Cogent People

Designer

• Lead the development and execution of human-centered design strategies for federal health IT programs
• Define and institutionalize HCD methodologies, standards, and best practices
• Guide the integration of UX research and UI design into agile delivery lifecycles
• Serve as the primary advocate for user needs across business, technical, and policy stakeholders
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and user-focused design culture
• Assign work, manage priorities, and ensure high-quality deliverables across the HCD function
• Design and oversee qualitative and quantitative research efforts including interviews, usability testing, journey mapping, and surveys
• Synthesize complex user, stakeholder, and policy inputs into actionable insights and design recommendations
• Ensure research reflects the needs of diverse user groups, including state Medicaid agencies and CMS stakeholders
• Translate findings into personas, service blueprints, workflows, and experience maps
• Provide hands-on leadership in UI design, interaction design, and information architecture
• Establish and maintain design systems, UI standards, and accessibility compliance (e.g., Section 508)
• Oversee the creation of wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs aligned with user needs and technical constraints
• Ensure consistency and usability across complex, multi-user systems
• Partner with product owners, engineers, data teams, and program leadership to align design with system capabilities and constraints
• Facilitate design workshops, stakeholder interviews, and co-creation sessions
• Communicate design rationale and research findings to technical and non-technical audiences, including federal clients
• Support proposal and capture efforts by contributing to solution design, win themes, and UX differentiators

Human-Centered Design Research Lead – Federal Health