Lead Designer

Summary

Join Exygy, a remote-first digital innovation studio, as their Lead Designer for CiviForm, an open-source platform for public benefits. You will lead design strategy, mentor other designers, and collaborate with product managers and engineers. This full-time role requires extensive UX/UI design experience, knowledge of human-centered design, and experience working with government stakeholders. Exygy offers competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, and a flexible work environment. The position is remote and located anywhere in the U.S. You will be responsible for building and maintaining CiviForm's design system and ensuring accessibility and usability.

Requirements

• Demonstrated knowledge of human-centered design principles and processes, from discovery and ideation to design and iteration
• Professional experience in civic tech, affordable housing, and/or social impact work
• Expert knowledge of Figma and additional design software (eg, Dovetail, Miro, and Google Workspace)
• Demonstrated ability to articulate and justify design strategy as it relates to solving human problems
• Mentor more junior designers and collaborate with peers on UX/UI design best practices to complement each other's skill sets and fill any identified skill gaps
• Strong collaboration abilities, along with a flexible and friendly approach to working with teams
• A focus on both a macro and micro level in terms of design details
• The ability to give and receive constructive feedback well to improve and develop
• An interest in developing skills (design principles, tools, and trends) and sharing knowledge with fellow peers and community members
• Comfortable working within an agile development process
• Knowledge of equitable design processes and mindsets, how to make sure our products are truly equitable
• Experience designing solutions for underserved populations, such as those navigating social safety networks
• Experience working with and navigating a set of complex government stakeholders
• Knowledge of web accessibility best practices and standards for government websites
• Experience with or knowledge of public sector design systems (such as US Web Design System, Gov.UK )
• Knowledge of building content strategy and best practices for government websites (such as plain language, reading levels, multilingual content, and content governance)
• Experience building a government content management system
• Degree in Design or equivalent experience required; 7+ years of hands-on professional experience as a Product/UX and UI Designer
• An online portfolio that demonstrates experience with UX Design across multiple verticals and platforms (mobile/web/desktop) is required (if you don’t have a portfolio, you can send us links or PDFs for designs you have created and be ready to provide context/more information about them)

Responsibilities

• Collaborate on the strategy for CiviForm: Work with the product team and design leadership to define the design strategy, aligning our design decisions with our sustainability goals and product priorities, across both the core platform and individual government feature roadmaps
• Lead design solutions: Lead the creation of engaging and impactful UX and UI design solutions that successfully articulate the vision and goals of a product and solve users’ pain points. Including sitemaps, user journeys and flows, service blueprints, wireframes, clickable prototypes, and visual mockups
• Evolving CiviForm’s design process: Collaborate closely with engineering and product partners to improve design and developer handoff and QA processes. Partner with other design leads across business lines to establish and refine best practices and design methodologies at Exygy
• Onboarding and design management: Help onboard and mentor staff designers and short-term design fellows to CiviForm's design strategy and delivery process so they can be effective. Activities include design reviews, QA, and weekly 1:1’s
• Conducting research and discovery: Partner closely with design researchers to conduct qualitative and quantitative user research to gain insights into applicant and government partner goals, motivations, and challenges. Activities may include stakeholder-facing workshops (design sprints, co-design workshops), user interviews, and synthesizing and presenting findings
• Ensuring accessibility and usability: Advocate for accessibility standards and inclusive design principles through visual guidelines and UX best practices. In partnership with design researchers, conduct user research and testing (surveys, usability evaluations, accessibility evaluations)
• Maintaining our design system: Build and maintain CiviForm’s design system (built on USWDS) to support new product features (including auditing, creating new components or patterns, accessibility checks, and documentation)

Benefits

• Laptop provided
• $2000 annual (per calendar year) remote environment setup which includes using this budget to outfit your home office, co-working spaces, coffee shops or to meet up and collaborate with you team mates
• $100 monthly to pay for your wellness item of choice (gym membership, classes, massages etc.)
• $1000 annual (per calendar year) stipend towards professional development
• Employees are eligible for a 100% employer match of up to 4% of employee contribution
• Full benefits package with options up to 100% coverage toward select medical, dental, and vision plans
• Exygy employees may work remotely across the US
• Exygy employees main residence must be within the US
• Flexible paid time off, a minimum of 14 paid holidays, and an org-wide closure from Christmas Day through New Year's Day
• Competitive paid parental and family leave
• Growth within the band is tied to performance, with opportunities for bonuses and comprehensive benefits