Senior UX Designer / Researcher (Accessibility Specialist)

Position Title: Senior UX Designer / Researcher (Accessibility Specialist)

Location: Des Moines, IA

Engagement Type: Contract

Work Mode: Hybrid / Remote (Local or regional candidates preferred for occasional in-office meetings)

Duration: ~9 Months (10/05/2026 06/30/2027)

Interview Type: Webcam or In-Person

Role Overview
A public sector client is seeking a communication-focused Senior UX Designer / Researcher to join a digital modernization team. This role is dedicated to user experience research, usability testing, workflow optimization, and accessibility standards across enterprise public initiatives and multi-agency systems. Coding is not required for this position.

Key Responsibilities
Design, plan, and execute formal user experience research to evaluate complex workflows and ensure intuitive digital applications.
Moderate hands-on user testing sessions and usability labs to identify and resolve workflow friction.
Audit early layouts and interfaces against usability best practices through heuristic evaluations.
Translate complex data reporting and administrative workflows into clear user journeys and behavioral personas.
Structure data-heavy reporting categories using information architecture techniques such as card sorting.
Align design systems and user research with WCAG digital accessibility standards.
Partner with lead UX architects and cross-functional teams to scale UX and research practices across state initiatives.
Clearly communicate research insights, UI design choices, and usability standards to technical team members, developers, and agency stakeholders.

Required Skills & Experience
8+ years of experience conducting formal UX research, usability testing, usability labs, and heuristic evaluations.
8+ years of experience in user journey mapping, persona development, information architecture, card sorting, wireframing, interactive prototyping, and UX design.
8+ years of experience applying WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance, focus management, keyboard navigation mechanics, color contrast principles, and accessibility auditing.
8+ years of experience in technical communication and presenting research findings to multi-disciplinary stakeholders.
Advanced proficiency in Figma, user flow creation, prototyping, and design documentation.

Preferred Skills
Experience with heat-mapping tools (e.g., Crazy Egg, Hotjar) and user behavior analytics.
Completion of Nielsen Norman Group training, Google UX Certification, or formal degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
Optional front-end engineering awareness (HTML5, responsive CSS/SASS, Angular, MVC .NET framework environments, or USWDS).

Additional Details
Work Schedule & Expenses: Local or regional candidates preferred to attend occasional in-office meetings in Des Moines, IA. Travel and related expenses will not be reimbursed.
Interview Dates: Candidate interviews will take place on September 14th and 15th. Availability on these dates is required.
Compliance Policy: Use of AI-generated responses during screenings or interviews is strictly prohibited. Selected candidates must complete state background check forms and fingerprinting prior to onboarding.