Design Lead

Our Designers are breaking new ground at the Air Force, changing the way the Department of Defense builds software. We build, measure, and learn; creating war-winning software iteratively. No longer are we building off of multi-year plans with stacks of requirements. Kessel Run's software has been used across the globe for mission critical and life saving missions, including the recent evacuation at the Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul.

Designers at Kessel Run balance user needs, organizational outcomes, and technical feasibility in order to build value quickly while still considering the big picture. Our Kessel Run Product teams are flat and balanced, with Developers, Designers, and Product Managers working in concert, empowered to build the software we know our warfighters need. The All Domain Common Platform (ADCP) branch serves developers across the DoD and represents one of the biggest leaps forward in DevOps platforms in the history of the U.S. Air Force.

The All Domain Common Platform (ADCP) Design Lead works with and manages service and product designers who work on the following initiatives:

• Improve the service that ADCP offers to its customers
• Improve the processes by which ADCP delivers value
• Build, enhance and scale Kessel Run's Design System to the rest of the organization and to units all over the world
• Contribute needed design work directly to product teams in ADCP

ADCP Design Leads also act as members of branch leadership, making and consulting on strategic decisions. They can also act as practitioners, and are not afraid to get into the weeds of particular design engagements alone or with the people they manage.

You MUST be a U.S. citizen to apply and must be eligible to obtain a U.S. Security Clearance (see eligibility requirements here).

Day In The Life

A typical day as a Kessel Run Design Lead starts with a team stand-up to align on goals for the day for product designers. The Design Lead is responsible for, product and project management oversight for design engagements, and supporting and supervising designers. The Design Lead is charged with enabling teams to successfully execute the ADCP Design strategy, facilitate information sharing between leadership and product teams, oversee the successful development and growth of the appropriate branch product and services, and work with the larger ADCP leadership team to solve higher-level problems. The Design Lead is also responsible for investing in the career growth of both front end engineers and product designers and setting individual and team development goals to upskill the design practice across the portfolio.

You will work closely with other Design team members to understand a product line's problem space, understand the upstream and downstream system dependencies, and ensure that the team's activities are aligned with the branch product roadmap. You will provide strategic support to the Design team to reduce blockers, mitigate risks and support continued adoption of user centered design practices. You promote and practice empathizing with users and advocate for them by ensuring their feedback is incorporated when creating an intuitive user experience. You have product management experience, as well as a growth mindset and take feedback well.

You are comfortable working alongside technical leaders to provide design guidance and advocate for the product line's user needs concerning design, user research, messaging, service design and user experience across the portfolio's product suite.

Who You Are

• You have experience leading teams and have 5-7 years experience in a product design or service design role or had the responsibilities required for the role demonstrated on your resume
• Should be familiar with practicing and managing multiple concurrent design efforts in complex enterprise environments that have a number stakeholders, priorities, and product lines to support at both a system and product level
• You are able to influence prioritization based on the needs of users, leadership requests, and design team capacity
• You have good domain context on user centered design and service design practices that is demonstrated on your resume
• You are comfortable working with product designers, front end engineering, and various design resources both internal or external to direct the scope of their work
• You have experience presenting design deliverables and initiatives to other groups, including product managers, development teams, and leadership throughout the enterprise
• You have experience driving the product vision without compromising the end goals
• You have a track record of owning and driving out priorities
• You can demonstrate coordination between multiple product teams to collectively problem solve for shared outcomes
• You excel at facilitating meetings and often design and lead workshops
• You practice servant leadership and prioritize the development of your team
• You actively participate in the design community (online, in-person, cross-team, workshops, etc)
• You are able to reflect on and empathize with others perspectives
• You have demonstrated leadership abilities in current or previous jobs
• Provide guidance on strategic design goals and de-risk design decisions
• You are a coach and mentor and love working with others to create a community of growth-minded practitioners
• You are comfortable traveling to meet users and stakeholders and can represent both the team and Kessel Run during work trips when necessary
• Some familiarity with technical concepts related to CI/CD and platform engineering is a plus
• Experience working on enterprise solutions is a plus

Key Requirements:

• Comfort with technical concepts
• Supervisory experience with defining and leading a cadence of feedback and development initiatives to support the career growth and skill growth of product designer and front end engineer teams
• Familiar with de-conflicting and unblocking cross-product tracks of work so that teams can work more autonomously
• You are eligible for a security clearance
• You are comfortable with domestic traveling when there isn't a pandemic
• You are a U.S. citizen and are eligible to obtain a U.S. Security Clearance (see eligibility here)
• Experience using Gitlab or similar collaboration tool
• Must have a portfolio highlighting your design experience
• You are a U.S. citizen and are eligible to obtain a U.S. Security Clearance (see eligibility requirements here)

This is a Federal civilian service position within the United States Air Force. We are hiring at the equivalent of a GS-14 up to GS-15 level for this position. This means you can expect a base salary of $95,973 to $146,757 multiplied by your locality rate, based on your experience. You can find your locality definition here and see the pay tables for the GS scale here. Our headquarters is located in Boston, MA; for a Boston-based employee, this would translate to a range from $124,851 to $176,300.

We also provide paid time off, health, and retirement benefits. There are advancement opportunities to promote to more senior levels after hiring.

We understand that there is no such thing as the ideal candidate for any job and we believe in empowering people to learn and grow throughout their careers. We encourage any applicant who is interested in making an impact in the Department of Defense to apply to this position regardless of background and qualifications.

GS-14/15 Qualifications

In order to properly evaluate your previous experience, we recommend being as detailed as possible in your resume.

To qualify for this role, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-15 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is:

• Experience managing design and/or front-end development team. This experience must include TWO of the following:

• Supervising the work of product designers and or front end engineers

Qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information and design portfolios are not provided, so failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.