Lead User Experience Design Specialist

UX DesignerBaltimore, MD (Onsite)

Read on to find out what you will need to succeed in this position, including skills, qualifications, and experience.
Duties and Responsibilities:Lead UX strategy and design activities for the OIT program and related applications.Support the Launchpad process, including development of user-centered requirements, UX artifacts, workflows, and supporting documentation.Conduct user research, stakeholder interviews, workshops, and usability assessments to understand user needs and pain points.Develop user journeys, personas, process flows, information architecture, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs.Translate business and technical requirements into intuitive, accessible, and user-centered experiences.Facilitate design sessions with business users and technical teams to validate proposed solutions.Establish UX design standards and patterns that can be consistently applied across DGS applications.Ensure designs comply with ADA/accessibility requirements and applicable State of Maryland standards.Collaborate with product owners, business analysts, developers, architects, and project managers throughout the product lifecycle.Review vendor and implementation-partner deliverables to ensure UX requirements and design standards are met.Provide UX input into product roadmaps, solution decisions, enhancements, and prioritization.Identify usability risks and recommend improvements before solutions move into development or production.Maintain UX documentation and design artifacts as a central source of truth.Support user acceptance testing and incorporate user feedback into iterative design improvements.Ensure UX decisions are based on measurable user and business outcomes rather than technology alone.Provide knowledge transfer and continuity as external UX resources transition off the project.
Education and Years of Experience: Bachelor's degree in UX Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, Computer Science, or a related field.8+ years of experience in UX/UI design, product design, or a related discipline.
Required Qualifications:Bachelor's degree in UX Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, Computer Science, or a related field.8+ years of experience in UX/UI design, product design, or a related discipline.Experience leading UX design activities for large-scale enterprise or government applications.Strong experience with user research, journey mapping, wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing.Experience working in Agile/product-development environments.Strong understanding of accessibility and user-centered design principles.Experience collaborating with business stakeholders, technical teams, vendors, and senior leadership.Strong communication, facilitation, and presentation skills.Ability to translate complex business processes into simple and intuitive user experiences.
Preferred Qualifications:Delivery management experienceExperience with government, ERP, or other enterprise systems.Experience with State of Maryland or other public-sector IT projects.Experience with design tools such as Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, or equivalent.Experience establishing UX standards/design systems for enterprise applications. xzbcwsv Experience working with accessibility standards such as WCAG and ADA compliance.Core CompetenciesThe UX Design Lead will be expected to produce and maintain:User personas and stakeholder profilesCurrent-state and future-state user journey mapsUser flows and process mapsWireframes and prototypesHigh-fidelity UI designsUsability testing plans and findingsUX requirements and acceptance criteriaAccessibility assessmentsUX/design standards and patternsLaunchpad UX documentationDesign decision documentationUser research and feedback summariesUX recommendations for future product enhancements