[Contract, Remote] Senior UX Designer at The Decision Lab

[Monty Tengco]

A little bit about us

The Decision Lab is a behavioral science consultancy dedicated to creating social good by helping individuals, organizations and governments make better decisions. Through research, analysis and product design, we help organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Capital One and the World Bank solve thorny problems and build impactful evidence-based digital products.

Why this role is important for TDL

We started The Decision Lab because we saw a fundamental gap between behavioral science theory and application. The Senior UX Designer role is at the front line of bridging this gap. This means that we look for bright, capable and curious candidates with a strong grasp of UX principles, excellent design skills and a familiarity with behavioral science concepts (from the point of view of behavioral economics, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, etc.) who have a thirst for translating evidence (be it desk research, experiments or analytics) into digital product features.

As a UX Designer, you will work on exciting and impactful projects from day one. You will collaborate with our team of directors, designers and researchers to create and improve products for some of the largest organizations in the world. In many cases, this means collaborating with clients to understand and diagnose product issues, translate them into behavioral terms, identify potential solutions, wireframe them, then create a design language for bringing them to life.

Why this role is great for you

The Decision Lab is a place where you can learn to use evidence-based approaches to solve diverse & complex challenges. You will work alongside intelligent & free-thinking colleagues who lead with optimism, pragmatism and empathy. Rather than reusing the same behavior change frameworks, TDL develops custom solutions – this means that in addition to being evidence-based, your role will be fundamentally creative and you will have the opportunity to evolve and express your thinking in the work you do. Our team helps and empowers each other and we have a rich set of tools and frameworks that you will be exposed to, but you will ultimately be responsible for your work – past hires tell us they are surprised to what extent they are able to take intellectual ownership of the projects they work on.

Examples of the things we do

• Our collaboration with the World Bank – on incentive frameworks for knowledge sharing
• Our work with Capital One – a study we did on helping Americans undo the effects of stress on financial decisions.
• Our work with Wellness Together Canada – a first-of-its-kind product that was designed to help people access the right type of support based on their needs and preferences, completely free and available 24/7
• Our insights – we are one of the largest publications in applied behavioral science
• Our biases – we provide resources for organizations to learn about how behavioral science

What you’ll be working on

• Own the design process from start to finish, including: Wireframing, coordinating with the designer, working with the client to consolidate and action feedback, walking client through mockups and or/wireframes
• Running design workshops or working sessions with the client and relevant stakeholders to flesh out the proposed user experience and features
• Interface with other team members (Research Director, Managing Directors, Consultants) and external contractors (developers) to guide the creation of the product based on the specifications;
• Create an adaptive and scalable design system for your work so that our clients have sustainable solutions
• Design graphic user interface elements, like menus, tabs and widgets
• Apply UX principles and behavioral science to identify key barriers and drivers of desired user behaviors
• Identify clear and measurable metrics to track the success of the product
• Based on behavioral science frameworks and research (conducted by the entire team), develop a deep understanding of specific experiences, identify and fill UX gaps and generate new ideas to improve the user experience
• Develop UI mockups and prototypes that clearly illustrate how products, sites or specific parts of digital tools function and look like
• Develop assets based on evidence gathered through desk research, surveys and product testing

What we are looking for

We are looking for a candidate with at least 5+ years of professional experience in UX, with a good eye for UI as well. The ideal candidate will also be passionate about the behavioral sciences and genuinely curious about how they can be applied to create impact through digital products. Key attributes of the ideal candidate include:

• Experience: you have 5+ years experience sitting at the intersection between UX, strategy and design and have demonstrated repeated successes in connecting these worlds to create and improve digital products. Since part of the role will be client-facing, you should also have experience interfacing directly with senior clients and be able to effectively articulate the UX rationale behind certain decisions. Given the focus of our current work portfolio, we are also looking for someone who has deep expertise in mobile UX.
• Master of Tools: You master tools such as Figma, Sketch, Illustrator
• Design Expertise: you have a strong portfolio of digital products designs (mockups, wireframes, journeys) and a passion for modern, minimalistic design languages
• Research Focus: you have an obsession with data – this means tapping into existing research (including resources such as peer-reviewed studies on Google Scholar) as well as setting up proper data instrumentation to track desired behaviors related to the product’s goals.
• User Journey Focus: you have a deep understanding of user personas, customer journey mapping and applying behavioral science to make both of these more evidence-based
• Engineering Mindset: you have an engineering mindset – focused on application rather than theory and eager to dive into tinkering, creating, testing and reiterating solutions.
• Experimentation Rigor: you are keen on using rigorous testing to decide what the right course of action is rather than relying on intuition.
• Design Thinking: you are able to move your ego aside and understand that the most successful solutions are not based on ideology but on a combination of empathy, pragmatism and evidence-based iteration.
• Culture: you are comfortable working in an ambiguous and dynamic environment and comfortable with non-hierarchical organizations.

Bonus:

• You have specific experience working in the health space, or designing with specific populations or groups in mind (e.g. youth, older populations, designing for equity)
• You have a graphic or visual design background. We’ve found visualizing complex ideas, stories, and processes in a compelling way important for advocating for change with our clients
• Create original graphic designs (e.g. images, sketches and tables)

About the role

• 6m contract role with the possibility of renewal and/or permanent position
• Salary: 6-10K CAD/month
• Remote position (with at least 80% overlap with Montreal timezone)

Applications Instructions

Do you feel like this role is right for you? If so, please send the following to car...@thedecisionlab.com.:

• your CV and cover letter and
• your portfolio
• ONE example of a past project you are proud of – to help us understand why this would be a good fit