Designer Senior

ASM Research•Fairfax, VA

About The Position

The UI/UX Engineer/Designer Senior leads the design and implementation of user interfaces for mission-critical, web-based systems, ensuring cohesive, accessible, and high-quality user experiences across an enterprise portfolio. They partner with product leadership and senior engineers to define UX vision and strategy, architect complex workflows and information structures, and drive delivery of robust user-facing components in a highly regulated federal IT environment. This role owns design system governance, directs advanced user research, establishes UX metrics, and mentors journeyman staff while championing user-centered design across programs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human–Computer Interaction, Design, Computer Science, or related field, or equivalent relevant experience; advanced degree preferred.
Typically 7–10+ years of progressive experience in UI/UX design or engineering, including leadership of complex, multi-application initiatives.
Demonstrated experience owning UX strategy, leading design systems, and delivering end-to-end workflows for enterprise or government web applications.
Deep expertise with modern design tools (e.g., Figma) and design system collaboration workflows integrated with developer toolchains.
Strong knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and proven ability to partner with engineering on performant, accessible front-end implementation.
Experience leading UX for large-scale government or enterprise transformation programs in security-sensitive environments.
Ability to obtain and maintain a SECRET security clearance; U.S. citizenship required.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and leadership skills with experience mentoring designers and influencing senior stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Expertise with Figma-based design systems and cross-team collaboration practices.
Advanced UX or product design certification or recognized industry thought leadership (speaking, publications, flagship portfolio).
Experience establishing UX metrics frameworks and using analytics tools to inform design decisions.
Background driving UX for large-scale dashboard, workflow, or case management platforms in federal IT environments.

Responsibilities

Define UX vision and strategy for complex web applications, leading discovery, framing user problems, and translating business objectives into prioritized experience outcomes.
Architect information structures, navigation models, and page-level interaction patterns for enterprise dashboards, case management tools, and multi-step workflows, balancing usability with operational and regulatory constraints.
Own and evolve enterprise-grade design systems, establishing tokens, components, and usage guidelines that align visual design, accessibility, and front-end implementation across teams.
Design sophisticated prototypes that simulate real user scenarios, integrating conditional logic, data states, and micro-interactions to de-risk development of critical features.
Direct advanced user research activities, including stakeholder workshops, contextual inquiry, and longitudinal usability studies, and convert findings into UX roadmaps and backlog priorities.
Provide UX leadership in agile ceremonies, reviewing front-end implementation, giving design critiques, and ensuring features shipped match design specifications and accessibility standards.
Collaborate deeply with front-end and UX engineers, leveraging strong understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript frameworks, and design-to-dev handoff best practices to ensure feasibility and performance.
Establish and track UX success metrics (e.g., task success rates, error reduction, satisfaction scores), using analytics and experimentation to iterate on high-impact user journeys.
Mentor journeyman designers and engineers, offering guidance on design craft, research methods, and stakeholder communication in a highly regulated government context.