Human-Centered Design (HCD) Lead - Federal Technology

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Job Title: Human-Centered Design (HCD) Lead – Federal Technology
Location: Tysons Corner, VA (Hybrid / Remote)
Duration: Fulltime

Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Human-Centered Design (HCD) Lead to support digital transformation initiatives within a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) environment.
The HCD Lead will lead user-centered design and research activities across cross-functional product teams, helping ensure that digital products and services are informed by real user needs, research, usability data, and accessibility considerations.
The ideal candidate will bring strong hands-on experience in UX research, service design, usability testing, accessibility, customer experience, and human-centered design, along with the ability to work effectively with product managers, engineers, architects, business stakeholders, and government customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Human-Centered Design practices across cross-functional digital product teams.
• Plan and conduct generative and evaluative user research to understand customer needs, behaviors, pain points, and expectations.
• Conduct interviews, usability studies, contextual research, surveys, workshops, and other appropriate research activities.
• Translate research findings into actionable insights, design recommendations, and product improvements.
• Partner with Product Managers, Product Owners, Business Analysts, designers, engineers, and other stakeholders to incorporate user needs throughout the product lifecycle.
• Drive usability and customer-experience improvements through iterative research, design, testing, and feedback.
• Integrate user research findings into the continuous identification and prioritization of business and customer needs.
• Establish and track customer experience and usability metrics to evaluate product performance and improvement.
• Promote accessibility as an integral part of the design and development lifecycle.
• Ensure user experiences address applicable federal accessibility requirements and support equitable access for users with disabilities.
• Facilitate workshops and collaborative design sessions with government stakeholders and product teams.
• Help teams incorporate research and customer feedback into Agile and iterative delivery processes.
• Develop HCD methodologies, standards, templates, research practices, and reusable knowledge assets.
• Provide mentorship and coaching to team members on HCD, UX research, usability, and customer-centered practices.
• Develop training materials and knowledge-transfer artifacts to help customer teams strengthen their HCD capabilities.
• Communicate research findings, design recommendations, and customer insights to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Support continuous improvement of the organization's HCD and customer experience practices.
• Travel occasionally for user research, stakeholder engagement, workshops, and collaboration as needed.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in Human-Centered Design, UX, User Research, Service Design, Customer Experience, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience personally planning and conducting generative and evaluative research studies.
• Experience conducting qualitative and quantitative user research and translating findings into actionable product or design decisions.
• Demonstrated experience with usability testing and user-centered design practices.
• Strong understanding of accessibility and designing digital experiences that support users with disabilities.
• Experience defining, measuring, and reporting customer experience, usability, or user-centered performance metrics.
• Experience working within cross-functional teams that include product, engineering, business, and technical stakeholders.
• Experience working in Agile or iterative product-development environments.
• Strong facilitation, presentation, communication, analytical, and collaboration skills.
• Bachelor's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, User Experience, Design, Psychology, Human Factors, Social Sciences, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting U.S. Federal Government or DOJ technology initiatives.
• Experience conducting user research within federal environments, including working through applicable government research and stakeholder approval processes.
• Experience with federal accessibility requirements and accessibility evaluation/testing.
• IAAP CPACC, WAS, or comparable accessibility certification.
• Experience with service design, journey mapping, personas, information architecture, and customer journey analysis.
• Experience working within Agile, Scrum, SAFe, or other product-oriented delivery environments.
• Experience establishing or improving an organization's HCD or UX research practice.
• Experience using customer research and usability data to influence product roadmaps and priorities.
• Experience working within cross-functional product teams rather than as an isolated UX practitioner.
• Experience improving Agile/product delivery maturity across teams.
• Experience developing HCD training programs, methodologies, templates, and knowledge artifacts.
• Experience supporting large-scale digital transformation or modernization initiatives.

Compensation:
The expected compensation range for this position is $90,000 - $140,000 annually. Compensation is determined in good faith and may vary based on job-related factors, including relevant experience, skills, education, certifications, clearance level, labor category alignment, contract requirements, work location, internal equity, and business needs.
The posted range reflects the Sky's reasonable estimate at the time of posting and does not guarantee a specific salary or rate. Final compensation will be determined based on the selected candidate's qualifications and applicable contractual and business considerations.

Sky Solutions Benefits & Culture at a Glance

• Healthcare & Wellness
  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage tailored to your needs.
  • Supplemental options like life insurance, disability, HSA/FSA available.
• Time Off & Work-Life Balance
  • Starting at 15 PTO days per year, increasing with tenure.
  • Plus 11 paid holidays to recharge and spend time with loved ones.
• Professional Growth & Development
  • Annual education stipend.
  • Access to thousands of online courses.
  • Formal mentorship programs for career advancement.
• Inclusive Culture
  • "One Team” mentality focused on collaboration and belonging.
  • Recognized as a Great Place to Work® for six years straight.

To learn more about life at Sky Solutions, visit our Careers page: Careers - Sky Solutions

At Sky Solutions, LLC, we welcome applications from all qualified candidates who share our vision and values.