Product Designer

We need a Product Designer.

Do you get a little thrill from turning a tangle of requirements and research into a screen so clean it feels obvious? The kind where users just… get it? Are you the designer who sweats the spacing, the hierarchy, and the one-word label that makes a confusing flow finally click? You lead with craft, you back it with evidence, and you’re not happy until the pixels earn their place.

If you love designing the answer (and know how to prove it’s the right one), please apply.

Let’s go Skyward together.

What you'll do:

• Design the experience. Own the UX and UI for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s (CMS) enterprise AI platform, and for CMS’s AI products, from concept to polished, high-fidelity, USWDS-aligned designs in Figma that are intuitive, elegant, and ready to build.
• Make it tangible fast. Move from sketches to wireframes to interactive prototypes, iterating quickly so stakeholders can see and feel the solution, not just read about it.
• Build and extend the design system. Create and maintain reusable components, patterns, and standards so the product stays consistent and scalable as it grows.
• Design with evidence. Plan and run lightweight research (usability sessions, interviews, feedback loops) and fold what you learn straight back into the design (design-primary, research-informed).
• Map the experience. Build user flows, journey maps, and service blueprints that show how people move through AI services and where the friction lives.
• Make accessibility non-negotiable. Design to Section 508 and WCAG from the first frame so what ships works beautifully for every user.
• Partner across the team. Work shoulder-to-shoulder with engineers, the AI team, and CMS stakeholders in a badgeless, one-team culture, handing off designs that developers love to build.

What we’d like you to have:

• A bachelor’s degree and 5+ years in UX/product design (with hands-on research exposure) or a closely related field.
• A standout portfolio that shows strong visual and interaction design - real products you took from concept to polished, shipped UI.
• Deep Figma fluency: high-fidelity design, prototyping, and building/maintaining design systems and component libraries.
• A solid grasp of UX fundamentals: information architecture, interaction patterns, and usability principles, plus the ability to run lightweight research to validate your work.
• Familiarity with the USWDS and federal CX mandates.
• Genuine accessibility awareness. 508 and WCAG are part of how you design, not an afterthought.
• Deep research chops to complement your design. You can lead the discovery as confidently as the design.

What would blow us away:

• Front-end familiarity (HTML/CSS, or designing closely with React teams) so your handoffs are build-ready.
• Experience designing data-heavy or AI-driven products (dashboards, search, chat, or knowledge tools).
• You previously supported CMS or another federal agency.

Even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications, we encourage you to apply. At Skyward, we’re focused on hiring individuals with the right skills and passion to grow, not just checking off every box.

And now the important part. What we offer you:

• Medical, dental, vision insurance
• 15 days of paid leave
• 7 days of sick leave
• 2 days bereavement leave
• 11 paid Federal holidays
• Up to 40 hours for jury duty
• 401K with 4% employer contribution (and no vesting period)
• Up to 4 weeks of paid paternity and maternity leave
• Company provided laptop
• $5,000 per year for professional development
• $600 per year for technical supplies and equipment
• $2,000 referral bonus
• Life and disability insurance
• HSA and FSA
• Legal Shield and ID Shield Voluntary Benefits
• Opportunity to work in a collaborative, motivated team focused on modernizing government services with cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions. Who says government work can’t be exciting!