Senior UX Designer / Researcher / Accessibility Specialist

This is a remote position.

Seeking a Senior UX Designer / Researcher to join the modernization team to collaborate with the Lead UX/Accessibility Architect to scale high-quality digital standards across enterprise initiatives as well as;

• Take ownership of user testing and UI optimization.

• Support a high-priority modernization pipeline for the Iowa DOE.

• Advance a large-scale project phase with tight milestones - with additional cross-agency support for the DNR and other state projects.

• Design, plan, and execute formal user experience research to evaluate complex workflows, ensuring applications are intuitive and efficient for educators and state employees.

• Moderate hands-on user testing sessions and run usability labs to actively identify and resolve workflow friction.

• Audit early layouts and interfaces against usability best practices and design standards.

• Translate complex district data reporting and environmental workflows into clear, intuitive user journeys and behavioral personas.

• Structure massive, data-heavy reporting categories logically using techniques like card sorting.

• Integrate digital accessibility from the ground up, aligning design systems and user research with WCAG standards to ensure digital services are universally accessible to all Iowans.

• Partner with our lead Architect to scale technical user experience and research practices across multi-agency initiatives, chatbot interfaces, and global state projects.

• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional agency teams, product owners, and technical stakeholders to clearly articulate design findings and research data.

Requirements

Skills

Required/Preferred

Years

Candidate Experience

Demonstrated mastery in moderating user testing sessions, executing usability labs, performing heuristic evaluations, mapping user journeys, and managing information architecture.

Required

8

Practical knowledge of implementing WCAG 2.2 Level AA requirements, focus management, keyboard navigation mechanics, and color contrast principles within visual layouts.

Required

8

Ability to clearly explain user research insights, interface design choices, and usability standards to technical team members, developers, and agency stakeholders.

Required

8

Front-end engineering experience writing semantic HTML5 and modern, responsive CSS/SASS.

Required

8

Experience integrating interface designs into Angular or MVC .NET framework environments.

Required

8

Experience utilizing or extending the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS).

Required

8

User Experience Research, Usability testing, Usability labs, Heuristic evaluation, User journey mapping, Persona development

Required

8

Information architecture, Card sorting, Wireframing, Interactive prototyping, UX design, WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance, Focus management

Required

8

Keyboard navigation mechanics, Color contrast requirements, Accessibility auditing, technical communication, Design system vs usage

Required

8

Experience in implementing modern data architectures at an organization.

Required

8

Experience in a highly regulated industry performing statistical analysis and reporting.

Required

8

Benefits

Benefit Package includes:

• Paid Sick Time

• Insurance for Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Available

• 401(k) including Employer Match

• HSA, Short-term & Long-term Disability Available

• We are an EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer