Digital Strategy & User Experience; UX Lead

Our Mission:

At Dobbs Defense, we deliver mission-centric IT, Cyber, and data analytics solutions for our government and commercial clients through the convergence of automation, innovation, training, and education. Delivering high-quality IT, cybersecurity, and data analytics solutions through proven and innovative methods is our vision.

Dobbs Defense Solutions is looking for a Digital Strategy & User Experience (UX) Lead to add to our team. The Digital Strategy & UX Lead serves as the principal authority for aligning user needs, business objectives, and platform capabilities during Phase 1 – Strategy & Scoping. This role is accountable for ensuring that all scoping, roadmap, and pilot recommendations are grounded in evidence-based user insights, constrained by the Maryland Drupal Platform and Maryland Web Design System (MDWDS), and optimized for speed to delivery.

Unlike exploratory UX research roles, this position is intentionally execution-oriented, focusing on rapid synthesis of existing research, targeted validation activities, and structured stakeholder facilitation. The Digital Strategy & UX Lead ensures that MDH exits Phase 1 with a clear, defensible redesign scope, defined success metrics, and a migration approach that minimizes rework in downstream phases.

• Serve as the UX and digital strategy authority for Phase 1, advising MDH stakeholders on redesign scope decisions, content prioritization, and user experience trade-offs.
• Translate MDH’s mission, policy drivers, and public-facing service objectives into measurable digital goals and KPIs (e.g., task completion, self‑service adoption, user satisfaction).
• Ensure alignment between business outcomes, user experience priorities, and technical feasibility.

• Review and synthesize all existing DoIT- and MDH-provided research, analytics, and prior findings without duplicative discovery.
• Identify gaps where targeted, evaluative validation (not exploratory research) is required to support key decisions.
• Apply pragmatic UX judgment to avoid over-research while maintaining decision quality.

• Plan and lead structured scoping workshops with executive sponsors, business owners, content teams, and technical stakeholders.
• Facilitate decision-making related to:
  • Full vs. partial website redesign
  • Single vs. multi-domain strategies
  • Priority audiences and top user tasks
  • Content consolidation and retirement thresholds
• Capture decisions, assumptions, risks, and dependencies in a format suitable for executive review and approval.

• Define high-level content strategy principles that support footprint reduction (50–75%) while preserving mission-critical information.
• Ensure content approaches adhere to plain-language best practices, accessibility standards, and public-sector usability expectations.
• Advise on experience patterns using MDWDS components, ensuring consistency and scalability across MDH sites.

• Collaborate with the Solution Architect to ensure UX strategy is technically executable on the Maryland Drupal Platform.
• Contribute to the phased migration roadmap, ensuring user value is delivered early and incrementally.
• Support development of a pilot (proof‑of‑concept) recommendation that places a usable product in front of users quickly.

• Lead or contribute to the development of Phase 1 deliverables, including:
• Business Goals & KPI Definition
• UX-driven scoping rationale
• Inputs to the Project Roadmap & Pilot Recommendation
• Ensure documentation is clear, defensible, and aligned with State acceptance criteria.

• Bachelor’s degree in human‑Computer Interaction, UX Design, Digital Strategy, Information Science, Public Policy, or a related field (Master’s preferred).
• 8+ years of progressive experience leading digital transformation, UX strategy, or large‑scale public-facing web redesigns.
• Demonstrated experience working with government or public-sector organizations, including complex stakeholder environments.
• Proven…