Strategic Design and Experience Lead - Military Community and Family Policy

Vistra Communications • Washington, DC

58d

About The Position

Vistra is seeking a Strategic Design and Experience Lead to serve as the Government’s primary design thought partner and customer experience strategist to the Military Community and Family Policy Outreach and Digital Enterprise Services (MODES III) contract in support of the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP). The Strategic Design and Experience Lead (SDEL) serves as the Government’s primary design thought partner and customer experience strategist, bridging the domains of Outreach & Engagement (O&E) and IT, Cybersecurity, and Data operations across the contract. This pivotal role brings vision and execution together by integrating human-centered design principles, brand strategy, and data-driven insights to shape how information, services, and digital experiences are delivered to the military community. The SDEL oversees and innovates the customer journey across all platforms and channels, ensuring that user experiences are accessible, modern, secure, and aligned with the organization’s mission. By fostering close collaboration between creative, outreach, and technical teams, the SDEL enables the seamless translation of customer feedback and emerging trends into actionable improvements, driving continuous optimization and ensuring all touchpoints meet the highest standards of usability, compliance, and impact.

Requirements

• A minimum of five years’ experience shaping and delivering strategic design, customer experience, and/or brand innovation initiatives for Government or largescale enterprise systems.
• A minimum of five years’ experience with human-centered design, analysis of user feedback and behavioral data, and/or creative/brand strategy.
• A minimum of three years’ experience providing design vision and innovation strategies to senior leadership, PMs, and product owners that align with organizational goals and objectives.
• A minimum of three years’ experience applying modern design practices, accessibility standards (e.g., Section 508/WCAG), and digital user experience principles, including managing UI/UX testing, evaluation, and optimization and developing UX strategies that incorporate journey mapping, usability testing, and iterative design in agile website and application development environments, to include native mobile applications, in support of enterprise initiatives and organizational goals and objectives.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Communications, Marketing, Human-Centered Design, or Business.
• T3 or T5 level clearance is required.

Nice To Haves

• Prefer experience working with or interpreting user-centered data, digital performance measures, or customer feedback and user insights to inform strategic goals.
• Prefer certifications in usability or UX design, project and program leadership (e.g., PMI Project Management Professional or PgMP), human-centered design, or analytics/marketing.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Government’s primary design thought partner and customer experience strategist, bridging O&E and IT, Cybersecurity, and Data activities to drive integration and alignment across all customer-facing initiatives.
• Champion human-centered design principles, ensuring that all products, communications, and digital experiences are accessible, intuitive, and tailored to the needs of military community end-users.
• Guide the creative and brand strategy, overseeing the translation of MC&FP’s mission, vision, and values into cohesive experiences and messaging that resonate across digital, print, and in-person platforms.
• Employ data-driven methods to interpret customer feedback and user analytics, collaborating with IT and O&E teams to deliver actionable insights that meaningfully inform experience and service delivery improvements.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration between O&E and IT/Technical teams to ensure creative solutions are technologically feasible, secure, compliant with relevant standards (e.g., Section 508, cybersecurity policies), and can be effectively implemented at scale.
• Oversee the design and delivery of digital and physical touchpoints, including websites, social platforms, applications, and stakeholder engagement materials, ensuring unified user journeys and seamless omnichannel experiences.
• Identify, recommend, and pilot innovative technologies, methods, and processes that advance the quality, impact, and efficiency of customer experiences, leveraging insights from both O&E outreach efforts and IT/data analytics.
• Facilitate workshops, design sprints, and strategic planning sessions involving both O&E and IT stakeholders to align goals, capture requirements, and co-create solutions for continuous customer experience improvement.
• Develop, maintain, and communicate standards, guidelines, and best practices for experience design, aligning them with technical, cybersecurity, and data governance frameworks to ensure sustainable, compliant, and future-focused solutions.
• Monitor and report on cross-domain experience, performance, and risk metrics; proactively provide the Government with recommendations for enhancements, optimizations, and innovative approaches that support MC&FP’s strategic goals.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Vistra provides medical, dental, and vision benefits, life and disability insurance, employer matching 401(k) retirement plan, Paid Time Off, Parental and Bereavement Leave, and Professional Development, among other benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees