Character Designer Jobs in Reston, VA (NOW HIRING)

As a Senior Service Designer, you will be responsible for guiding government clients through our Design Intelligence™ framework, incorporating human-centered methods to solve end-to-end organization and experience challenges. You will lead development and execution of User Experience (UX) strategies to enhance how people interact effectively with websites, mobile applications, and digital tools. You will apply the latest design methods and technology tools and trend to enhance the overall customer experience (CX) to engage and inspire people seeking lawful immigration.

• Manage the design team as well as design activities related to planning, prioritization, and decision making
• Lead and conduct  user research and usability testing and translate those results into designs that will improve products in an iterative fashion with other designers, product managers, and engineers
• Participate in all aspects of discovery to understand: client mission and goals; stakeholders, users and their ecosystems; current state journeys; user segments; program and project objectives 
• Conduct workshops and interviews to frame pain points and opportunities; define problem statements and validate hypotheses 
• Lead discovery of user needs into concepts, personas, user journeys, information architecture, user flows, wireframes, and visual design prototypes with other designers, product managers, and engineers
• Develop low-fidelity and high-fidelity service blueprints and journey maps to visualize end-to-end user experiences, identify pain points, and collaborate with product owners, product managers, other designers, and engineers to shape service improvements that align with user and business needs
• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration by bridging communication between product owners, designers, engineers, and client stakeholders, ensuring that service concepts are both desirable for users and feasible for technical implementation
• Design and iterate on service prototyping using Figma and other tools to test, validate, and refine workflows, integrating feedback from usability research, stakeholder input, and real-world testing
• Ensure human-centered design principles and consistency across service touchpoint and digital experiences
• Lead user research and stakeholder engagement to gather insights, conduct co-creation workshops, and translate findings into actionable recommendations that enhance service experience
• Collaborate with product managers, other designers, software developers, and client product owners to ensure that designs are properly implemented, regularly tested with users, and iteratively improved on
• Balance user needs with product manager priorities and technical feasibility to drive measurable results
• Provide plain language content strategy to facilitate an easy-to-understand user experience that simplifies complex processes for users who may not be native English speakers
• Synthesize research and data to communicate insights and make recommendations that will shape mission/program strategy, service and workflow
• Communicate stakeholder and user needs and collaborate on a cross functional team within an agile environment 
• Understand and embrace the specifications and constraints of a given technology, platform and/or operational environment and understand how research should be integrated into technological considerations 

• Ability to obtain a U.S. government Public Trust Security Clearance 
• 10+ years of experience in human centered design, service design, and/or customer experience design, translating user needs into concepts, personas, user journeys, information architecture, user flows, wireframes and visual design prototypes 
• 5+ years of experience managing a design team as well as design-related planning, prioritization, and decision making
• Proficiency in design tools: Sketch, Mural, Figma, InVision, and Adobe Creative Suite 
• Current portfolio demonstrating ideology, methods, tools, skills, and craft 
• Thorough knowledge and demonstrated experience conducting primary and secondary research including stakeholder and user interviews, design-thinking and co-creation workshops and applying those insights to personas, journey maps, process maps, ecosystem maps, roadmaps, stakeholder maps, and service blueprints
• Ability to think strategically and holistically and connect dots across multiple workstreams, stakeholder groups, and ecosystems
• Experience working on a scrum team within the Agile delivery framework and experience integrating research and design into technical sprints including writing stories and story pointing
• Desire to keep pace with ever-changing industry tools and best practices with the ability to make recommendations as needed for the best outcome 
• Experience collaborating within a multi-disciplinary delivery team including UX/UI designers, technologists, data scientists, engineers, solution architects, and change managers
• A natural curiosity for solving problems coupled with strong analytical skills 
• A collaborative nature with excellent written communication and presentation skills 
• Experience working in a project-based environment 
• Degree or equivalent experience in HCD, and/or service design   

Bonus Points 

• Previous work experience in or with the federal government 
• Previous work experience as a consultant 
• Experience transforming paper-based processes into and optimized digitally native workflow and experience

AboutSteampunk 

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 employees. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here. 

Identity Statement

As part of the application process, you are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

Steampunk is aChange Agentin 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. As anemployee owned company, we focus on investing in our employees to enable them to do the greatest work of their careers – and rewarding them for outstanding contributions to our growth. 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.