Senior Designer

Full-time Description About Us: eSimplicity is modern digital services company that work across government, partnering with our clients to improve the lives and ensure the security of all Americans—from soldiers and veteran to kids and the elderly, and defend national interests on the battlefield. Our engineers, designers and strategist cut through complexity to create intuitive products and services that equip Federal agencies with solutions to courageously transform today for a better tomorrow for all Americans This position is contingent upon contract award. Purpose and Scope: eSimplicity is seeking an experienced Senior Service Designer II to support a state water-resources regulatory agency's discovery and analysis effort to modernize its legacy water rights administration system. The current system is nearly 30 years old, paper-based, entirely manual, and command-line driven, with an acknowledged lack of human-centered design; staff re-enter the same data across steps, current status is hard to see, and the system lags real-world activity. In this role, you will lead the user research and service design thread of discovery: conducting on-site and remote research with staff across multiple district offices, hydrology, field operations, legal/hearings, and administrative functions, as well as public users; mapping how work, records, and decisions actually move today; and translating validated workflows into accessible, build-ready journey maps, service blueprints, workflow definitions, and prototype concepts that give the agency and its downstream implementation team a user-validated, defensible foundation for a phased modernization roadmap. This is a full-time, dedicated role on a small, consistent core team working alongside a Technical Lead, with product oversight and targeted prototyping support from senior eSimplicity staff. Responsibilities Plan and conduct user research with staff across multiple district offices, hydrology, field operations, legal/hearings, and administrative functions, and with public users, using structured role-based interviews (on-site and remote), workflow observation and shadowing, contextual inquiry during site visits, and stakeholder workshops. Map how work, information, records, and decisions move across roles and systems today, identifying where paper enters the process, where data is re-entered, where handoffs create ambiguity, and where system state falls behind real-world activity, including adjacent tools, spreadsheets, and informal workarounds that function as operational sources of truth. Produce validated current-state artifacts: end-to-end user journey maps, detailed workflow maps for priority processes (e.g., permit intake and status tracking, meter data submission, ownership changes), swimlane diagrams of responsibilities across teams, system interaction maps, personas, and service blueprints. Partner with technical SMEs to review forms, reports, and documents so workflows are understood alongside how data is structured and processed, and contribute the human decision-making side of the decision and rules inventory, distinguishing manual decisions from system-driven logic. Facilitate working sessions with cross-role stakeholders using real cases to validate findings, resolve conflicting interpretations, and establish a shared understanding of workflows and decision points; run scenario walkthroughs to confirm workflows are complete and consistent across roles. Define design priorities for distinct user groups (analysts, field staff, administrative users, public users) and resolve tradeoffs against the agency's program goals of permit throughput, data timeliness and trust, and defensible decision-making. Translate validated workflows into future-state UI and workflow concepts (e.g., permit intake, status tracking, meter submission); iteratively refine them with staff across roles using real scenarios; package results as annotated prototypes, workflow definitions, and design rationale that give downstream build teams build-ready direction. Build and maintain prototype concepts in Figma, sharing view-only links or versioned work-in-progress with the client for continuous review. Embed accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508) into workflow definitions, interface concepts, and prototype reviews from the start, including screen-reader compatibility, color contrast, keyboard navigation, non-visual cues, and plain-language public-facing forms, tailored to each user group. Make system status, provenance, validation outcomes, and review steps explicit in workflow and interface concepts so the resulting system behavior is transparent and defensible, including in adjudicatory contexts. Maintain research and design artifacts in shared, version-controlled repositories, working within the client's existing systems of record and collaboration tools (e.g., SharePoint, Confluence, Jira, Miro or Lucid), so they can be reviewed continuously and carried into modernization planning and future procurement. Work in partnership with the Technical Lead to align business workflows, data meaning, and technical behavior within the same analysis. Use AI-assisted tools to accelerate synthesis of interview transcripts, documents, and workflow inputs into candidate models and relationships, treating outputs as working drafts validated with agency staff. Contribute user-centered findings and problem statements to the phased modernization roadmap, and prepare artifacts a follow-on vendor can use without rediscovering context. Requirements Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, Human-Computer Interaction, Design, Human Factors, or a related field. An equivalent combination of education, training, certifications, and directly related experience will also be considered. In lieu of a bachelor's degree, two (2) additional years of directly related professional experience may be substituted. Minimum of 8 years of related experience in user research, interaction design, or service design. Demonstrated experience planning and conducting qualitative research with operational staff: role-based interviews (on-site and remote), workflow observation and shadowing, contextual inquiry, and stakeholder workshops. Experience producing and validating end-to-end journey maps, service blueprints, swim lane and workflow maps, system interaction maps, and personas. Experience facilitating cross-role working sessions that use real cases to validate findings and resolve conflicting interpretations. Experience translating research into annotated prototypes with documented design rationale and iterating them with users; proficiency in Figma or a comparable tool. Working knowledge of WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508, with experience applying accessibility criteria in workflow definitions and prototype reviews. Experience maintaining research and design artifacts in shared, version-controlled collaboration environments (e.g., Miro or Lucid, Confluence, SharePoint, Jira). Ability to travel to client sites as needed. Strong attention to detail with a commitment to delivering high-quality and accurate work; excellent written and verbal communication skills. Preferred Qualifications Experience on government legacy-system modernization or discovery-and-analysis engagements, state or federal. Domain familiarity with water rights, water resources, permitting, or other regulated natural-resource or records-intensive programs. Familiarity with GIS and map-based workflows (e.g., ESRI) from the user's perspective. Experience designing paper-to-digital intake and status-tracking workflows. Experience using AI-assisted tools to accelerate research synthesis. Experience producing build-ready artifacts for hand-off to a separate implementation vendor or for use in a future procurement. Experience planning usability tests and defining information architecture, and synthesizing results into recommendations for system change. Working Environment: This is a remote position supporting Eastern Time business hours. Employees are expected to work 9:00 AM–5:00 PM ET unless otherwise directed by their manager. Occasional travel for training or project meetings may be required and is estimated at less than 5% annually. Benefits: eSimplicity offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement benefits, paid time off, paid holidays, life and disability insurance, and additional wellness and employee support programs. Eligibility may vary based on employment status and applicable plan terms. Reasonable Accommodation: eSimplicity is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process. Applicants who need assistance or an accommodation should contact Human Resources. Equal Employment Opportunity: eSimplicity is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status Salary Description $131,500.00 - $140,000.00