Designer/Researcher

Position summary

Nava is at the forefront of reimagining how our government serves its people, and we’re looking for a Designer/Researcher to help drive this mission forward.

As a Designer/Researcher at Nava, you’ll collaborate on the design and research efforts of our work with the government, for programs that affect millions of Americans. You’ll work on cross-functional teams, moving from concept to implementation and championing user needs with everything from user research to prototyping to designing systems. You’ll bring us closer to the people we ultimately serve, helping deliver high-quality work that is simple, empathetic, and accessible.

You will be working within the government ecosystem, collaborating dynamically with other government contractors and civil servants. This means you'll likely encounter different working styles, and cultural norms, and be responsible for maintaining order and focus in complex stakeholder ecosystems.

What you'll do

• Apply a service design mindset to challenges with a relentless focus on user needs
• Propel understanding of users, by running quantitative and qualitative user research initiatives and sharing findings with internal and external collaborators
• Drive research ideas from concept to production, from diagramming to drafting research plans to conducting user interviews
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary Nava product teams and government staff to drive service-level changes to product direction

Required skills

• At least two years of experience working as a service designer or researcher working with product teams within a professional working environment
• Experience mapping and driving systemic improvements within complex service environments
• Depth of experience in conducting, synthesizing, and communicating qualitative research
• Understanding of web and mobile user interface design best practices
• Relentlessly curious mindset, never satisfied with easy answers
• Equal parts systems thinker and advocate for users
• Highly resourceful, reliable, and detail-oriented
• Ability to think strategically around trade-offs and short term vs. long term benefits
• Ability to build and form strong relationships with the internal team and external partners
• An adaptive, empathetic, collaborative and positive mindset
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, technical and otherwise

Other requirements

All roles at Nava require the following:

• Legal authorization to work in the United States
• Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired
• Work authorization that doesn’t require visa sponsorship, now or in the future
• May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract