Human-Centered Design (HCD) Specialist

Are you up for an exciting challenge to work in the Office of Patents Stakeholder Experience? This position is located in the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, Office of Patents Stakeholder Experience (OPSE), Customer Experience (CX) Division. This position supports the Patents Customer Experience (CX) unit in OPSE in engaging the Patents organization to improve understanding of customer needs and drive customer-focused business decisions. You must meet the United States Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) qualification requirements (including specialized experience and/or educational requirements) for the advertised position. You must meet all eligibility and qualifications requirements by the closing date of the job announcement. OPM Qualifications Standards are available at General Schedule Qualification Standards. Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped applicants with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, you must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Creating artifacts ( e.g., research plans, test plans, journey maps, personas, wireframes, and storyboards) to understand customer needs; AND Partnering with various teams to design, test, and improve customer experience needs and research findings; AND Conducting and applying research throughout all phases of the design cycle (e.g., discovery phase, explore phase, testing phase, listening phase). OR One must have completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M. if related to specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level at the federal service, or 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-9 grade level in the federal service. OR A combination of graduate education AND experience equivalent to the next lower GS-09 grade level that meets 100% of the equivalent requirements for this position. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. The physical worksite for this position is located in Alexandria, Virginia. Presence at the Alexandria, VA campus is required for this role, as it includes on site functions that must be performed in person. Position may be eligible for situational telework in accordance with agency policy/business unit discretion. The agency currently allows for 52 hours of telework per calendar year. The individual selected for this position will be... Conducting human-centered design research and usability activities, including interviews, observations, user testing, and journey mapping to better understand customer needs and behaviors. Developing human-centered design artifacts such as research plans, test protocols, journey maps, wireframes, storyboards, and personas to support the design and improvement of products and services. Applying qualitative and quantitative research methods to evaluate customer experiences for users with varying abilities and identify usability barriers and opportunities for improvement. Collaborating with product and service teams to translate research findings into design recommendations that improve customer experiences. Education Education may be substituted for specialized experience at this grade level. If this position requires proof of higher education, or you are substituting education for experience, you must submit an unofficial transcript or a list of courses that includes the following information: name of accredited institution, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. Please refer to General Schedule Qualification Policies for more information. You are not required to submit official documents at this time; copies are sufficient. Special Instructions for Foreign Education: Qualifying education from colleges and universities in foreign countries must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part in foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree. A listing of these accredited organizations can be found on the Department of Education's website - US Department of Education. Another listing of services that can perform this evaluation is available at the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) website. You must provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing along with your application. Failure to provide such documentation when requested will result in lost consideration. NOTE: Only education and experience acquired before the filing deadline will be considered. Report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.