Junior UX Designer
Bixal
Who we are:
Bixal is a mission-driven, woman-owned small business determined to improve people's lives through human-centered strategies and transformative technologies, with a firm belief that everyone has the right to an effective government.
We deliver on this belief by partnering with leading Federal agencies to design, develop, and deliver powerful customer experiences through holistic digital product solutions and strategic communications initiatives––bringing a high standard and unique creative energy to our clients––and our wonderfully diverse culture is what makes it all possible.
Bixal unites different people with different perspectives from all over the world! We provide our team with an open and empowered environment where collaboration thrives and solutions flourish.
Location:
This is a fully remote position.
What will you do?
As a Junior UX Designer, you will support an internal product development team focused on researching, designing, and building digital tools to support Bixal’s professional development and other activities. You will work closely with the Product Manager to plan research and conduct research activities, synthesize findings, explore design concepts, and support development.
Responsibilities:
- General expectations: Explain design decisions, work collaboratively and have a responsibility as part of a service. Work independently after being given direction by more senior designers. Independently identify user issues and important needs.
- Carry out a wide variety of research, design, and prototyping tasks, including: Understanding product goals and user needs, conducting concept and usability testing, and gathering feedback. Create personas based on user research and collected data. Develop wireframes and prototypes around customer needs. Prepare and present rough drafts to internal teams and key stakeholders. Identify and troubleshoot usability issues. Create mockups and prototypes, share progress, and interact with the team using a version control system.
- Collaborate in an agile environment with multi-disciplinary teams including strategy, research, content, visual, and development.
- Create storyboards and step-by-step flows of varying resolution to communicate a person’s experience through a system.
- Conduct evaluative user research (for example, user testing of prototypes or existing products, heuristic analyses, and interviews).
- Work integrally with developers to shepherd designs through the development process.
- Promote the importance of human-centered design practice throughout the organization and with Bixal’s clients.
- Implement, maintain, and expand upon project plans with emphasis on high degree of quality in conjunction product managers and development managers.
- Keep abreast of industry trends and tools and communicate findings out to the team/Bixal.
- Help to build a culture of continuous improvement across all levels of design — strategic, structural, and surface — where designers (including yourself) feel challenged with meaningful work and see a clear path for growth.
- Perform other duties as required.
Qualifications:
- 1-3 years of experience in UX, product design, or commensurate work experience.
- Bachelor’s degree.
- Must have a portfolio of experience that demonstrates previous work.
- Must be able to obtain Public Trust clearance.
Skills:
- Agile mindset. You know about agile methodology and the ways you can apply the principles in practice. You can take an open-minded approach; you know why iteration is important and can do it quickly.
- Communication. You can translate technical information and communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders. You know how to facilitate discussions within a multidisciplinary team, with potentially difficult dynamics. You can act as an advocate for your team. You are good at managing differing perspectives.
- Team collaboration. You can contribute to the work of others while having the ability to motivate and empower teams. You know how to create the right environment for teams to work in and can facilitate the best team make-up depending on the situation. You can recognize and deal with issues.
- Evidence- and context-based design. You can generate multiple solutions to a problem and test them.
- Working within constraints. You understand the value of policy, legislative, regulatory and operational constraints and find the simplest, shortest and fastest solution for users.
- Leadership and guidance. You are committed to agreed good practice for the team, teaching new starters and challenging substandard work by peers. You can recommend decisions and describe the reasoning behind these. You can identify and articulate technical disputes between direct peers and local stakeholders. You know about the importance of team dynamics and collaboration. You understand the importance of feedback.
- Prototyping. You know when to use a specific prototyping technique or method (for example, paper vs. wireframe vs. high-resolution). You can show the value of prototyping to the team.
- Strategic thinking. You know about the strategic context of your work and why it is important. You support strategic planning in an administrative capacity.
- Human-centered. You can identify needs and engage with users or stakeholders to collate user needs evidence. You understand and can define research that fits user needs. You can use quantitative and qualitative data about users to turn user focus into outcomes.
- Inclusive design mindset. You know about the principles of creating accessible products and services and why it is important. You have a basic understanding of the main categories of disabilities, limitations, or constraints that affect how people use digital services. You are able to consider these needs in your work and advocate for this mindset among your team.
Nice to Haves:
- Previous experience in a product design/delivery environment
- UX Design Immersion course
Perks & Benefits:
Competitive base salary
Flex hours
Work from home flexibility
401K with matching incentive
Medical/Dental/Vision benefits
Company provided short-term disability
Company provided life insurance
Commuter benefits
Generous PTO
Paid Holidays
Professional development opportunities
No recruiters or agencies please. Bixal is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a safe, inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds.