UX Research / Graphics Support

Job Description

The ECS Team provides focused agile software development and maintenance for a mission-critical application for the government. Today, the application is a client server application developed using Microsoft .NET that supports a database repository of DNA profiles from individuals, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons. The software allows local, state, and national laboratories to compare DNA profiles electronically, thereby linking serial crimes to each other and identifying suspects by matching DNA profiles from crime scenes to individuals' profiles. Additionally, the software is used to assist with the identification of unidentified human remains, missing persons and disaster victims.

The UX Research / Graphics support role will support the program by providing expertise to the program with delivering the following responsibilites:
The UX Researcher plays a central role in driving mission-aligned interface improvements by translating operational user behaviors and feedback into actionable design intelligence. This role bridges user research, data analytics, and Agile engineering to ensure that interfaces and communications are intuitive, efficient, and calibrated to the cognitive demands of end-users and government leadership.
Conducts user research activities supporting the design, engineering, and continuous improvement of UI and UX capabilities across communciations and web interfaces.
Plans and executes structured user research studies, discovery interviews, task analyses, and usability evaluations to inform interface and communication designs.
Develops user personas, journey maps, workflow diagrams, and behavioral models that translate operational mission needs into actionable UI/UX and communication requirements.
Analyzes qualitative and quantitative user feedback, platform engagement metrics, heat map data, clickstream analytics, and survey results to identify usability gaps, friction points, and interface/communciation improvement opportunities.
Produces research reports, findings summaries, and design recommendations that guide UI designers, front-end engineers, and technical writers in developing intuitive and mission-aligned interfaces/communications.
Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Skills

Clearance: Active Secret clearance required
A minimum of 8 years of experience in UX research, human factors engineering, or a closely related discipline within a federal, defense, enterprise software, or government contracting environment, with demonstrated proficiency planning and executing structured user research studies, usability evaluations, and persona-driven design activities in support of complex, multi-stakeholder platforms.
Experience in creating graphics to support end-user communications.
Experience crafting key UX deliverables (e.g., end-user communications, user journey maps, research plans, empathy maps, service blueprints, stakeholder maps, user flows, storyboards, interaction models, wireframes and prototypes for complex systems, testing plans, etc.).
Demonstrated portfolio that showcases the candidate's UX research experience, problem-solving abilities, and deliverables.
Demonstrated ability to collect, synthesize, and communicate qualitative and quantitative user research findings - including interview data, survey results, engagement metrics, and behavioral analytics - and translate these insights into prioritized, actionable design recommendations for cross-functional engineering and design teams.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities, with a proven ability to weigh the relative costs and benefits of potential actions and identify the most appropriate solution.
Highly developed interpersonal and oral/written communication skills, with the ability to effectively and professionally interact with a diverse set of stakeholders (from peers to end-users to executive management).

Desired Skills

Familiarity with empathy mapping, persona-based analytics, and behavioral modeling techniques applied to operationally complex government platforms.
Hands-on experience collaborating within Agile or Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) delivery models, including the ability to embed UX research findings into sprint planning, backlog refinement, and Program Increment processes to ensure research outputs directly inform engineering and design execution cycles.
Exposure to data visualization design standards, dashboard usability evaluation, and interface accessibility requirements as applied to analytics-heavy platforms supporting operational decision-making in mission-critical government environments.
Experience training/mentoring junior UX designers/researchers.