UX Design Lead

Gofractional; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Self managed PTO / Unlimited PTO

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

Employer paid life insurance

Competitive and equitable salary

Job summary

Gofractional is seeking an experienced UX Design Lead for the Veteran Affairs Benefits program. The role is remote, contract to hire (2 months), with compensation ranging from $135,000 to $155,000 per year.

You will guide end-to-end product design, conduct discovery research, and align design work with VA.gov and VAHB app standards. A portfolio is required, and US citizenship plus security clearance considerations apply.

Qualifications

• At least 5 years experience in end to end product design including baseline user and concept testing.
• A self starter, able to dive into complex systems and autonomously create clarity for the design team on specific sections of the tax code.
• Experience working closely with cross functional design, product, and engineering teams and communicating user needs and design decisions across them.
• Detail oriented and reliable supported by a curious mindset that drives user knowledge and product clarity.
• Highly collaborative with a strategic mindset that helps build meaningful collaboration across stakeholders and assess tradeoffs against short and long term needs.
• Ability to take initiative to proactively (without being asked) and independently survey project and stakeholder needs, and communicate, suggest, collaborate, and execute on methods that will both ensure the scoped work is completed and also hone in on improvements moving forward.

Responsibilities

• Performing desk research in discovery phases to understand user needs, business needs, policies, and processes.
• Ensure research and design work aligns with product prioritization.
• Ensure product designers and researchers are properly staffed to the program, depending on project needs.
• Execute on delivery of human-centered design, service design, and research deliverables that align with standards set by VA, for both VA.gov and the VAHB mobile app.
• Ensure quality and compliance with VA.gov standards for human-centered design, service design, and research deliverables across scrum teams.
• Ensure design solutions are achievable with any uncovered technical constraints.
• Mentor human-centered designers and researchers as needed to support quality and timely deliverables.
• Ensure design and research work considers both the Veteran and employee experience, as relevant to project needs.
• Improve upon and implement documentation practices to ensure design decisions and deliverables across scrum teams are findable, maintainable, and well organized.
• Improve and facilitate onboarding experience for human centered design (HCD) practitioners across scrum teams.
• Take a complex product and breaking it down into manageable design tasks while guiding and providing constructive feedback to other designer.

Skills

End-to-end product design

Cross-functional collaboration

User research & testing

Communication of user needs

Detail oriented

Independent initiative

Mentoring designers

Job description

UX Design Lead - Veteran Affairs Benefits

Position Type: Contract to Hire (2 months)
Work Arrangement: Remote
Compensation: $135,000 - $155,000 per year

What you'll do

• Performing desk research in discovery phases to understand user needs, business needs, policies, and processes
• Ensure research and design work aligns with product prioritization
• Ensure product designers and researchers are properly staffed to the program, depending on project needs
• Execute on delivery of human-centered design, service design, and research deliverables that align with standards set by VA, for both VA.gov and the VAHB mobile app
• Ensure quality and compliance with VA.gov standards for human-centered design, service design, and research deliverables across scrum teams
• Ensure design solutions are achievable with any uncovered technical constraints
• Mentor human-centered designers and researchers as needed to support quality and timely deliverables
• Ensure design and research work considers both the Veteran and employee experience, as relevant to project needs
• Improve upon and implement documentation practices to ensure design decisions and deliverables across scrum teams are findable, maintainable, and well organized
• Improve and facilitate onboarding experience for human centered design (HCD) practitioners across scrum teams
• Take a complex product and breaking it down into manageable design tasks while guiding and providing constructive feedback to other designer

Required skills

• At least 5 years experience in end to end product design including baseline user and concept testing
• A self starter, able to dive into complex systems and autonomously create clarity for the design team on specific sections of the tax code
• Experience working closely with cross functional design, product, and engineering teams and communicating user needs and design decisions across them
• Detail oriented and reliable supported by a curious mindset that drives user knowledge and product clarity
• Highly collaborative with a strategic mindset that helps build meaningful, collaboration across stakeholders and assess tradeoffs against short and long term needs
• Ability to take initiative to proactively (without being asked) and independently survey project and stakeholder needs, and communicate, suggest, collaborate, and execute on methods that will both ensure the scoped work is completed and also hone in on improvements moving forward

Preferred skills

• Prior experience working in modernizing federal services
• Experience in implementing digital accessibility standards and internationalization
• Understanding, willingness, and/or experience working within AI design tools

Other requirements

• Lived in the United States for at least three (3) of the past five (5) years
• U.S. Citizen
• Applicants selected for this position may have to go through a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements to work and access classified information
• Please include a portfolio with your application. Applications without an online portfolio will not be considered.

Benefits (for FTE conversion)

• Self managed PTO / Unlimited PTO
• Medical, vision, and dental insurance options
• Employer paid life insurance
• Competitive and equitable salary (equal pay for equal work)