UX Design Manager (Remote)

Remote

Design /Full-Time - Remote/ Remote

MO helps government leaders achieve their mission by designing intuitive and sustainable customer experiences that build trust and improve satisfaction. We use human-centered design (HCD) to modernize and transform user and employee experiences. We’re a small team of interdisciplinary creatives with mission, impact, and service to others deeply rooted in our DNA. 

We combine design thinking with continuous discovery and delivery methods to drive visionary, human-centered products to market. Our custom solutions range in size from completely revamping an entire application to refreshing small pieces of a larger product. Everyone at MO directly impacts the direction and success of the company, and we own our roles. We value integrity, curiosity, and courage, and we operate collaboratively and with accountability while consistently challenging each other in the pursuit of excellence. At MO, we delight in creating one-of-a-kind products and experiences. Your imagination is the only limit on what you can do here!

Overview

Are you looking to make an impact? We are looking for a Manager, UX Design to lead a design team. This is a leadership role at MO. In your work and through your design leadership you will improve customer experiences for 30MM+ American citizens and foreign nationals across the Department of State’s consular services. Additionally, we are looking for this person to be a leader and cultural steward of the design team at MO, responsible for defining best practices and approaches that support a 21st century government, as well as building a diverse team and an inclusive culture that supports our people as we grow.

In this position, you will be working in a small, cross-functional team of Researchers, Designers, Product Managers, and Technical practitioners to understand and synthesize customer needs, strategize improved service delivery, and design innovative solutions inside various services within the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA). If you have experience integrating HCD practices into the deployment of impactful, scalable digital services and enjoy simplifying complexity into intuitive experiences, we’d love to hear from you.

How will you spend your time? About 80% of your time will be spent on billable work, and roughly 20% of your time will be spent maturing our UX practice at MO and mentoring more junior UX Design team members.

Successful candidates will have a track-record of building and sustaining high-performance in design teams at scale. The willingness to dive in and build new systems and processes, sometimes from scratch, is essential, as is leading through influence within a matrixed environment. Previous experience working in a client services organization (i.e., consulting or a digital agency) is helpful but not required. A passion for our mission and civic design is a must-have.

For your application, please include a portfolio or case studies that showcase your expertise in delivering impactful design solutions, complex project leadership, and strategic design thinking.

What You'll Do

• Program/Project Leadership: Contribute to project selection, set execution strategy and participate in staffing decisions. Lead and oversee complex engagements – composed of multiple projects at a time – ensuring the seamless integration of UX design practices into overall project management. Shape program/project-level CX strategy, aligning user needs, business objectives, and technical capabilities to deliver exceptional user experiences.
• Client Engagement: Act as the primary client contact and subject matter expert for UX design matters on projects, presenting and defending design decisions. Collaborate closely with clients to deeply understand their needs, provide people-centered insight, and ensure alignment between design solutions and strategic goals to cultivate long-term partnerships based on trust and delivering on aligned objectives.
• People-Centric Discovery: Define and implement mixed-method discovery approaches that uncover deep insights into people’s (customer’s) behaviors, motivations and preferences. Ensure these insights shape UX strategy and influence product strategy and implementation directives. 
• Prototyping, Testing, and Iteration Strategy: Lead as well as guide others in the strategic approach to co-design, testing, and iteration, ensuring prototypes meet organizational standards and objectives, and resonate deeply with end-users.
• UX Design Governance: Mobilize other UX Designers in MO to collaborate in establishing and maintaining UX design principles and best practices across the organization, working closely with product, design, and development teams. Foster a creative environment where consistent and accessible experiences are key to all products and interfaces.
• Metrics and Impact Analysis: Utilize data-driven insights to analyze the effectiveness and impact of design solutions, driving continuous improvement and innovation.
• Mentorship and Design Leadership: Work with MO leadership to build and mature a diverse and inclusive HCD Community of Practice with industry presence. Provide guidance and mentorship to more junior designers, fostering their growth and development within the team. Influence clients and stakeholders to embrace people-centered design principles and practices. 

What We're Looking For

• Passion for Design for Change: 8+ years of demonstrated commitment to social impact design and/or recognized leadership within the civic design community.
• People-Centric Advocacy: Extensive experience as a people (government stakeholders and the public) advocate, with a strong command of accessibility, Section 508 compliance, and a nuanced understanding of the challenges posed by user research barriers in the public sector and healthcare domain (e.g., PRA, HIPAA).
• Outstanding UX Player-Coach Leadership: Impactful experience creating strategies, products, and services that improve people’s lives and deliver business value. You are also known for effectively leading and engaging diverse teams in embracing change, guiding them through the design process, from uncertainty to clarity.
• Versatile Research Capability: Strong proficiency in framing and conducting research across both undefined problem spaces, utilizing design research and strategic thinking to uncover opportunities and clearly defining problem spaces, employing co-creation, as well as UX research and testing to envision and optimize products and features for the market. 
• Organizational Excellence: Excellent organizational skills that enable you to seamlessly manage multiple high-profile, medium-to-high complexity projects within a dynamic environment with strong compliance commitments. 
• Courageous Leadership and Empathetic Collaboration:Value-based leadership coupled with effective situational collaboration and communication skills. Aptitude for persuasion and influence, fostering a cooperative approach rather than a rigid command and control structure.

$130,000 - $150,000 a year

In support of the Colorado Equal Pay Transparency Act, and others like it across the country, MO's job descriptions feature the starting range we reasonably expect to pay to candidates who would join our team with little to no need for training on the responsibilities we've outlined above. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide range of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and responsibility. 

All MO leaders are expected to lead with humility, embody our core values in their leadership, and to hold their team accountable to the same. MO leaders are expected to ensure we are always growing by tackling hard problems, being strategic, and learning from others.

MO is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

We value diversity and inclusion and encourage all interested candidates to apply. If you have more experience beyond what is detailed here, we’d be happy to take a look. If you meet most but not all of the requirements, we still want to hear from you. 

MO’s Employee Value Proposition 

A fun, dynamic working environment with an energetic and diverse team

A REMOTE first work environment

An inclusive culture where everyone is welcome

Competitive compensation commensurate with experience

Opportunities for career growth

Full health benefits (medical, dental, vision)

401K plan 

Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)

Short- and Long-Term Disability 

Life Insurance (company sponsored)