Design Lead

Bixal is a consulting company headquartered in Fairfax, VA, that works alongside governments and organizations to help them deliver better services and experiences to the communities they serve. Using evidence-based knowledge and technology, Bixal empowers clients to deliver on their missions more effectively by fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement. The company is guided by values of putting people first, collaboration and transparency, a growth mindset, and creating lasting impact. The role Bixal is seeking a Design Lead to serve as the primary UX research and design authority on the team supporting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). You would lead human-centered design across the full lifecycle of Data.CMS.gov, CMS's authoritative public open data platform serving more than 100 million Americans. You would oversee user research, interaction design, visual design, and design system governance, translating complex data discovery and access challenges into intuitive, accessible experiences for audiences ranging from first-time users to seasoned policy analysts and data scientists. This is a full-time position contingent on contract award by the client, with a defined performance period of up to five years. What you would do You would lead all human-centered design activities across the Data.CMS.gov program, ensuring design decisions are grounded in evidence and continuously refined through testing and feedback. You would plan and facilitate user research activities, including interviews, usability tests, contextual inquiries, card sorts, and surveys, at a cadence of at least one per Program Increment, in coordination with the client. You would coordinate with CMS on Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) clearance timelines for research activities involving members of the public and manage scheduling accordingly. You would translate research findings into actionable design artifacts including personas, journey maps, user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity Figma designs, and synthesize findings for both technical team members and CMS leadership. You would own and evolve the Data.CMS.gov design system, ensuring component reuse, visual consistency, and accessibility compliance across all product teams and new feature releases. You would lead visual QA processes to maintain design-to-development parity, reduce UI defects, and ensure WCAG 2.1 AA conformance across all public-facing flows and data product pages. You would partner closely with engineering to ensure Figma designs translate accurately into implementation, and participate in sprint reviews, demos, and definition of done reviews. You would develop and present design rationale and research findings to CMS stakeholders, product owners, and leadership in a clear, accessible format, including oral presentations as part of the proposal or program review process. You would also support content strategy and information architecture decisions that improve data discoverability and usability. What they are looking for You would need a bachelor's degree in human-centered design or a related field, and at least five years of experience in HCD and user research for public-facing data websites. Demonstrated experience leading design on a public-facing federal government digital platform is required, with a portfolio showing end-to-end work from research through shipped product. A portfolio of relevant design work must be submitted as part of the application, with a password provided if access is controlled. You would need experience leading and synthesizing user research using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, usability testing, surveys, analytics review, and card sorting. Expertise in Figma for interaction design, prototyping, design system management, and design-to-development collaboration is required. You would need strong working knowledge of Section 508 compliance requirements and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards, including the ability to interpret accessibility audits. Experience designing for audiences with varying levels of technical expertise, including both novice users and highly technical data consumers such as analysts, researchers, and developers, is required. You would also need proven ability to design and improve content management interfaces and backend editorial workflows, not just public-facing user experiences. Experience participating in Agile delivery, including sprint ceremonies, backlog refinement, PI planning, and iterative release cycles, is expected, as is experience working in or coordinating with cross-functional teams that include engineers, product managers, content strategists, and government product owners. Strong written and verbal communication skills are required, including a demonstrated ability to present design rationale and user research to varied audiences up to and including formal client presentations. You must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance determination in support of a federal government contract. Nice-to-have experience includes direct experience supporting Data.CMS.gov or another CMS open data platform, experience with data visualization design for large and complex datasets including interactive tools, dashboards, and downloadable data products, and experience navigating the PRA process for federally sponsored user research. Working arrangements This role can be performed remotely from anywhere in the United States, excluding its territories. You must be legally authorized to work in the US. Bixal does not provide visa sponsorship. Pay and benefits The salary range for this role is $120,000 to $135,000, with most offers tending to land near the midpoint of the range. flex hours, a 401(k) with matching incentive, parental leave, medical, dental, and vision benefits, a Flex Spending Account, company-provided short-term disability and life insurance, commuter benefits, paid time off, 11 paid holidays #J-18808-Ljbffr Hard Problems