Product Designer

We are looking for a strong Product Designer who thrives on impact-driven work to join our growing, distributed team at Coforma.

Coforma’s Product Design team connects research to delivery, solving for business goals and user needs using scalable design systems. We provide value to clients and users by designing holistic, inclusive experiences while supporting agile development with iterative design. We collaborate with research, product management, engineering, other design functions, and client business owners, showing up as creative problem solvers who can unearth elegant solutions to complex issues.

As a Product Designer at Coforma, you’ll join a team dedicated to elevating the user experience of essential services and products in collaboration with our clients and other partners. You’ll execute high-quality design deliverables against well-known problems, typically under the direction of a more senior team member.

You’re a skilled practitioner who can implement elegant design solutions and clearly communicate them to team members and clients alike. You’ll apply your experience collaborating with other functions to build depth and breadth of skill with support and direction. You’ll proactively work to strengthen your craft by frequently seeking feedback and pursuing professional development opportunities. 

$112,000—$140,000 Base Salary + Benefits + Growth Potential

Exact compensation may vary based on skills and experience.

The job posting for this role is set to close by 5:00pm PDT on December 31st, 2023.

The desired start date for this role is mid-January 2024.

This is a US-based remote position and some travel will be required.

Note: to ensure we remain compliant with all state, county, and local tax regulations, applicants must reside in one of the following states to be considered for employment with Coforma. This list will be updated periodically as our PeopleOps team works to open up hiring in additional states.

-Arizona

-California

-District of Columbia

-Florida

-Georgia

-Idaho

-Illinois

-Maine

-Maryland

-Massachusetts

-Montana

-Nevada

-New Mexico

-New York

-North Carolina

-Oregon

-Tennessee

-Texas

-Vermont

-Washington

-Wisconsin

Role Overview

Collaborating closely with your research, design, product, and development teammates, you’ll efficiently create accessible, sophisticated, high-quality, and usable designs that solve problems and meet user needs. You’ll execute design strategies to meet client needs, leveraging user and business insights to help develop plans and roadmaps for creating desirable solutions and metrics for measuring success.

You are comfortable navigating some organizational and project ambiguity and may be tasked with leading the client through exercises and showcasing work.

What You'll Do — Client and Project Work

• Often working under the guidance of a design lead, you’ll primarily focus on creating high-quality product design deliverables for our government and commercial clients, from discovery through optimization and hand-off. In this role, you will:
• Develop, execute, and iterate on product design deliverables, often in collaboration with other design disciplines such as design research, UX design, content design, and visual design
• Design exceptional products from start to finish, participating in all phases of design, from definition to development and optimization
• Iterate actively with prototypes at all levels of design fidelity, informed by user research and testing, market trends, and business goals
• Communicate and share often in written, verbal, and visual forms to create alignment and move the work toward implementation
• Present work—internally and to clients—communicating the why, the what, and the how of your insights and recommendations
• Utilize and contribute to design systems
• Collaborate regularly with accessibility specialists and engineers to ship high-quality experiences

What You'll Do — Internal Initiatives

• Contribute to the product design practice through knowledge sharing, participation in critiques, and giving and receiving craft guidance
• Build and maintain stakeholder, team, and participant relationships proactively and responsively
• Seek, promote, and model a highly collaborative, responsible, and ethical culture through your individual actions

Required Experience

• 4+ years experience in a product design role—preferably working on a cross- or multi-functional team—in which you participated in projects from discovery through launch and worked with project leadership to develop and execute end-to-end product design 
• A portfolio that demonstrates strong processes, work solutions, skilled knowledge, and application of product design and experience principles, techniques, and tools, including:
• Experience creating designs, from concept through non-code prototypes, with modern programs
• A keenness for identifying user needs, defining clear solutions, and delivering those through detailed design
• Proficiency crafting or altering quality artifacts, including archetypes, journey maps, user and task flows, wireframes, sitemaps, and clickable prototypes, all with limited support
• The flexibility to design in low and high fidelity
• Experience with interaction design, usability, and accessibility
• The ability to help plan and execute design research sessions or workshops
• The ability to use qualitative and quantitative data to inform your designs and recommendations
• Discernment and experience to select the most efficient and responsible process and tool for the job at hand

Required Skills

• Collaborative: Will collaborate with peers, top executives, and high-level contacts; cooperate with staff across different teams, departments, and expertise levels
• Communicative: Will communicate ideas and create personal relationships through highly skilled writing and in-person exchanges, customizing the delivery to the audience
• Calm and nimble: Will analyze and navigate ambiguity, changing priorities, and unexpected project challenges in a fast-paced environment
• Organized planner: Will self-direct to prioritize projects, delegate appropriately, complete tasks on time, anticipate what could go wrong when planning and coordinating, thoughtfully mitigate risks, and document and share processes with others, as needed

Additional Requirements

• Internet: Will prioritize and maintain access to strong, reliable internet for the remote nature of our work (except when on vacation or holiday)
• Security: Will maintain the highest security practices to ensure the privacy and security of Coforma and client information, even when on vacation
• Travel flexibility: On request and with advance notice, will attend in-person events such as meetings, workshops, and trainings as assigned for projects that require it
• Brand representation: Will represent Coforma professionally and sincerely, modeling our company values in all interactions

Preferred Experience and Skills

• 2+ years experience working on a remote team or remote freelancing
• 2+ years experience working in a consultatory environment
• Experience with chatbots and/or conversation design
• Prior professional services, government, or federal consulting experience
• Experience utilizing the United States Web Design System (USWDS)
• Demonstrated passion for continual learning
• Passionate about accessibility and usability

We Don't Care About

• Whether or not you have a degree of any kind, even if we list a degree as preferred — as long as you have the expertise necessary to achieve the job responsibilities as described above, we will consider you a viable candidate
• Whether your educational major, if you had one, is related to this role
• Whether or not you have GitHub contributions
• Whether or not you have worked at a well-recognized company
• Whether you’re sure that you check every single box perfectly

We Do Care About

• Your passions, professional or otherwise
• Your well-informed opinions about technology, teams, and processes
• You

We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.

Due to the nature of our work with the federal government, this role is required to work from the contiguous United States.

We're Coforma

The stress of job searching can make you wonder if you’re enough. Studies have even shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs when they don’t meet every qualification. We believe that you ARE enough, and that it’s okay not to meet every requirement. We’re building a culture that’s authentic, inclusive, and diverse. If you’re excited to work with us but not sure you check every box, apply anyway! You may be just right for this role or another one.

About Us

We use creativity to get results for clients and the communities they serve.

We’ve honed a modern, agile, user-centered approach that elevates human needs through thoughtfully-designed systems and products.

From connecting families in crisis at the US border to improving the way governments consume COVID-19 mobility data through a more accessible and user-friendly tool, we’re dedicated to improving people’s lives through thoughtful technology products and services. Together. Our cross-functional team works closely with each other and with our government, nonprofit, and commercial partners to research, design, and build better products and services.

Coforma employs over 100 talented creators. Our leadership has decades of experience in improving government digital services from a civic service mindset, and a strong record of developing innovative technology solutions for government, enterprise, and nonprofits.

We thoughtfully integrate design into product development. We are experts in leading the design and development of products to meet business goals, build alignment, and deliver value through technically feasible and iterative design activities.

Business objectives and human beings are at the center of our work. We work very closely and collaboratively with our partners, from solicitation through to delivery, to ensure that the solution provides a high level of value to the business. Accessibility is never overlooked in our work, and our iterative approach validates the utility and delight of the final product.

Equal Opportunity & Inclusive Workplace

Coforma is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination. Background checks and other security clearances may be required for some roles as it relates to the nature of our client work.

Our team and our office aims to be an accessible and hospitable place to work. We welcome applicants, contractors, and employees who are committed to improving our culture and practices.