Civic Designer, Innovation Team

State of Maryland•Anne Arundel, MD

7h•Onsite

About The Position

The Civic Designer is appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of, the Governor. As part of the Innovation Team, the Civic Designer deploys design-based innovation approaches to support Maryland communities, with a focus on reducing child poverty and increasing economic mobility. The role supports research, synthesis, framework development, idea generation, prototyping, and testing, primarily through design research, facilitation, and prototyping with communities and government partners. The Civic Designer also uses visual and communication design skills to shape how the team's work is shared, creating reports, presentations, data visuals, templates, and stories that make insights clear and compelling. The position combines visual design craft with fieldwork involving community members and State colleagues. The role is based in Annapolis and Baltimore City, Maryland.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
At least two years of professional experience in design, design research, user experience, service design, communications, community engagement, public policy, or a related field.
Professional experience must include conducting user or community research and producing visual or communication design work, demonstrated in a portfolio submitted with the application.
Experience applying equity-centered design approaches to projects and workstreams.
Experience conducting user research and generating actionable next steps.
Experience working across government, nonprofit, and private sectors.
Strong visual and communication design skills, evidenced by a portfolio.
Customer service mindset and commitment to relationship-building within and beyond government.
Ability to simplify information and concepts, formulate options and recommendations, and communicate with all levels of management and workforce to achieve objectives.
Steady and resolute manner that inspires confidence and trust.
Ability to maintain positions backed by facts while respectfully working through differences and alternative views.
Effective listening skills, including probing, surfacing, and sharing new ideas and ways of working.
High energy, resilience, and resourcefulness.
Self-starter motivated by the achievement of the organization, team, and self, in that order.
Organization and ability to manage and prioritize multiple priorities and work projects.
Teamwork skills, including ability to organize, assign, and track completion of work by direct and indirect team members.
Flexibility and adaptability while maintaining focus on objectives.
Leads by example and serves as a hands-on role model.
Highest personal standards of integrity.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency in Figma, FigJam, Adobe InDesign, or comparable tools.
Experience using AI tools responsibly in design research, synthesis, or prototyping.

Responsibilities

Design, plan, and deliver qualitative design research.
Guide Innovation Team colleagues and collaborators through research, synthesis, framework development, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
Plan and run co-design workshops with stakeholders.
Engage community organizations working on economic mobility and child poverty.
Turn research findings into compelling formats such as stories, videos, exhibits, and design artifacts.
Apply UI/UX best practices to create seamless experiences for government staff and Maryland communities.
Design and produce reports, slide decks, visuals, templates, and other work products for government leaders, community members, and partners.
Develop tools and methods that government can use to improve service and program delivery.
Support agile ways of working across the team and state government.
Stay current on trends in civic design and public innovation, including responsible use of AI in design research, synthesis, and prototyping.
Share learnings and help the team test new approaches.
Perform other duties and projects as assigned.