Design and Research Lead

Experience Design And Research Lead

Apex Systems is a world-class technology services business that incorporates industry insights and experience to deliver solutions that fulfill our clients' digital visions.

Apex Systems has an opportunity for an Experience Design And Research Lead. For applicants who are interested in this opportunity, send your updated resume to Gabriel Ortega, Account Manager, at

Position:
Experience Design And Research Lead

Location:

McCormack Building, 1 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108 (Hybrid)

Duration:
Thru 6/30/27 (with possibility of extension)

Pay: $80-$82/hour

Experience Strategy & Service Design Leadership

• Lead experience strategy, experience research, service design, and experience architecture efforts for the Commonwealth's eProcurement Transformation Initiative (EPIC).
• Define and align constituent needs, business goals, service workflows, policy requirements, accessibility standards, and technical feasibility.
• Help shape the future-state vision for a modern procurement ecosystem serving state agencies, vendors, local governments, and the public.

User Research & Experience Design

• Conduct and lead constituent research activities to understand user needs, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.
• Develop and maintain experience artifacts including: journey maps, service blueprints, personas, information architecture models, task flows, wireframes and prototypes, experience requirements documentation.
• Drive iterative testing and validation of designs and solutions through usability research and stakeholder feedback.

Product & Transformation Collaboration

• Partner with Product Managers, Product Owners, Solution Architects, business stakeholders, vendors, and executive leadership.
• Facilitate discovery workshops, design sessions, and stakeholder engagement activities.
• Translate complex procurement workflows, policy requirements, and research findings into actionable recommendations and product roadmap priorities.

Experience Governance & Quality Assurance

• Establish constituent experience standards, accessibility requirements, interaction patterns, and success metrics.
• Define methods for measuring user adoption, satisfaction, service quality, and business outcomes.
• Review vendor deliverables and design artifacts to ensure alignment with user needs, Commonwealth standards, and operational readiness requirements.

AI-Enabled Innovation & Modernization

• Support the design of AI-enabled, automation-supported experiences and services.
• Evaluate opportunities for AI, analytics, search, reporting, and decision-support capabilities within the future procurement platform.
• Help guide the transformation from legacy systems to a modern, flexible, and user-centered procurement ecosystem.

Stakeholder Management & Communication

• Present research findings, design recommendations, risks, tradeoffs, and decision points to project leadership.
• Document key experience decisions and ensure alignment across project work streams.
• Build consensus among business, technical, and executive stakeholders in a complex public-sector environment.

Additional Responsibilities

• Participate in onsite meetings, executive sessions, workshops, training, and project activities as required.
• Perform all other duties and project-related tasks assigned by project leadership.

• 8+ years of experience leading experience design and research efforts for large-scale digital products, platforms, or enterprise solutions.
• Expertise in:
  User Experience (UX) Design, Service Design, Experience Research, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Accessibility and Inclusive Design, Rapid Prototyping, Content Design.
• 3+ years leading UX strategy, service design, and research initiatives for enterprise systems or workflow-intensive platforms.
• Experience creating personas, journey maps, service blueprints, wireframes, prototypes, and usability criteria.
• Experience working closely with business stakeholders, technical teams, vendors, and executive leadership.
• Experience supporting AI-enabled solution development and leveraging AI capabilities to improve user experiences.
• Excellent communication,…