Remote Senior Designer — IA & User Research Lead

Ad Hoc LLC; McLean (VA); Remote; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company-subsidized health, dental, and

Flexible PTO

401K with employer match

Paid parental leave

Employee Assistance Program

Job summary

Ad Hoc LLC is seeking a Senior Designer to lead information architecture, user research and product design for a large, content-rich portal serving public-sector customers. You will work with government stakeholders, product teams and external partners, shaping the long-term user experience with minimal oversight.

You will mentor teammates, contribute to the design system and ensure accessibility, while collaborating across design, product, engineering and leadership to deliver high‑impact

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 7+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience conducting and applying user research within digital products or services.
• Experience planning, conducting, and synthesizing qualitative and quantitative research.
• 2+ years of experience focused on information architecture or equivalent responsibilities, with a portfolio demonstrating work such as site maps, navigation structures, user flows, taxonomy, and wireframes.
• Experience designing for a large, complex, or content-rich website, application, or digital portal.
• Experience working within an established design system.
• Strong ability to translate research findings, analytics, user needs, and complex requirements into actionable design recommendations.
• Experience presenting work to senior client or stakeholder audiences and articulating the rationale behind design decisions.
• Experience mentoring or providing design guidance to other team members.
• Proficiency with modern design and collaboration tools such as Figma, Miro, or similar platforms.
• Understanding of accessible and inclusive design practices.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the portal's information architecture, including navigation, site maps, page hierarchy, labeling, taxonomy, and user flows.
• Lead information architecture efforts for high-traffic pages, features, and cross-portal initiatives, evaluating how changes may affect the broader user experience.
• Partner with external teams to ensure the portal's information architecture aligns with enterprise standards and related digital experiences.
• Plan and conduct user research to inform information architecture and design decisions, including usability testing, tree testing, card sorting, and generative research when appropriate.
• Synthesize qualitative and quantitative data, including user research, analytics, feedback surveys, and other inputs, into clear findings and actionable recommendations.
• Create and maintain information architecture and design deliverables, including site maps, user flows, wireframes, concepts, and prototypes.
• Translate complex user, content, and business needs into clear, intuitive experiences.
• Present research findings, design rationale, and recommendations to government stakeholders and product teams in a clear and compelling way.
• Incorporate users with disabilities into research and apply accessibility principles, including Section 508 and WCAG, throughout information architecture and design decisions.
• Contribute design work within an established design system, from early concepts and low-fidelity wireframes through higher-fidelity prototypes.
• Build strong working relationships across design, product, engineering, program leadership, government stakeholders, and external teams.
• Navigate ambiguity, evolving requirements, and complex stakeholder environments while maintaining progress toward delivery.
• Identify design, research, and delivery risks, communicate them proactively, and recommend practical mitigations.
• Coach and mentor other team members through actionable feedback, knowledge sharing, and design collaboration.
• Support the hiring process by reviewing candidate exercises and participating in panel interviews

Skills

Information architecture

User research

Design systems

Figma

Miro

Mentoring

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

7+ years experience

Tools

Figma

Miro

Design system

Job description

Ad Hoc LLC is seeking a Senior Designer to lead information architecture, user research and product design for a large, content-rich portal serving public-sector customers. You will work with government stakeholders, product teams and external partners, shaping the long-term user experience with minimal oversight.

You will mentor teammates, contribute to the design system and ensure accessibility, while collaborating across design, product, engineering and leadership to deliver high‑impact