Defense Digital Service - Lead Experience Designer
Remote
DDS – Design & Research /
Digital Service Expert /
Remote
Job Title: Lead Experience Designer
JOA: CDAO-2024-000218
Pay Scale: GS-14 $104,604-$135,987/GS-15 $123,041-$159,950 (locality will be determined based on the physical location of the incumbent)
Open Date: 3 April 2024
Close Date: Until filled
Come do impactful work with a brilliant, motivated team.
About the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office
The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) is a Principal Staff Assistant (PSA) responsible for the acceleration of the adoption of data, analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate decision advantage across the Department of Defense (DoD). The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), Defense Digital Service (DDS), Chief Data Office (CDO), and forward-leaning programs of record including Advana have officially joined together to form one organization – the CDAO!
About Defense Digital Service
Defense Digital Service (DDS) is guided by the vision that the Department of Defense should be an organization where people are enabled by technology, not limited by it. We hire exceptional technical talent from industry and government to our team for a two-year term (with the option to renew for a second term) who are focused on delivering high-impact solutions and advanced capabilities to protect national defense. DDS is part of the Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO) – helping the Department adopt data, analytics, and AI solutions.
DDS delivers better services to the warfighter through design and technology.
DDS is not like other workplaces. The work that you do here will directly contribute to our national security, improve the lives of those who serve, and make an impact that spans the globe. If you are thinking to yourself — I’m not a DoD person, or I’m not a government person – whatever that means to you, don’t be so convinced. The impact you can make here is truly phenomenal. If that excites you and you have the skills, you should apply. We are solving a diverse set of problems, and we need a diverse team to do it.
About Design at DDS
We aren’t here to slap a coat of design on a project, or to check off a design task at the end of a waterfall process. We aren’t here for micromanagement, executive gatekeeping, marketing analytics, or creative decision through committee.
Here’s what we are here for:
At DDS, Designers are problem solvers with a high degree of autonomy. We get the opportunity to define project scope and be leaders. We make a real difference by providing expertise to help the Department and our country improve products, services, and practices. We work closely with other members of our multidisciplinary team to define problems, conduct research, and craft thoughtful, enduring solutions. You’ll join a Design Guild composed of friendly, whip-smart designers with diverse backgrounds. In our flat organization, you’ll be hands-on with all aspects of the design work, contributing directly to impactful outcomes.
What you'll do:
- Fix outdated, broken, and frustrating government technology and practices. You’ll truly make a difference.
- Own the end-to-end user experience and design on projects by leveraging UX best practices and design execution to create user-focused, intuitive products and services.
- Understand and document existing user flows and propose improvements — they might be for products, and they might be for services, but whatever they are, you’ll put the user first.
- Conduct research to understand how peoples’ tools, environment, and work culture impact their job. You’ll learn when to push against unnecessary barriers, and when to work within constraints.
- Translate user research into actionable insights and effective design solutions through the use of workshops, writing, graphics, and anything else in your toolkit that’s appropriate.
- Lead usability testing for your projects.
- Contribute to the writing of detailed reports outlining recommendations from discovery sprints with visibility by DoD senior leadership and Congress.
- Contribute visual design, copywriting, production, and anything else that your projects need. No job here is too big or too small. We sweat the details and we think big.
- Analyze and present research insights to shape product/service roadmap and design decisions.
- Work collaboratively with engineers, product managers, data scientists and procurement specialists throughout all stages of the product life cycle.
- Be an advocate for the design process at DDS and the DoD.
- Be the voice in the room that helps people understand why our users are important, especially those unfamiliar with modern software development and user experience considerations.
- Go where the work is to solve the hard problems and understand our users – travel onsite to complete field studies together with discovery teams.
- Be ready for anything!
Your Experience
- You have led and are comfortable leading teams, projects, and organizations.
- You are comfortable with both being the only designer on a project and teaming up with other designers.
- Your experience covers a broad range of design skills with deep expertise in a few areas.
- You have designed, prototyped, and shipped products for both mobile and desktop.
- You are comfortable leading workshops.
- You have experience with design systems.
- You have personally led research projects, including planning, interviews, and analysis.
- You have experience leveraging quantitative and qualitative data to influence design decisions.
- You have experience applying design methods and you demonstrate flexibility in adapting your process.
- You enjoy collaborating with developers to implement designs, and have collaborated successfully with engineering staff.
- You are comfortable presenting work to your peers and members of senior leadership who may not have a lot of time and may not inherently understand what UX design is.
- You have an understanding of front-end development, even better if you can build your own designs.
- You have worked as a product designer, service designer, or in a similar role.
About You:
- You have a high degree of creativity, empathy, autonomy, and passion.
- You don’t bring your ego to the workplace. We do mission driven work here, and doing that as best we can is our motivation.
- You are self-motivated and are adept at navigating ambiguity.
- You can modulate between strategic and tactical when necessary, and you know the difference.
- You approach design challenges with a 100% customer-centric mindset.
- You happily execute on all design aspects of a project no matter how big or small.
- You can juggle multiple tasks with competing priorities and manage your time well.
- You have exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
- You have high standards, and want to work with the best and be the best.
- You enjoy being the envy of the rest of the federal workforce, using tools like Slack, Figma, Google Workspace, and AWS.
- You are a team player.
- You want to work in a flexible environment where individuals are valued and respected for their expertise.
- You are encouraged to maintain a work-life balance.
Essential functions/exposures:
- Must be able to work on a computer for extended periods of time.
- Must be able to lead a meeting effectively, both in person and virtually.
- We believe in going where the work is, so travel is expected.
- We believe “that’s not my job” is not part of our vocabulary – we are a team.
Requirements
- U.S. Citizenship
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI Clearance.
- Candidate is required to provide a design portfolio with their submission package.
Additional Information
- U.S. Citizenship is required.
- Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see https://www.sss.gov/Home/Registration)
- This position is subject to provisions of the WHS/OSD Priority Placement Program (please see details below).
- Applicants for employment are covered by federal laws and Presidential Executive Orders designed to safeguard federal employees and job applicants from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), political affiliation, military service, or other non-merit-based factors.
- A one-year trial period may be required if not previously completed a trial or probationary period in the excepted or competitive service.
- Must be determined suitable for federal employment.
- Required to participate in the direct deposit program.
- This position is subject to pre-employment and random drug testing.
- We may use this announcement to fill additional vacancies within 90 days of the closing date.
- Recruitment, relocation, or retention incentives may be authorized based on the availability of funds.
- This position requires a Top Secret/ Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) security clearance.
- This position may require work other than normal duty hours, which may include evenings, weekends, and/or holidays and/or mandatory overtime.
- This position will occasionally require travel away from the normal duty station via military or commercial aircraft.
Application Questions
- What is your design superpower?
- Why are you applying to DDS?
- Provide the URL to your online portfolio.
