Senior Service Designer - Req002212_1 - 3175

Senior Service Designer

The College Board is a highly remote organization. We are forming a cross-functional team to drive the transformation of workforce software experiences for all College Board staff. We are reimagining how internal tools empower our people to do their best work. You will be part of Team Agile, a small team of systems thinkers, user experience and agile advocates, and tool smiths building connective tissue that helps teams do their best work, efficiently, strategically, and in sync. From evolving our product operations practice to managing cost and cloud efficiency, from coaching product and service teams to leading internal communities, we\'re not just improving process; we\'re enabling impact. Our work helps College Board deliver better products and services, faster, in service of students and educators everywhere.

About the Opportunity

As a Senior Service Designer, you bring deep user-centered design experience and systems thinking to shape meaningful, end-to-end service experiences. You are confident in leading service design efforts across cross-functional teams, from framing opportunities and conducting research to delivering service blueprints and supporting implementation, primarily focused on internal stakeholder/employee experiences. You thrive in complex problem spaces, and you know how to turn ambiguity into clarity-guiding teams to focus on what matters and creating solutions that are viable, desirable, and feasible. Your influence is felt on your project team and beyond through your strong execution, collaborative mindset, and strategic design thinking. In this role, you support internal stakeholders by delivering clear frameworks, tools, and experiences that enable employees to do their jobs more effectively. In this role, you will:

Design Thinking and Strategic Planning (40%)

• Apply design thinking methodologies to understand user needs, reframe problems, and support the creation of intuitive, human-centered solutions.
• Apply systems thinking to help teams understand complex relationships across people, processes, and platforms.
• Facilitate ideation sessions and prototyping exercises.
• Develop service blueprints, journey maps, and ecosystem diagrams to communicate service strategy and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Support roadmap and prioritization conversations by clearly linking user insights to service and product goals.

Research and Insight Translation (30%)

• Translate research insights into clear recommendations to support design and product direction.
• Plan and conduct generative and evaluative research, using a variety of methods to surface user needs and test hypotheses.
• Synthesize qualitative and quantitative data into clear, actionable insights that guide design direction and service improvements.
• Create key research artifacts such as personas, experience maps, and affinity diagrams.
• Work with data, research, and product teams to ensure user insights are embedded in decision-making processes.

Collaboration and Communication (20%)

• Work closely and collaboratively with designers, researchers, product managers, and engineers.
• Lead workshops and collaborative sessions with team members and stakeholders.
• Communicate research findings and design strategies through compelling storytelling and documentation tailored to stakeholders at various levels.
• Use plain language to promote clarity, accessibility, and inclusivity.

Growth and Additional Contributions (10%)

• Assist in various aspects of product or visual design when needed to support product or initiative goals.
• Stay current on emerging trends and tools in service and product design.

About You

To qualify for this role, you must have:

• A portfolio of your work included in your application.
• A bachelor\'s degree in a related field (e.g., interaction design, HCI, information science, industrial design, computer science, social sciences, graphic design) and/or equivalent professional experience designing for complex service ecosystems. Significant experience in service design, with a track record of leading end-to-e