Senior Designer Program Manager Senior II

IntroductionMaryland Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) makes sure all workers in Maryland have paid time off for medical and family reasons. FAMLI is a social insurance system covering 2.6 million workers and 180,000 employers, delivered as a delivered as a digitally native, public-facing service. We're in the early stages of building something as big and as far-reaching as unemployment insurance or a new health department.Our Digital Services team brings a modern and cross-disciplinary approach to creating, launching, and continuously improving the digital services powering paid leave in Maryland. The team is responsible for providing human-centered experience to workers who need to take paid leave, employers who need to provide paid leave, and FAMLI staff who process claims and provide direct support to the public. This is a rare chance to build a digital services from the ground up for the people of Maryland and a career-defining civic tech opportunity.As a Senior Designer on the Digital Services team, you'll utilize human-centered design, care, and curiosity to establish brand new service for Marylanders. With a balance between foundational strategy and iterative service delivery, you'll be both a leader and an individual contributor as you work on cross-disciplinary teams to design scalable experiences that are usable and trustworthy.You should be comfortable working in a startup environment where you think independently and operate with high degree of autonomy. We're looking for self-starters who are skilled at driving projects forward communicating and collaborating closely on teams.This role is remote, but you'll occasionally commute to the FAMLI office in downtown Baltimore and throughout Maryland to collaborate with collaborate with colleagues and conduct in-person user research.GRADE24LOCATION OF POSITIONMaryland Department of Labor100 South Charles StreetBaltimore, Maryland 21202Main Purpose of JobThe Senior Designer reports to the Director of Experience Design within the Division of Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI), which is part of Maryland Department of Labor. As a critical expert in human-centered design, you'll lead the implementation of Labor. of FAMLI's digital experiences for employers, medical providers, workers applying for benefits, and FAMLI staff (e.g., Customer Care agents and Claims adjudicators).Day-to-day you'll collaborate with cross-disciplinary product development teams made up of FAMLI staff and vendors and subject matter experts in policy, communications, public engagement, and operations.This role utilizes experience in user experience, design systems, content design, user research, service design, and accessibility to ensure FAMLI delivers services effectively. You'll lead iterative design processes through problem scoping, co-creation workshops, qualitative research and discovery, data analysis, ideation, prototyping, service blueprinting, and user researching the general public and FAMLI staff.POSITION DUTIESDuties of this position include, but are not limited to:Contributes to the foundational definition and refinement of how FAMLI's services work based on policy, program, and user needsApplies specialized technical expertise in content design, services design, visual design, and user research to define and implement human-centered design solutions that ensure our experiences a usable by everyone, especially people with disabilities and people who need to navigate our services in languages other than EnglishContributes direction and builds strategies that ensure the experience we deliver are consistent, informed by user research industry best practices, scalable, and maintainable. Provides guidance to vendors to ensure strategies and standards are metDevelops and maintains design and research standards, operations, and processes for FAMLI that enable the delivery of effective human-centered experiencesReviews and provides actionable feedback on work developed by vendors and other FAMLI staff, including content, service design documentation and reseach plans and findingsDevelops and maintains templates and documentation that support and enable the delivery of usable experiences and consistent, reportable processes. This may include service blueprints, journey maps, a user research repository, content guidelines, content models, human-centered design training, design specifications, artifacts that communicate information architecture, and user research plans,scripts, and synthesisHelps identify the risks and opportunities for digital experience solutions and contributes recommendations based on program priories, user needs, and level of effortPlans and executes co-creation workshops with cross-disciplinary teams to determine the most viable solutions to solve problems. Builds a user research practice within FMALI form the ground up to ensure FAMLI has processes that are trauma-informed and prioritize care for both research participants and research practitionersUses prototyping and other strategies to test solutions and iterate before implementing and scalingCollaborate with stakeholders to drive design initiatives and build consensus across business unitsMinimum Qualifications Experience: At least 6 years of experience in human-centered designAt least 1-2 years of experience working on service delivery for government services Experience as a leader and individual contributor on a cross-disciplinary service delivery team Experience building foundational human-centered design operations to enable service delivery Experience conducting user research in public sector settingsDesired Or Preferred QualificationsWe're hiring a team of multiple Senior Designers. Together the team will utilize skillsets in user research, interaction/visual design, content design, and service design, but individual candidates aren't expected to be experts in all areas of human-centered design.We Prefer All Candidate To HaveExperience in human-centered design for government benefits programs The ability to "shift left" and implement accessibility tactics throughout the design processAwareness of trauma-informed practices A mindset and drive for continuous learningWe'd also like candidates to have in some of these areas"User researchBuilding research practices from the ground up for government services, including establishing strategies for compensation, consent, care plans for researchers, and tracking findings in a repositoryConducting research with people with disabilities Conducting multilingual user research with native speakersInteraction/visual designDesigning with and expanding the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) and maintaining consistency across teamManaging strategies to establish and grow a design system alongside front-end engineersCreating, curating, and using design tokens in a design system Proficiency in using Wigwam to manage a large design systemContent design and information architectureDeveloping content in plain language for dynamic digital experiences in English and SpanishCollaborating closely with various subject matter experts to gather input and ensure content accuracyDesigning strategies and content for knowledge management productsLeading iterative information architecture development for phased rollouts of user tasks Establishing digital content guidelines and the governance practices needed to grow and maintain themService DesignShaping Customer Care practices to ensure seamless transitions between digital and call center experiences Applying standards and establishing consistency for service design artifacts to enable process definition and documentation Mapping complex systems and identifying opportunity areas for cross-business unit collaboration and efficiencyEducation and coaching cross-functional partners on service design principles and their applicability to service deliveryFacilitating discussion and decision making for complex and constrained service delivery challenges that cut across process, policy, people and technologySpecial RequirementsAll candidates are subject to a background check against files maintained by the Division of Unemployment Insurance (Labor/DUI) to determine whether any monies are owed to Labor/DUI as result of unemployment insurance overpayment/fraud. Any unpaid debt may have an impact on whether or not a candidate is offered employment.SELECTION PROCESSAll information concerning the qualifications, including any required documentation (diploma, transcript, certificate, etc.) must be submitted and received by the closing date. Information submitted after this date will not be considered. Successful candidates will be ranked as Best Qualified, Better Qualified, or Qualified and place on the eligible (employment list) for at least one year. Applications that meet minimum and/or selective qualifications will be referred to the hiring unit for interview selection. Units will select those candidates most closely demonstrating the qualifications for the interview.A resume may be attached as supplemental information, however, only the information provided in the application will be reviewed and considered in the evaluation process. Please upload one Word or PDF file that includes your combined cover letter and resume in the college transcript upload function under the "Other" tab.EXAMINATION PROCESSThe assessment may consist of a rating of your education, training, and experience related to the requirements of the position. It is important that you provide complete and accurate information on your application.BenefitsThis is a full-time, permanent position and eligible for full State benefits, which include:Flexible hours and hybrid teleworkingPaid holidays 12-13 per yearGenerous paid leave package (annual, sick, personnel and compensatory leave) State Pension ("defined benefits" plan)Tax-deferred supplemental retirement savings plan (401(k) and 457)Free parkingComprehensive, subsidized health, dental and prescription plans with little to no deductibles, free generic prescriptions, and free preventative health servicesFlexible Spending Account plans for Health and DaycareState Employees Credit UnionTo learn more, please click this link: State of Maryland Benefits of EmploymentFURTHER INSTRUCTIONSPlease contact Tiffany.Lott-Mallard1@maryland.gov for additional information concerning this recruitment. Online applications are strongly preferred. A resume may be attached as supplemental information, however, only the information provided in the application will be review and considered in the evaluation process; please upload one Word or PDF file that includes your combined cover letter and resume to the JobAps "Other" tab.U.S. Military Veterans may qualify for additional bonus points towards certification. Any job offer will be contingent on the candidate providing a U.S. Military form DD214 verifying honorable discharge form service prior to starting employment (and may be requested prior to interview.) Permanent State employees do not need to submit proof of Veterans' status.If you are unable to apply online, or encounter difficulty attaching required or optional documentation you may submit via mail or deliver in person. Please be sure to include your name, identification number (Easy ID#) and job announcement number on any documentation to ensure timely processing.PLEASE DO NOT FAX EMAIL UNSOLICITED DOCUMENTATION.Completed applications required documentation, and any required addendums may be mailed to:Maryland Department of LaborATTN: Tiffany Lott-Mallard #26-005483-0014100 S. Charles Street, Tower 1, 5th FloorBaltimore, Maryland 21201For additional information, please contact Tiffany Lott-Mallard at 410-767-2096 or email Tiffany.Lott-Mallard1@maryland.gov.The MD State Application Form can be found online.TTY Users: Call via Maryland RelayAs an equal opportunity employer. Maryland is committed to recruiting, retaining and promoting employees who are reflective of the State's diversity. People with disabilities and bilingual candidates are encouraged to apply. We thank our Veterans for the service to our country.