Senior UX Designer

We are seeking a highly accomplished Senior UX Designer to drive user-centered product strategy, interface design, and rapid behavioral experimentation for multi-tier digital services. In this role, you will take technical and strategic ownership of the user experience lifecycle following the Ontario Digital Service (ODS) Design Playbook guidelines across four distinct iterative phases:
Discovery, Alpha, Beta, and Live. Working at the critical intersection of business strategy, user research, and Agile development, you will translate abstract problem spaces into high-fidelity interactive prototypes, validate service flows with real users, and ensure engineering teams are supplied with fully defined, accessible design specifications.

Location:

Toronto, ON (Hybrid)

Duration: 9-month contract.

• Strategic Playbook Autonomy:
  Take complete creative and structural ownership of the user experience lifecycle utilizing premier, standardized provincial design methodologies.
• Advanced Multi-Tool Design Environment:
  Maximize your design and technical toolkit by blending high-fidelity software ecosystems (Figma, Adobe CC, Zeplin) with front-end engineering considerations.
• High-Impact Public Digital Footprint:
  Champion inclusive design, directly shaping highly public, mobile-first, and responsive services utilized by millions of end-users.
• Agile Integration Sandbox:
  Command an active, forward-looking delivery seat embedded tightly beside engineering teams, product owners, and cloud architects.

• User-Centered Framework Facilitation:
  Orchestrate design discovery sessions to align cross-functional teams, synthesizing structural outputs including Business Model Canvases, User Personas, Stakeholder Maps, and Short/Long-Term Strategy Maps.
• User Research & Behavioral Analytics:
  Design, execute, and analyze qualitative research tracks—authoring interview topic maps, scripts, and research synthesis reports while transforming live behavioral metrics into actionable product optimizations.
• Prototyping & Interaction Architecture:
  Architect, test, and refine structural user journeys and highly interactive, "clickable" prototypes across multiple candidate concepts using industry-leading software suites (Figma, Sketch, InVision, Adobe Creative Cloud, Axure, or Just In Mind ).
• Usability Testing & Validation:
  Lead formal user testing and cognitive evaluation pipelines, documenting structural friction points to continually iterate on layouts, information architectures, and visual flows.
• Technical Service Blueprinting:
  Author low-level service blueprints mapping end-to-end service delivery processes, infrastructure dependencies, data collection nodes, and distinct backend operational roles.
• Agile Sprint Leadership:
  Spearhead design loops inside an Agile/Scrum delivery framework, validating visual layouts and user flows one iteration ahead of development squads while maintaining active user story components within Jira or Azure Dev Ops.
• Accessibility Compliance Engineering:
  Conduct thorough web accessibility validation checks across all design interactions to ensure the final software delivery conforms perfectly to WCAG 2.0 / 2.1 AA parameters and AODA standards.
• Product Governance & Executive Delivery:
  Lead multi-departmental "Inception / Science Fair" showcase days, translating research insights into executive briefing notes, technical specifications, business cases, and delivery KPIs to justify project funding gates.

• Core UX Design Seniority: 5+ years of progressive professional experience serving as a Lead UX Designer, Interaction Architect, or Product Designer within mature corporate or enterprise IT spaces.
• Agile Product Footprint: 3+ years of direct technical experience participating in complex, cross-functional projects delivering software under strict Agile/Scrum methodologies, running visual sketching workshops, and grooming product backlogs.
• Design Ecosystem Mastery:
  Expert, hands-on development experience utilizing professional design, wire framing, and handoff platforms—explicitly Figma, Sketch, InVision, Adobe Creative Cloud, Axure, Just In Mind , and Zeplin.
• Research & Testing
  
  Competency:
  
  Proven…