Human Centered Design Researcher Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Job Description 

Tria Federal is seeking a Senior Product Designer to guide human-centered design efforts for a new product team supporting a large-scale federal healthcare modernization initiative. 

This role will serve as the design lead embedded within a product team, responsible for integrating design thinking and human-centered practices directly into the software development lifecycle. You will help ensure that user needs, operational workflows, and regulatory requirements are clearly understood and reflected in product decisions from discovery through delivery. 

This role requires a T-shaped design leader who can lead both research and design activities while collaborating closely with specialists across the broader Human Experience team. The ideal candidate is comfortable planning and conducting research when needed, synthesizing insights into actionable design direction, and translating those insights into intuitive product experiences. 

You will work closely with UX researchers, designers, product managers, and engineers to ensure user insights and human-centered design practices shape product decisions across the delivery lifecycle. In addition to driving design for your product team, you will collaborate with designers and researchers across the program to ensure consistent experience quality, shared design practices, and alignment across multiple product teams. As part of Tria's Human Experience Practice, you will also contribute to the continued evolution of modern, AI-augmented human-centered design capabilities within federal digital services. 

Must be a U.S. Citizen due to federal security clearance requirements. 

Responsibilities 

• Product Team Design Leadership 
  • Serve as the primary UX design lead embedded within a product team. 
  • Integrate design, discovery, and usability considerations directly into Agile product development processes. 
  • Translate complex regulatory, operational, and business requirements into usable interaction models and product workflows. 
  • Lead the creation and iteration of user flows, information architecture, wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, interactive prototypes, journey maps, and service blueprints. 
  • Collaborate closely with product managers and engineers to clarify requirements, reduce ambiguity, and support informed product decisions. 
  • Ensure user needs and research insights are incorporated into backlog refinement, sprint planning, and roadmap conversations. 
  • Design solutions that support accessibility, equity, and compliance with Section 508 and WCAG standards. 
  • Evaluate implemented solutions to ensure alignment with design intent and usability best practices. 
  • Identify opportunities to improve usability, reduce administrative burden, and streamline complex professional workflows. 
• Research and Design Leadership 
  • Lead discovery and research activities to better understand user needs, workflows, and operational challenges. 
  • Plan and facilitate research methods such as user interviews, usability testing, workflow analysis, and concept validation sessions. 
  • Synthesize research insights into clear design opportunities and product recommendations. 
  • Translate research findings into experience concepts, interaction models, product workflows, and prototype solutions. 
  • Collaborate with UX researchers when specialized or large-scale research initiatives are required. 
  • Ensure research insights are incorporated into design decisions, backlog refinement, and product roadmap conversations. 
  • Guide teams in connecting research insights to product decisions and design direction. 
• Cross-Team Collaboration 
  • Collaborate with UX researchers to incorporate user insights into product design decisions. 
  • Partner with specialized UX researchers, designers, and analytics teams across the program to coordinate research efforts and ensure insights inform product design decisions. 
  • Work closely with other designers across the program to ensure consistency and alignment across products. 
  • Contribute to the development and adoption of shared design systems and reusable experience patterns. 
  • Help establish best practices for integrating human-centered design into Agile delivery environments. 
  • Support alignment across multiple product teams by sharing insights, patterns, and lessons learned. 
  • Mentor junior designers or product team members in design thinking and human-centered practices. 
• HX Practice Contribution 
  • Help mature Tria's human-centered design capabilities across programs. 
  • Contribute to reusable frameworks, playbooks, templates, and design practices. 
  • Participate in internal knowledge-sharing forums and communities of practice. 
  • Support proposal efforts and solution shaping related to digital transformation and human-centered design. 
  • Help position Tria as a leader in modern, AI-augmented human experience delivery within the federal space. 

Required Qualifications 

• 7+ years of experience in UX design, product design, human-centered design, or related disciplines. 
• Demonstrated experience leading design efforts for complex digital products or enterprise systems. 
• Demonstrated ability to lead both research and design activities across the product lifecycle. 
• Experience collaborating with specialized research, analytics, or design teams within large product organizations. 
• Experience working within Agile development environments and collaborating closely with product and engineering teams. 
• Strong expertise in interaction design, information architecture, and workflow design. 
• Proficiency in modern design tools such as Figma and collaboration tools such as Miro or FigJam. 
• Experience translating complex business, policy, or regulatory requirements into usable digital experiences. 
• Knowledge of accessibility compliance including Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 or higher. 
• Strong facilitation and communication skills with the ability to engage both technical teams and stakeholders. 
• Experience contributing to or maintaining design systems. 
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance. 
• U.S. Citizenship required. 

AI-Enabled Design Capabilities (Baseline Requirement) 

• Using AI tools to accelerate design workflows, including ideation, wireframe exploration, and documentation. 
• Leveraging generative AI to support design artifacts such as user flows, interaction concepts, and usability test materials. 
• Applying AI responsibly within design processes while maintaining privacy, ethical standards, and human judgment. 
• Designing AI-enabled and agentic experiences with attention to trust, transparency, explainability, and human oversight. 
• Evaluating AI-driven features and workflow automation systems from a usability and risk perspective. 

This role does not require machine learning engineering expertise but does require comfort working in AI-enabled environments and curiosity about how AI transforms experience design. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience supporting federal healthcare modernization initiatives. 
• Experience designing systems used by healthcare professionals or administrative staff. 
• Experience designing enterprise workflow systems, reporting systems, or operational dashboards. 
• Experience designing AI-enabled tools, decision-support systems, or workflow automation platforms. 
• Experience contributing to DesignOps, ResearchOps, or internal capability development. 
• Familiarity with tools such as Figma, Miro, Dovetail, UserTesting, Optimal Workshop, or similar platforms. 

Impact You'll Make 

• Improve usability and efficiency for complex healthcare reporting and administrative workflows. 
• Ensure accessible and equitable digital services for diverse user populations. 
• Help integrate human-centered design more deeply into federal digital service delivery. 
• Influence product decisions through thoughtful design leadership and collaboration. 
• Advance Tria's Human Experience Practice as a leader in mission-driven digital experience delivery.