User Research Contract Jobs in Iowa (NOW HIRING)

This is a contract role with our client State of Iowa.
The Department of Management (DOM) Division of Information Technology (DoIT) 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 Iowa Department of Education (DOE) Student Reporting in Iowa (SRI) initiative-advancing a large-scale project phase with tight milestones-with additional cross-agency support for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other state projects as needed.
The client prefers local or regional candidates who can attend occasional in-office meetings. Travel and related expenses will not be reimbursed.
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

1. UX research experience
2. Figma proficiency
3. Accessibility knowledge
4. Design thinking methodology
5. 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