Product Designer
About The Position
Skyward is seeking a Product Designer to own the UX and UI for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) enterprise AI platform and CMS AI products. The designer will take work from concept through polished, high-fidelity, USWDS-aligned designs in Figma, creating intuitive and build-ready experiences. The role combines strong visual and interaction design craft with evidence-informed research, rapid prototyping, accessibility, and collaboration across engineering, AI, and CMS stakeholders. The designer will also develop and maintain reusable design-system components and patterns, map user journeys and service experiences, and incorporate research findings into design decisions. Accessibility must be built in from the outset, with designs meeting Section 508 and WCAG requirements. Skyward describes its culture as people-centered, collaborative, supportive, curious, authentic, and focused on civic technology and modernizing government services.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree and at least 5 years of experience in UX/product design, including hands-on research exposure, or in a closely related field.
- Portfolio demonstrating strong visual and interaction design, including real products taken from concept to polished, shipped UI.
- Deep proficiency in Figma, including high-fidelity design, prototyping, and building or maintaining design systems and component libraries.
- Solid grasp of UX fundamentals, including information architecture, interaction patterns, and usability principles.
- Ability to conduct lightweight research to validate design work.
- Familiarity with USWDS and federal customer-experience mandates.
- Accessibility awareness and ability to incorporate Section 508 and WCAG into the design process.
- Ability to lead discovery research as well as design.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust security clearance.
- Acceptable results on a background investigation.
Nice To Haves
- Front-end familiarity with HTML/CSS or experience designing closely with React teams.
- Experience designing data-heavy or AI-driven products, such as dashboards, search, chat, or knowledge tools.
- Previous experience supporting CMS or another federal agency.
Responsibilities
- Own UX and UI design for CMS’s enterprise AI platform and AI products from concept through polished, high-fidelity, USWDS-aligned designs in Figma.
- Create sketches, wireframes, and interactive prototypes, iterating quickly to make proposed solutions tangible to stakeholders.
- Create and maintain reusable design-system components, patterns, and standards to support consistency and scalability.
- Plan and conduct lightweight user research, including usability sessions, interviews, and feedback loops, and incorporate findings into design work.
- Develop user flows, journey maps, and service blueprints to show how people use AI services and identify friction.
- Design to Section 508 and WCAG accessibility requirements from the beginning of the design process.
- Collaborate with engineers, the AI team, and CMS stakeholders, and hand off designs that are ready for development.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
- 15 days of paid leave.
- 7 days of sick leave.
- 2 days of bereavement leave.
- 11 paid federal holidays.
- Up to 40 hours for jury duty.
- 401(k) with a 4% employer contribution and no vesting period.
- Up to 4 weeks of paid paternity and maternity leave.
- Company-provided laptop.
- $5,000 per year for professional development.
- $600 per year for technical supplies and equipment.
- $2,000 referral bonus.
- Life and disability insurance.
- HSA and FSA.
- Legal Shield and ID Shield voluntary benefits.
- Flexible working hours and remote-work opportunities.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
