Content Designer & User Researcher - 1053

City and County of San Francisco • San Francisco, CA

14h • $134,082 - $168,688

About The Position

The San Francisco Planning Department is recruiting one full-time Permanent Exempt Content Designer & User Researcher for PermitSF. Under the general direction of the PermitSF Portal Program Director, this senior-level role supports the end-to-end design and improvement of PermitSF services. The position plans and conducts user research, turns evidence into clear and accessible content and service recommendations, and helps make public-facing permitting experiences understandable, usable, and responsive to applicants and City staff.

The role works across the implementation lifecycle, from discovery and future-state design through configuration, testing, launch, stabilization, and continuous improvement. It collaborates with customers, permit staff, implementation and configuration teams, communications staff, policy and legal partners, subject-matter experts, and the PermitSF platform vendor to identify needs, simplify complex requirements, and shape consistent experiences across permit types.

Deliverables include plain-language content, research plans and findings, journey maps, service blueprints, prototypes, and structured recommendations that inform business-process, configuration, product, and launch decisions. The incumbent works under general direction, exercises independent judgment, leads complex deliverables, and communicates evidence-based recommendations to cross-functional stakeholders. The role calls for a collaborative, solution-oriented approach, resilience in navigating challenges and competing priorities, and practical, evidence-based solutions that improve user experience.

PermitSF is San Francisco’s citywide permitting transformation initiative. It partners across departments to simplify permitting, improve customer experience, modernize business processes, and expand integrated online permitting services through the PermitSF Portal. The initiative aims to make permitting easier, more cost-effective, transparent, predictable, and efficient for residents, businesses, property owners, applicants, and City staff.

Requirements

• An associate degree in business administration, public administration, information systems, economics, finance, computer science, UX/UI design, or a closely related field from an accredited college or university; alternatively, at least 60 semester or 90 quarter credits, including at least 20 semester or 30 quarter credits in one of those fields or a closely related field.
• Three years of experience in the information systems field, including system analysis, business-process design, development and implementation of business application solutions, or IT project management.
• One year of additional qualifying experience may substitute for the required degree; completion of the 1010 Information Systems Trainee Program may also substitute for the degree.
• Applicants must meet the minimum qualifications by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.
• Applicants must clearly explain in their application how they meet the minimum qualifications and may be required to verify qualifying education and experience during recruitment and selection.

Nice To Haves

• Experience designing content for complex digital services, forms, transactional workflows, or government services.
• Experience applying UX writing, editing, and information-architecture skills to simplify complex legal, policy, operational, and technical requirements while maintaining accuracy.
• Experience planning and conducting research with varied audiences and applying findings to content, service, process, product, and system-configuration decisions.
• Experience creating journey maps, service blueprints, process maps, content models, prototypes, research reports, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience applying digital accessibility standards and inclusive-design practices to forms, content, and end-to-end service experiences.
• Experience facilitating workshops, co-design sessions, usability tests, and cross-functional reviews with technical teams, policy, legal, communications, operations, and subject-matter experts.
• Ability to identify and analyze whether user-facing problems arise from content, processes, policies, system configuration, technology, training, or a combination of factors.
• Experience working in agile or iterative environments and collaborating with designers, analysts, developers, vendors, and operational teams through launch and continuous improvement.
• Experience with permitting, licensing, regulatory, civic technology, or other complex public services.

Responsibilities

• Plan and conduct user research with applicants, residents, businesses, permit staff, and other users throughout discovery, design, testing, launch, and continuous improvement.
• Select and apply qualitative and quantitative research methods, including interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing, surveys, and facilitated feedback sessions.
• Synthesize findings to identify user needs, current-state pain points, workflow gaps, accessibility barriers, and opportunities for technology or business-process improvement.
• Create and maintain service blueprints, journey maps, process maps, content models, prototypes, and other artifacts describing end-to-end applicant and staff experiences.
• Design, write, edit, and govern clear, concise, accessible, plain-language content for online forms, instructions, eligibility questions, notifications, help text, confirmation messages, and related public-facing services.
• Translate complex legal, policy, technical, and operational requirements into understandable content, functional requirements, and user-interaction recommendations.
• Advise implementation and configuration leads about how workflow, form, naming, notification, and business-rule decisions affect applicant and staff experience.
• Turn research evidence and customer pain points into prioritized recommendations, acceptance criteria, user stories, and product feature requests for PermitSF leadership and the platform vendor.
• Facilitate content-design critiques, co-design sessions, workshops, and cross-functional reviews to resolve conflicting requirements and reach implementable decisions.
• Plan and facilitate soft launches and guided first-use sessions with selected customers, collect real-time feedback, and assess readiness for broader release.
• Identify and document content defects, usability issues, bugs, and configuration problems, and coordinate resolution and retesting with appropriate teams.
• Partner with communications and web-content teams on website updates, launch information, and customer communications while maintaining PermitSF content standards, voice, and tone.
• Maintain organized research records, content inventories, decision logs, reusable patterns, findings, and recommendations in line with privacy, accessibility, and program-governance requirements.
• Analyze customer feedback, staff reports, support trends, analytics, and operational data to recommend and evaluate improvements to PermitSF systems, business processes, and active digital services.
• Communicate research findings, risks, trade-offs, and recommendations to managers, frontline staff, technical teams, vendors, executives, and other stakeholders.
• Perform other class-appropriate duties and special assignments advancing PermitSF’s citywide permitting-transformation objectives.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree