User Experience Research Assistant Jobs in Iowa (NOW HIRING)

Remote
The client is seeking a highly skilled, communication-focused Senior UX Designer / Researcher to join our digital modernization team. We are looking for a dedicated user experience and user research specialist. Front-end development skills are entirely optional, though any coding ability serves as a welcome asset.
In this position, you will closely collaborate with our lead UX/Accessibility Architect to scale high-quality digital standards across enterprise initiatives. You will possess specialized UX research capabilities that do not exist on the current team, taking ownership of user testing and UI optimization. This role requires an immediate start to support a high-priority modernization pipeline for the client initiative-advancing a large-scale project phase with tight milestones-with additional cross-agency support for the client and other projects as needed.Purpose
Pure UX research and design role. No coding expected.
Graduates of ISU HCI (Human Computer Interaction) program highly desired.
Primary Focus
UX research
User-centered design
User journey mapping
Wireframes and prototypes
Design recommendations
Accessibility-first design
Design documentation and annotations
Required Skills
Advanced Figma
UX research methodologies
User flow creation
Prototyping
Accessibility (WCAG)
Stakeholder collaboration
Design documentation
Preferred Experience
Heat maps (Crazy Egg, Hotjar, etc.)
Card sorting
Usability testing
Nielsen Norman Group training
Google UX Certification
Formal UX/HCI education
Research Experience Desired:
Heat maps
Crazy Egg or similar analytics tools
Card sorting
User behavior analysis
Data-driven design recommendations
Screening Priorities
UX research experience
Figma proficiency
Accessibility knowledge
Design thinking methodology
Analytics-driven recommendations
No Coding Required
No .NET
No SQL
No front-end development
Core Responsibilities
• User Experience Research: Design, plan, and execute formal user experience research to evaluate complex workflows, ensuring applications are intuitive and efficient for educators and state employees.
• Usability Testing: Moderate hands-on user testing sessions and run usability labs to actively identify and resolve workflow friction.
• Heuristic Evaluation: Audit early layouts and interfaces against usability best practices and design standards.
• User Journey & Persona Mapping: Translate complex district data reporting and environmental workflows into clear, intuitive user journeys and behavioral personas.
• Information Architecture: Structure massive, data-heavy reporting categories logically using techniques like card sorting.
• Accessibility Alignment: Integrate digital accessibility from the ground up, aligning design systems and user research with WCAG standards to ensure digital services are universally accessible to all Iowans.
• Collaborative Design: Partner with our lead Architect to scale technical user experience and research practices across multi-agency initiatives, chatbot interfaces, and global state projects.
• Clear Communication: Collaborate effectively with cross-functional agency teams, product owners, and technical stakeholders to clearly articulate design findings and research data.
• Required Technical Skills & Qualifications
• Senior UX Design Expertise: Extensive experience designing responsive web application interfaces, wireframes, and interactive prototypes.
• Specialized UX Research Skills:
• Demonstrated mastery in moderating user testing sessions, executing usability labs, performing heuristic evaluations, mapping user journeys, and managing information architecture.
• WCAG 2.2 Level AA Mastery: Practical knowledge of implementing WCAG 2.2 Level AA requirements, focus management, keyboard navigation mechanics, and color contrast principles within visual layouts.
• Strong Communicator: Ability to clearly explain user research insights, interface design choices, and usability standards to technical team members, developers, and agency stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications (Optional Assets)
• Front-end engineering experience writing semantic HTML5 and modern, responsive CSS/SASS.
• Experience integrating interface designs into Angular or MVC .NET framework environments.
• Experience utilizing or extending the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS).
Required Skill sets
• User Experience Research, Usability testing, Usability labs, Heuristic evaluation, User journey mapping, Persona development, Information architecture, Card sorting, Wireframing, Interactive prototyping, UX design, WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance, Focus management, Keyboard navigation mechanics, Color contrast requirements, Accessibility auditing, technical communication, Design system vs usage
Skill - Required / Desired - Amount of Experience
Demonstrated mastery in moderating user testing sessions, executing usability labs, performing heuristic evaluations, mapping user journeys, and - Required
managing information architecture. - Required - 8 Years
WCAG 2.2 Level AA Mastery: Practical knowledge of implementing WCAG 2.2 Level AA requirements, focus management, keyboard navigation mechanics, and - Required -
color contrast principles within visual layouts. - Required - 8 Years
Strong Communicator: Ability to clearly explain user research insights, interface design choices, and usability standards to technical team members, - Required
developers, and client stakeholders. - Required
Front-end engineering experience writing semantic HTML5 and modern, responsive CSS/SASS. - Required - 8 Years
Experience integrating interface designs into Angular or MVC .NET framework environments. - Required - 8 Years
Experience utilizing or extending the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS). - Required - 8 Years
User Experience Research, Usability testing, Usability labs, Heuristic evaluation, User journey mapping, Persona development - Required - 8 Years
Information architecture, Card sorting, Wireframing, Interactive prototyping, UX design, WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance, Focus management - Required - 8 Years
Keyboard navigation mechanics, Color contrast requirements, Accessibility auditing, technical communication, Design system vs usage - Required - 8 Years
Notes:
The client prefers local or regional candidates who can attend occasional in-office meetings. Travel and related expenses will not be reimbursed.
Remote
VIVA is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants have an equal opportunity for placement, and all employees have an equal opportunity to develop on the job. This means that VIVA will not discriminate against any employee or qualified applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status