UX Designer/Researcher

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

Required / Desired Skills