Experience Designer
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. Our vision is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base so all people live long lives in full health.
IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.
The Global Impact Group (GIG) stewards IHME’s mission to deliver timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to inform health policy and practice. Within GIG, the Digital Experience (DigX) team aims to boost the impact of our population health evidence, taking human-centered design approaches to the definition, rollout, and improvement of scalable online tools for key audiences such as scientists, policymakers, civil society organizations, and the media.
The Digital Experience (DigX) team is new to IHME, and we are looking for an Experience Designer with a broad skillset with depth in research. We are modernizing our existing online presence and need to start identifying opportunities for new tools and experiences. We are looking for someone to bring experience deconstructing complex design challenges and transforming them into simple, intuitive solutions.
Our organization is steeped in rigorous scientific research, so we are excited about people who are intellectually curious about public health data and have a track record of simplifying experiences that display data and graphic visualizations.
Customer Advocacy
You will promote the value of human-centered design within the organization and advocate on the customer’s behalf as you collaborate and review your design solutions with multiple internal teams.
User Experience Design and Strategy
Lead with Design Thinking methods to facilitate discovery activities, define problems, and create hypotheses. This role will be improving information architecture, interactions, and visual design. You will have the opportunity to use multiple methodologies to produce deliverables such as user flows, interactive prototypes, customer journey maps, and service blueprints. Know how to develop and communicate a vision, bring concepts to life, then iterate and refine them as you gather and factor in customer research and business requirements. You are skilled in using data to make decisions (analytics, user research, industry best practices) and can navigate between multiple teams to collaborate on solutions.
Research
You’ll explore user behaviors and motivations by conducting primary qualitative and quantitative research. Match research methods to design challenges and conduct activities such as task analysis, contextual inquiries, in-depth interviews, participatory workshops, surveys, usability testing, and logs analysis. You will also dive into information architecture using methods such as tree testing and card sorting.
Digital Brand Stewardship and Team Building
As a founding member, you will have the opportunity to have input on new processes and tools that will help the team run smoothly, including establishing a new design system. You will be excited about building and establishing new relationships with new colleagues and teams. You aren’t afraid to experiment, wear many hats, and grow with the team. This position is contingent upon project funding availability.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
UX design and strategy
• Create or refine problem statements and then design digital product solutions.
• Ideate and prototype using methods borrowing from multiple disciplines, including design thinking, product design, psychology, and marketing.
• Use a full-scale human-centered design (HCD) process to create experiences for web, email, and marketing campaigns.
• Help guide product strategy and make design decisions that align to the user experience vision and roadmaps.
• Partner closely with the development team to consult on challenges that arise when implementing designs, update design specs to match decisions made during the build, and validate all experiences before they are passed through cross-device testing.
• Collaborate with data visualization, graphic design, web content, and global engagement and outreach teams to ensure a consistent user experience across digital products.
• Create mobile-first designs that will scale across tablet and desktop breakpoints.
• Reorganize and label web products using information architecture best practices.
• Consult with other teams and provide feedback on their mockups and usability work that is outside of the prioritized product portfolio.
• Establish and grow a digital design system that supports the IHME brand and provides consistency across the web in partnership with the brand stewards in social media and graphic design.
Research
• Identify research questions and facilitate the definition of hypotheses to prove or disprove.
• Select appropriate research methods for a variety of business and customer design challenges.
• Design and synthesize qualitative and quantitative studies.
• Conduct heuristic evaluations and/or cognitive walkthroughs to help generate an ongoing backlog.
• Communicate user research findings with cross-functional partners to drive organizational change and support your UX designs.
Communication
• Collaborate closely with scientific research teams, graphic designers, editors, developers, product owners, and other members of the Global Impact Group to create and improve digital experiences on IHME’s platforms.
• Participate in the quality assurance (QA) process to ensure new or existing features conform to high UX and development standards.
• Align UX thinking to technology/frameworks decisions, project management, communications, support, and product strategy.
• Understand product specifications and document design work.
• Work with the program manager to ensure ongoing success of digital products at reaching target audiences and inspiring desired responses.
Knowledge Command
• Have a working knowledge of Design Thinking, human-centered design (HCD), a mix of UX research methods, designing accessible interfaces, and creating mobile-first designs that will scale across multiple breakpoints.
• Understand IHME’s health research and be eager to learn about global health and the significance of key findings in the broader global health context; employ subject-matter knowledge to deliver key findings in ways best suited for target audiences.
• Keep abreast of digital products from other public health and public policy organizations.
• Have a working knowledge of web technologies and the software development process.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
• Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, statistics, biostatistics, math, economics, quantitative social sciences, or related and four years of related work experience OR equivalent combination of education/experience.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
• Two years of demonstrated experience in creating and implementing successful UX designs AND one year of conducting a mix of research methods to support your design work such as, but not limited to, user interviews, usability studies, tree testing, cognitive walkthroughs, heuristic evaluations, and card sorting.
• Proficient with prototyping and collaboration tools such as Figma and Mural.
• Experience presenting and discussing design decisions with stakeholders with researched rationale.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative environment.
• Professional written and interpersonal skills when communicating with colleagues, customers, and clients.
• Diplomatic and exemplary interpersonal skills required. Must be agile at forming respectful and rewarding relationships with people with various levels of experience and expertise from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and professional settings.
• High proficiency of various UX methods and tools, including, but not limited to wireframes, journey mapping, information architecture, prototyping, documentation, evaluative and generative research.
• A commitment to working to alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME’s DEI statement here: http://www.healthdata.org/get-involved/careers/dei.
DESIRED REQUIREMENTS:
• A degree in user experience, human-centered design, interaction design, marketing, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Five years of demonstrated experience in creating and implementing successful UX designs and undertaking UX research processes.
• Experience developing tools that serve global audiences with a variety of cultural and linguistic settings, and with varying levels of technological access.
• Knowledge of content management systems purpose and structure.
• Experience working in an Agile team environment.
WORKING CONDITIONS:
• This position works on a global team and with a global network of stakeholders; as such, evening and weekend work may be required to fulfil job duties.
• This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the US. The UW is not able to sponsor visas for staff positions.
• Office is in Seattle, Washington. This position is eligible to work fully remote within the United States. Schedule can be flexible, final schedule will be determined by supervisor and team needs.
Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Workforce Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.