Design Lead (UX)

Location: Remote within the United States, excluding its territories. Legal authorization to work in the US is required; visa sponsorship is not provided.

Salary: $120,000–$135,000 per year

Company

hirify.global is a consulting company headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, helping governments and organizations improve public services through technology, communications, data, and human-centered design.

What you will do

• Lead human-centered design activities across the data.CMS.gov program and continuously refine design decisions through testing and feedback.
• Plan and facilitate interviews, usability tests, contextual inquiries, card sorts, surveys, and other user research activities.
• Translate research findings into personas, journey maps, user flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity Figma designs.
• Own the design system, maintain component reuse and visual consistency, and lead visual QA for design-to-development parity.
• Ensure accessibility compliance, including WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508 requirements, across public-facing flows and data product pages.
• Present research findings and design rationale to CMS stakeholders, product owners, leadership, and technical teams.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in human-centered design or a related field and at least five years of experience in human-centered design and user research for public-facing data websites.
• Experience leading design for a public-facing federal government digital platform, with an end-to-end portfolio from research through shipped product.
• Expertise in Figma for interaction design, prototyping, design system management, and design-to-development collaboration.
• Strong knowledge of Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards, including interpreting accessibility audits.
• Experience with Agile delivery, cross-functional collaboration, content management interfaces, editorial workflows, and iterative release cycles.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance determination and authorization to work in the United States.

Nice to have

• Experience supporting data.CMS.gov or another CMS open data platform.
• Experience designing visualizations, dashboards, interactive tools, and downloadable products for large datasets.
• Experience navigating the Paperwork Reduction Act process for federally sponsored user research.

Culture & Benefits

• People-first culture focused on collaboration, transparency, continuous improvement, and lasting impact.
• Fully remote work with flexible hours.
• 401(k) with matching incentive and commuter benefits.
• Medical, dental, vision, flexible spending, short-term disability, and life insurance benefits.
• Paid time off, 11 paid holidays, and parental leave.

Hiring process

• A relevant design portfolio is required, including a password if access is controlled.
• Participation in an oral presentation phase is expected, including presenting the design vision and methodology to CMS stakeholders.