning, prioritization, or decision‑making.
• As part of the selection process, candidates will be asked to complete and pass job‑related technical assessments, which may include presenting a service design case study and/or a timed whiteboarding exercise.

Substitutions

• A high school diploma or GED with an additional seven (7) years of directly related experience substitutes for the bachelor’s degree requirement.
• An associate’s degree from an accredited institution and an additional three (3) years of directly related experience substitutes for the bachelor’s degree requirement.
• A master’s degree in a related subject substitutes for two (2) years of general experience.
• A nationally recognized certification, or statewide/professional certification in a related field substitutes for one (1) year of experience.

• Experience in public‑sector, transportation, mobility, or civic technology, including knowledge of transit operations or mobility systems.
• Experience designing products or services that involve complex workflows, operational processes, data flows, policies, or business rules. Experience conducting research with diverse populations, including older adults, people with disabilities, non‑English speakers.
• Experience using qualitative research, analytics, operational data, or performance metrics to inform design decisions.
• Experience mentoring or coaching other designers or providing design guidance to cross‑functional teams.