Lead UX Design Researcher

athenahealth•Boston, MA

9d•$130,000 - $222,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Help shape intuitive experiences that support medical coding, documentation, authorization, and revenue cycle management (RCM) workflows. The Lead UX Researcher, RCM Documentation will lead research and design for complex healthcare workflows, translating user needs and business requirements into effective experiences from concept through implementation. This role partners closely with Product, Engineering, and healthcare practices to improve accuracy, efficiency, and usability across interconnected clinical and revenue cycle workflows. This position is hybrid in Boston, MA and reports to the Director User Experience.

Requirements

5+ years of professional UX or product design experience, including demonstrated experience designing healthcare systems.
Experience using primary research methods such as user interviews, contextual inquiry, and observation.
Demonstrated ability to synthesize user research and feedback into clear design direction and product recommendations.
Experience designing enterprise, financial, healthcare, or other complex operational workflows.
Demonstrated experience leading significant design initiatives and building alignment among Product, Engineering, Design, and other partners.
Experience creating experience frameworks, information architecture, interaction designs, wireframes, prototypes, and detailed design specifications.
Experience using AI tools to support research, design, prototyping, or product development and the ability to evaluate and adapt these approaches as capabilities evolve.
Portfolio demonstrating problem framing, research synthesis, interaction design, and the rationale behind design decisions.
Ability to travel within the United States for healthcare practice visits approximately 15–25% annually.
Healthcare experience required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with healthcare revenue cycle management, medical billing, ambulatory or independent practice environments, healthcare AI applications, or AI-enabled product development processes is preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead user research using methods such as interviews, contextual inquiry, observation, and on-site practice visits to understand workflows, user needs, and business challenges.
Develop experience strategies, information architecture, workflows, prototypes, and detailed design specifications from early concepts through implementation.
Apply systems thinking across interconnected clinical and revenue cycle workflows, accounting for upstream inputs, downstream impacts, role handoffs, exceptions, and opportunities for automation.
Translate research findings, user feedback, competitive analysis, and industry insights into clear design priorities and recommendations.
Establish and communicate UX direction for complex initiatives, partnering with Product, Engineering, and Design to align decisions and manage dependencies across products and workflows.
Facilitate design discussions and usability evaluations with cross-functional partners and healthcare practice users, incorporating feedback throughout product development when appropriate.
Define and apply consistent interaction patterns and design approaches across related documentation, authorization, medical coding, and revenue cycle experiences.
Integrate AI tools into appropriate research, synthesis, design, and prototyping workflows; evaluate their usefulness and limitations, apply human judgment when interpreting AI-assisted outputs, and share effective practices with design and cross-functional partners.
Advance UX quality by contributing design expertise, research insights, and reusable practices across the broader product development organization.
Travel approximately 15–25% annually within the United States to conduct research and validate solutions with healthcare practices.