Designer

PrishanTek, Inc, a boutique strategy, recruiting and consulting firm.
We were recently awarded a contract for the Digital Defense Services and arepartof a pilot program to support a division in the Pentagon that uses experienced recruiting firms to support some mission-critical roles to take the Digital Services group to the next level.

The Defense Digital Service (DDS) was established in November 2015 to transform technology within the DoD by applying industry best practices to high-impact national security missions and some of DoD's most complex IT challenges. DDS is an agency team of the U.S. Digital Service.

TheTeam: DDS functions like a SWAT Team of tech experts on one-to-two-year tours of duty as government employees. The team is comprised of world-class software developers, engineers, designers, product managers, and expert problem solvers. Team members’ roles can include developing new code, managing technical projects, advising on development processes and product releases, and hacking or rewriting outdated policies or processes to make way for more effective, modern IT approaches.

The Projects: DDS focuses on projects that advance DoD's most important initiatives that are critical to the well- being of Service members, civilians, and core operations of the Department. Projects include reforming digital services that provide military families access to critical benefits, running bug bounty programs to identify vulnerabilities and better secure defense systems; developing drone detection technologies; hunting adversaries on defense networks; and rethinking training for cyber soldiers

Job Description

Evidence of Interaction Design
Modern applications have moved past filling out a one-page form and pressing thesubmit button. Instead, they are now complex interactions, combining businessrequirements with easy-to-follow user flow.
Interaction design skills include knowing when to utilize different application structures,such as hub-and-spoke designs versus interview flows; which design elements are bestfor certain types of information, such as when to use radio buttons versus drop-downmenus; and creating design deliverables such as wireframes and design prioritydescriptions.

Master: Led a variety of sophisticated projects on multiple platforms atmultipleorganizations. Trained non-designer team members on the basics of interaction design,so they could produce reasonable initial work.

Evidence of Visual Design
Master: Oversaw the design language for a large set of projects. Provided the designdirection for a team of designers. Worked on a variety of very different projects. Trainednon-designer team members on the basics of visual design, so they could producereasonable initial work.

Evidence of Information Architecture
Master: Oversaw the information architecture strategy for very large repositories.Provided information architecture leadership for a team of designers. Worked on avariety of very different projects. Trained non-designer team members on the basics ofinformation architecture, so they could produce reasonable initial work.

Evidence of User Research
As we create designs, we need to ensure they meet the needs of the user. Userresearch helps us collect information about who our users are, what they are trying toaccomplish, what frustrates them, and what will delight them.
Skills include identifying user population; techniques for evaluating design ideas,suchas usability testing; and passing that information on to rest of the team members, sothey can make informed decisions.

Master: Integrated user research into the basic practice of a large organization.Provided active research for extensive needs discovery. Used research to feed into amultiple-release product strategy. Trained non-designer team members on the basics ofuser research, so they could produce reasonable initial work.

Evidence of Information Design (Data Viz)
Presenting complex information for easy interpretation is key for a successful design.Knowing when to use specific table or graph types and using novel approaches forexploring detailed data sets, whether it's pricing information, product comparison tables,or trend charts, makes solid information design a core component of the designprocess.
Skills include knowing when to apply the variety of chart and table formats, such as piecharts, hi-low diagrams, and cluster treemaps; how to create interactive data explorers,such as star fields and drill-down pivot tables; and working with combining multiple datasources, such as data-mining techniques.

Master: Created reusable visualization pattern library for sophisticated storytelling anddata analysis applications. Trained non-designer team members on the basics ofinformation design, so they could produce reasonable initial work.

Evidence of Design Process Management
Today's best organizations are constantly learning from their designs. Instead ofprojects taking months or years, they now go from concept to implementation in weeks.Design process management helps us learn to break designs into small, bite-sizedimplementations and to collect data from each deployment to inform the decisions in thenext iteration.
Skills include schedule planning, change management, low-fidelity prototypingtechniques, and usage-data collection, to help the team move quickly.

Master: Introduced and managed iterative design processes in multiple organizationsand cultures. Demonstrated that they have shifted the culture of design thinking in anorganization.

Evidence of Copywriting
Nobody likes using a design whose on-screen text reads like a 1950's Army instructionmanual. The best user experiences have copy that excites and compels, making theuser feel comfortable and secure about the design.
Copywriting skills include identifying the style of voice and tone that matches theorganization's brand, creating persuasive copy that motivates users to explore thedesign, and clearly stating benefit statements, to help the user understand the value ofusing new capabilities and functions.

Master: Oversaw copy strategy and execution in multiple organizations and cultures.Trained non-designer team members on the basics of copywriting, so they couldproduce reasonable initial work.

Evidence of Content Strategy
What brings users to the design is the content that helps them achieve their goal. Thebest user experiences have up-to-date and relevant content for what the user needs.
Content strategy skills include creating inventories of existing content, creating contentmodels to help demonstrate the design needs across different platforms and contexts,content management system (CMS) planning, planning a governance approach, andlaying out an editorial schedule.

Master: Oversaw content strategy initiatives in multiple organizations and cultures.Trained non-designer team members on the basics of content strategy, so they couldproduce reasonable initial work.

Master: Created prototypes and front-end code in multiple environments. Builtproject-specific modules or plugins for libraries. Trained non-coding team members onthe basics of front-end development, so they could produce reasonable initialprototypes.

Evidence of Design Facilitation and Leadership
Designers drive the user experience discussion by helping the team develop a sharedunderstanding of the users, the objectives, and the necessary outcomes. They areprepared to lead the team through exercises to gather requirements, visual outcomes,ensure everybody focuses on what it means to deliver a great experience.
Design facilitation and leadership skills include using an affinity or KJ diagram to setpriorities, running a design studio, creating meaningful personas and scenarios,establishing overarching design principles, leading a design presentation and critique,and conducting design retrospective sessions.

Master: Trained non-designers to lead teams through the facilitated design leadershipactivities. Teams continued with using activities after the candidate moved on.

Evidence of Service Design
People engage with organizations over time in different places, and through differentchannels. A well-designed service accounts for this to provide a comprehensive andcohesive end-to-end experience.
Service design skills include the ability to visualize the intangible either throughestablished conceptual mapping tools, such as a service blueprint or journey maps, orusing formats that meet the project needs as well as facilitating ways for a team toexperience and understand the different stages of a service -- from start to finish.

Master: Lead projects of multidisciplinary teams through multi-channel service designprojects; matured ideas on service design tools, how and when to use them andpersonal techniques for how to adapt them; Helped restructure the approach of teamsto projects; well-versed in bringing non-designers and those unfamiliar with HCDthrough a service project; has created and taught coursework on service design; haswritten about the practice, theory and impact of service design for multiple publications

Qualifications

Design experience - 5+ years
Bachelor's Degree
Active clearance (preferred but not required)

Additional Information

Please note:
**You will be a direct employee of the government and will not be a PrishanTek employee.**

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

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