Staff/Principal Product Designer (HHS)

Product designers at Skylight are responsible for understanding user needs and developing solutions using a lean-agile approach. They work end-to-end from concept to implementation, ensuring that the product team builds the right thing.

Responsibilities

• Partner with product managers, engineers, and researchers to shape product strategy and ensure solutions meet user needs.
• Plan and conduct research to uncover needs, policies, and operational constraints, then synthesize findings into actionable insights and artifacts.
• Define end-to-end flows and interaction patterns that scale across complex systems and service journeys.
• Create simple, thoughtful interfaces and evolve design systems with usability, accessibility, and maintainability in mind.
• Prototype quickly and iteratively—from sketches to clickable mockups—to validate ideas and reduce risk.
• Build accessibility, privacy, and security into designs from the start, including Section 508 accessibility standards and clear consent and data-handling patterns.
• Align design decisions with measurable outcomes—define and track Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Document decisions, contribute to design systems, and facilitate workshops so government teams can sustain improvements after handoff.

Requirements

• Able to plan, synthesize, and share generative and evaluative research to inform product and design direction.
• Skilled at defining scalable, end-to-end flows using intentional information architecture, common design patterns, and accessibility best practices.
• Capable of creating clear, elegant interfaces and explaining visual design decisions with usability and maintainability in mind.
• Familiar with structured design processes and able to use storytelling artifacts to align teammates and stakeholders.
• Comfortable contributing to product strategy in a lean/agile environment, clarifying user needs, framing tradeoffs, and balancing user and business priorities.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills with users, teammates, and executive stakeholders.
• Commitment to capacity building, mentoring, documenting, and transferring knowledge.
• Ability to work successfully in a professional services environment.
• Passion for creating better public outcomes through great government services.
• Ability to spend time on-site at HHS in Washington, DC.

Key Skills

• Research planning, synthesis, and sharing.
• Defining scalable, end-to-end flows.
• Creating clear, elegant interfaces.
• Explaining visual design decisions.
• Structured design processes and storytelling artifacts.
• Product strategy in lean/agile environments.
• Facilitation and communication skills.
• Capacity building, mentoring, and knowledge transfer.
• Professional services environment.
• Passion for public outcomes.
• On-site work in Washington, DC.

Benefits

• Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
• Flexible paid-time-off policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
• Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
• Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
• Business development / sales bonuses
• Referral bonuses
• Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
• Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
• Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
• Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good