Everforth ECS is seeking a Senior Human-Centered Design (HCD) Subject Matter Expert to work in our Arlington, VA office.
Everforth ECS is seeking a Senior HCD Subject Matter Expert to support the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). In this role, you will serve as the "voice of the user" within the Service Design & Governance Branch, working in tandem with our Senior Service Design Strategist.
While the Strategist focuses on the macro-level operating picture and governance bridges, your focus is on the micro-level validation: ensuring we build the right things. You will use rigorous research and participatory design to reduce technical debt and operational risk before code is ever written.
Position Summary
This is not a graphic design role; it is a requirements engineering and risk reduction role. You will deploy HCD methodologies—including contextual inquiry, usability testing, and co-design sessions—to validate service utility. Your primary goal is to ensure that engineering efforts on the TESS contract are grounded in verified user needs rather than assumptions.
Key Responsibilities
- Customer-Centric Research & Analysis
- Conduct deep-dive user research to identify key pain points across the CISA service portfolio.
- Engage directly with stakeholders to validate service utility, ensuring alignment with verified user needs.
- Translate qualitative research findings into actionable insights that inform technical requirements and reduce the risk of re-work.
- Co-Design & Facilitation
- Facilitate participatory design sessions and workshops with diverse, cross-functional teams (users, engineers, policy makers).
- Act as a bridge between technical teams and end-users, ensuring diverse perspectives are integrated into service improvement initiatives.
- Perform usability testing to validate design solutions and iterate rapidly based on feedback.
- Artifact Creation & Strategy
- Develop high-fidelity HCD artifacts, including User Journey Maps, Service Blueprints, User Personas, and Segmentations to guide decision-making.
- Partner with the Senior Service Design Strategist to ensure these artifacts integrate into the broader "Common Operating Picture" of the service lifecycle.
- Create frameworks and design standards for portfolio-wide service offerings to ensure consistency.
- Technical Debt Mitigation
- Identify sources of technical debt caused by poor user alignment and propose strategies to mitigate these risks.
- Advocate for CX best practices within the organization to influence culture and shift the focus from "output" to "outcome".
- Bachelors degree or equivalent experience
- 7+ years of experience conducting and synthesizing user research, usability studies and stakeholder analysis
- US citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain DHS Suitability (EOD).
- Methodology Expert: Deep expertise in HCD methodologies, including interaction design, service design, information architecture, and content strategy.
- Research Synthesis: Proven experience conducting and synthesizing user research, usability studies, and stakeholder analysis into clear reports.
- Facilitation: Exceptional skills in leading co-design workshops and managing diverse stakeholder groups.
- Risk & Debt Fluency: In-depth knowledge of technical debt management and operational risk—you must be able to explain the cost of bad design to leadership.
- Artifact Proficiency: Experience creating professional-grade personas, journey maps, and blueprints.
- Collaboration: Strong communication abilities with a track record of aligning multi-disciplinary, product-centric teams.
ECS Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about ECS and has not been reviewed or approved by ECS.
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Healthcare Strength — ECS advertises multiple national-network medical plan options with HSA eligibility alongside dental and vision coverage. Coverage generally begins quickly and is paired with company-paid short- and long-term disability, adding stability to the health package.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) with Safe Harbor and immediate vesting on employer contributions is emphasized, with an employer match available. Access to an employee stock purchase plan via the parent company provides an additional savings avenue.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave up to 30 days, adoption assistance, and other family-oriented leaves are highlighted. Feedback suggests these offerings add meaningful value beyond base pay for many roles.
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What We Do
ECS, a segment of ASGN (NYSE: ASGN), delivers advanced solutions and services in cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), application and IT modernization, and science and engineering. The company solves critical, complex challenges for customers across the U.S. public sector, defense, intelligence and commercial industries. ECS maintains partnerships with leading cloud, cybersecurity, and AI/ML providers and holds specialized certifications in their technologies. Headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, ECS has more than 3,400 employees throughout the U.S. and has been recognized as a Top Workplace by The Washington Post for the last five years.
