Senior Service Designer

Steampunk; Bloomington (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Steampunk seeks a Senior Service Designer to direct the human-centered design practice behind a large federal IT strategy and modernization advisory program, leading the initial strategy engagement and setting standards across all workstreams.

You will facilitate discovery with CIO leadership, build key strategy artifacts, and mentor multidisciplinary teams to deliver executive-level reporting and outcomes.

Qualifications

• U.S. government security clearance required.
• Bachelor's degree and 12+ years total experience.
• 10+ years leading HCD or strategy consulting engagements.
• Experience building stakeholder maps and personas.
• Proven Agile-based delivery cadences for strategy/advisory work.
• Strong executive facilitation and written/verbal communication skills.
• Willingness to travel to client site at least 2 days/week in Baltimore area.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate HCD-led discovery to develop initial IT strategy.
• Develop and maintain a baselined Strategy Implementation Plan.
• Build ecosystem maps, personas, and living stakeholder map.
• Lead co-creation sessions to jointly own strategy pillars and criteria.
• Define, track, and report outcome metrics for strategy execution.
• Plan and execute high-visibility strategy launch and engagement events.
• Deliver monthly portfolio/status reports and quarterly/annual performance reporting.
• Set practice standards for HCD/design across the program.
• Lead and mentor design, communications, workforce, and change-management practitioners.

Skills

Security clearance

HCD leadership

Stakeholder maps

Personas

Strategy artifacts

Agile cadence

Team leadership

Executive facilitation

Communication

Baltimore area

Education

Bachelor's degree + 12+ years experience

Job description

Overview

Steampunk is seeking a Senior Service Designer to direct the human-centered design practice behind a large federal IT strategy and modernization advisory program, personally leading the initial strategy engagement and setting practice standards across all related workstreams.

Contributions

• Facilitate HCD-led discovery with client CIO leadership and stakeholders to develop an initial IT strategy
• Develop and maintain a baselined Strategy Implementation Plan
• Build ecosystem maps, personas, and a living stakeholder map to ground strategy in evidence rather than assumption
• Lead co-creation sessions with client leadership so strategy pillars and investment-alignment criteria are jointly owned, not handed down
• Define, track, and report outcome metrics that measure strategy execution and stakeholder-facing service delivery
• Plan and execute high-visibility strategy launch and engagement events
• Deliver monthly portfolio status reports, quarterly performance reports with root cause analysis, semi-annual strategic assessments, and an Annual Value Delivery Assessment
• Set practice standards for HCD/design methodology applied across the program's communications, workforce, and training workstreams
• Lead and mentor the design, communications, workforce, and change-management practitioners assigned to the program, ensuring consistent methodology and quality across their deliverables

Qualifications

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance
• Bachelor's degree and 12+ years of total experience
• 10+ years of experience leading human-centered design or strategy consulting engagements, including facilitation of executive-level design workshops
• Demonstrated experience building stakeholder maps, personas, and strategy artifacts that translate research into executive decision-making
• Experience running Agile-based delivery cadences (PI planning, sprint reviews, retrospectives) for strategy or advisory work
• Demonstrated experience leading and mentoring multidisciplinary design or research teams
• Strong executive facilitation and co-creation session leadership skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience producing executive-level strategic reporting
• Local to Baltimore, MD metro area and willing to go on client site at least 2 days a week

Bonus Points:

• Experience leading strategy engagements for a federal or other large regulated enterprise client
• Experience building outcome-metric frameworks tied to executive reporting
• Recognized design-thinking/HCD training or credential (e.g., LUMA Institute, IDEO U, NN/g)

About steampunk

Steampunk relies on several factors to determine salary, including but not limited to geographic location, contractual requirements, education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience. The projected compensation range for this position is $120,000 to $180,000. The estimate displayed represents a typical annual salary range for this position. Annual salary is just one aspect of Steampunk’s total compensation package for this position. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here.

Steampunk is a Change Agent in the Federal contracting industry, bringing new thinking to clients in the Homeland, Federal Civilian, Health and DoD sectors. Through ourDesign Intelligence process, we are fundamentally changing the expectations our Federal clients have for true shared accountability in solving their toughest mission challenges.If you want to learn more about our story, visit http://www.steampunk.com.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.Steampunk participates in the E-Verify program.