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Join us as we work to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.
Position Summary
Help shape the next generation of athenahealth’s electronic health record and physician practice management products by designing solutions that simplify complex healthcare workflows. The Lead Designer partners with Product Management and Engineering to translate research insights, user needs, and product strategy into clear workflows, interaction models, and design solutions, with significant focus on scheduling and administrative experiences. This is an individual contributor role based in Austin, TX. This role reports to a Senior Manager or Director, Experience Design.
About the Team
The Experience Design team creates user-centered solutions that reduce complexity across clinical and operational healthcare workflows and improve the daily experience of healthcare professionals. The team partners closely with Product Management, Engineering, research, and design system teams to define and deliver product experiences from discovery through implementation. Designers use user research, behavioral data, product analytics, design systems, prototyping tools, and AI-assisted workflows to inform design decisions. The team also contributes to AI-enabled product capabilities that support clinical productivity, scheduling efficiency, and decision-making.
Essential Job Responsibilities
- Lead problem framing and solution development for complex clinical, scheduling, and operational workflow challenges from discovery through delivery.
- Design efficient, safe, and intuitive workflows that coordinate patients, providers, and operational staff across healthcare environments.
- Create design artifacts ranging from early concepts to detailed interaction flows, prototypes, and behavioral specifications that guide product development.
- Translate UX concepts into clear workflows and interaction specifications that support scalable software development and implementation.
- Partner with Product Management and Engineering throughout planning, design, and development to translate product strategy into clear experiences and ensure delivered solutions meet design intent.
- Plan and conduct user, client, and domain research, using research insights, behavioral data, and product analytics to inform design decisions and evaluate product success.
- Apply established design system patterns and collaborate with design system teams to evolve components and interaction patterns based on emerging product needs.
- Ensure product experiences meet UX quality standards for workflow design, interaction design, accessibility, and product content.
- Use AI-assisted tools to support research synthesis, design exploration, and prototyping, and contribute to AI-enabled product capabilities that support clinical productivity, scheduling efficiency, and decision-making.
- Travel approximately 5% annually.
Additional Job Responsibilities
- Facilitate discovery, problem-framing, and solution workshops with cross-functional teams.
- Partner with Product Management and Engineering to establish and support product and business goals.
- Draft UX workflows and interaction models that guide detailed software design and development.
- Guide less experienced designers through mentorship, design reviews, and coaching.
- Promote effective design practices, including systems thinking, design-to-engineering alignment, and data-informed product design.
- Contribute to team-wide initiatives that improve design processes, tools, and operating models.
- Build understanding of healthcare users and their operational environments across Product Management and Engineering teams.
Expected Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Business, or a related discipline.
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in UX or product design.
- Experience designing complex workflow systems within enterprise or SaaS products.
- Experience with UX design practices, including interaction design, prototyping, visual communication, and translating UX concepts into clear workflows, interaction models, or behavioral specifications.
- Experience facilitating user research, synthesizing findings, and applying insights to product and design decisions.
- Experience collaborating with Product Management and Engineering teams in modern software development and delivery environments.
- Experience designing within established design systems and contributing feedback to improve shared components and patterns.
- Familiarity with modern design tools and AI-assisted design or research workflows.
- Ability to communicate clearly and influence project direction while working across functions without direct authority.
- Ability to navigate ambiguity and changing priorities, apply systems thinking, evaluate alternatives, and connect user needs with business and technical requirements.
Expected Compensation
The base salary range shown reflects the full range for this role from minimum to maximum. At athenahealth, base pay depends on multiple factors, including job-related experience, relevant knowledge and skills, how your qualifications compare to others in similar roles, and geographical market rates. Base pay is only one part of our competitive Total Rewards package - depending on role eligibility, we offer both short and long-term incentives by way of an annual discretionary bonus plan, variable compensation plan, and equity plans.
About athenahealth
Our vision: In an industry that becomes more complex by the day, we stand for simplicity. We offer IT solutions and expert services that eliminate the daily hurdles preventing healthcare providers from focusing entirely on their patients — powered by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.
Our company culture: Our talented employees — or athenistas, as we call ourselves — spark the innovation and passion needed to accomplish our vision. We are a diverse group of dreamers and do-ers with unique knowledge, expertise, backgrounds, and perspectives. We unite as mission-driven problem-solvers with a deep desire to achieve our vision and make our time here count. Our award-winning culture is built around shared values of inclusiveness, accountability, and support.
Our DEI commitment: Our vision of accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all requires addressing the inequities that stand in the way. That's one reason we prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of our business, from attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce to maintaining an inclusive environment for athenistas, our partners, customers and the communities where we work and serve.
What we can do for you:
Along with health and financial benefits, athenistas enjoy perks specific to each location, including commuter support, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, employee resource groups, and collaborative workspaces — some offices even welcome dogs.
We also encourage a better work-life balance for athenistas with our flexibility. While we know in-office collaboration is critical to our vision, we recognize that not all work needs to be done within an office environment, full-time. With consistent communication and digital collaboration tools, athenahealth enables employees to find a balance that feels fulfilling and productive for each individual situation.
In addition to our traditional benefits and perks, we sponsor events throughout the year, including book clubs, external speakers, and hackathons. We provide athenistas with a company culture based on learning, the support of an engaged team, and an inclusive environment where all employees are valued.
Learn more about our culture and benefits here: athenahealth.com/careers
https://www.athenahealth.com/careers/equal-opportunity
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Business, or a related discipline
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in UX or product design
- Experience designing complex workflow systems within enterprise or SaaS products
- Experience with interaction design, prototyping, visual communication, workflows, interaction models, and behavioral specifications
- Experience facilitating user research, synthesizing findings, and applying insights to product and design decisions
- Experience collaborating with Product Management and Engineering in modern software development and delivery environments
- Experience designing within established design systems and contributing feedback to improve shared components and patterns
- Familiarity with modern design tools and AI-assisted design or research workflows
- Ability to communicate clearly and influence project direction across functions without direct authority
- Ability to navigate ambiguity, apply systems thinking, evaluate alternatives, and connect user, business, and technical requirements
athenahealth Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about athenahealth and has not been reviewed or approved by athenahealth.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical, dental, and vision options alongside additional protections like accident and critical illness coverage. Mental health support and EAP-style counseling resources are also part of the package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-away offerings include PTO that covers vacation and sick time, paid holidays, and options for leaves of absence and sabbaticals. Flexible time off is positioned as a meaningful part of the overall rewards package for some roles.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits include a 401(k) plan with employer matching, supported by broader financial wellbeing resources. Equity and performance bonuses are also referenced as part of total rewards.
athenahealth Insights
What We Do
athenahealth strives to cure complexity and simplify the practice of healthcare. Our innovative technology includes electronic health records, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement solutions that help healthcare providers, administrators, and practices eliminate friction for patients while getting paid efficiently. athenahealth partners with practices with purpose-built software backed by expertise to produce the insights needed to drive better clinical and financial outcomes. We’re inspired by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com
Why Work With Us
We are here to make an impact on the healthcare industry at scale. We enable our diverse teams to move fast, grapple with interesting technical challenges, and innovate at every level. We are on a modernization journey and build on the hybrid cloud. We deliver best-in-class solutions to help every patient receive the best possible care.
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