UX Project Lead

UX Project Lead

Introduction: The District of Columbia is seeking a User Experience (UX) Project Lead to drive improvements to the digital hiring experience for both job applicants and internal hiring staff. This role is a high-impact, cross-agency leadership position embedded within the Innovation Team at OCTO.

Responsibilities:

• Lead a large-scale, multi-stakeholder digital transformation spanning multiple agencies and constituencies.
• Synthesize existing user research and collect new data to inform the redesign of the District''s digital hiring system.
• Facilitate cross-departmental workshops mapping business processes to user research findings and technology capabilities.
• Conduct usability testing to surface and validate pain points for job applicants and hiring staff.
• Produce site maps, flow diagrams, storyboards, wireframes, and interaction designs to address identified pain points.
• Apply a UI style guide to create polished visual designs for all pages within the PeopleSoft system.
• Partner with PeopleSoft experts to prioritize and implement system changes grounded in user research.
• Lead the implementation of UX/UI changes in collaboration with OCTO and the Department of Human Resources.
• Define success metrics, monitor performance, and course-correct as needed to hit impact targets.
• Champion a human-centered, digital-era mindset across partner departments.

Requirements:

Required:

• 10+ years of professional experience in UX design, human-centered design, or a related field.
• Demonstrated expertise in the full HCD lifecycle: design research, data synthesis, co-creation, prototyping, testing, iteration, and implementation.
• Proven track record managing complex digital design and implementation projects, preferably in a government or public-sector environment.
• Strong user research skills with ability to translate raw data into actionable insights.
• Experience leading large projects with multiple stakeholders and ensuring compliance with established standards.
• Expertise in creative direction, visual design, brand strategy, and storytelling.
• Proficiency with web and mobile UI/UX, including UI/UX for human services applications.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, building strong relationships across teams and with senior stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills – able to distill complex situations into clear, simple terms.
• Superior organizational skills with the ability to set priorities and pivot quickly.
• Strong project management background with a history of delivering measurable results on time and within budget.
• Proficiency in Figma, Miro, Adobe XD (or equivalent), MS Office Suite.
• Familiarity with HTML.
• High resilience and patience when working with stakeholders at varying levels of digital fluency.
• Genuine passion for improving local government services.

Preferred:

• Bachelor''s degree in UX, interaction design, human-computer interaction, visual communication, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Familiarity with PeopleSoft or similar enterprise HR/ERP systems.
• Experience designing for government digital services.