Civic Design, Research Practice Lead - Center for Civic Design (Remote)

Oct 9

Full-time, Remote (US), Salary range $106,000 to $110,000
Open until filled
Apply by October 8 for priority consideration

At the Center for Civic Design, we are passionate about making voting easier. We are looking for someone to lead and support a team of amazing researchers. That means a UX researcher with a toolkit of methods from exploratory research to usability testing, who has experience working with content like forms, instructions, and service guides, and is comfortable working with both government officials and community organizations.

The role

The Research Practice Lead is part of the program and practice team, responsible for continuing the high quality of work that Center for Civic Design is known for, coaching and guiding our approach to research in the civic space.

The right person for the Research Practice Lead role at CCD:

Loves leading as a collaborator and coach for an experienced but growing research team working on a wide range of projects, from quick testing to deep dives into a topic.
Brings experience in qualitative research and usability testing projects focused on government information content, forms, and processes.
Focuses on plain language, voter experience, multicultural communications, accessibility, and understanding diverse communities, with a professional portfolio of real-world projects to show it.
Thrives in an environment with multiple projects at a time, researchers and designers working together, and sharing ideas across both projects and disciplines.
Is an effective communicator, whether using Zoom and Slack within our remote team, giving and receiving feedback, writing a report, leading a workshop, or ensuring that insights from research make our design approaches come alive.
Has openness and curiosity about learning a new field, like the election culture or social and legal history that impacts a project.
Gets the complexity of working within – or challenging – legal policy and can show their success with examples and stories.

To view this job and apply, click here.

About research at CCD

We are proud that the researchers at CCD all bring different professional experiences and diverse backgrounds. That’s a strength for the team and our work.

Our research starts with people, creating conversations that lead to insights and impact. Our approach has evolved to fit the historical and legal context of our work in elections and the civic space, informed by our principles.

Our approach to civic research is:

Social, understanding context, and creating a welcoming space for everyone – the internal team, our project partners, and research participants.
Rooted in communities, meeting people where they are, and exploring ideas out in the field (not in the lab).
Focused on people (not just data), looking for depth and stories from their experience.
Flexible, iterative, and adapted to the goal and environment of each project, whether it’s an early exploration or a detailed usability test.
Reporting results quickly and clearly, focusing on insights and impact.

Responsibilities

As the Research Practice Lead, you will:

Ensure that our research on every project builds on the strong foundation of our research approach and contributes to our organizational mission.
Support researchers as they decide how to answer each project’s big questions and figure out the best way to meet our research goals.
Foster a space in regular research team meetings and in our remote workplace generally, where researchers can share, learn, and try research activities together, and expand the group’s collective capabilities.
Manage and continue to develop the tools on our internal Research Hub (our internal library of best practices).
Act as a bridge to help all projects use our research insights in the solutions we create and make a positive impact on elections and democratic participation.
Collaborate with program and practice teammates (program managers, design practice lead, and operations lead) in our matrixed organization to ensure that our work continues to be useful and respected.
Learn about elections and how research of all kinds fits into the context of our work.

In addition, you will lead some of your own research projects.

Qualifications

You have:

Strong active listening, problem-solving, communication, coaching, and collaboration skills.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in UX design or research, human-computer interaction, or a related field (or comparable experience).
7+ years of experience as a researcher, including:
- A variety of qualitative and exploratory research methods
- Leading and coaching researchers as they work on their own projects
- Research for information content and forms, both online and in print

Your experience includes:

Managing research projects with a small team of researchers as they work on their own projects
Working collaboratively, both with researchers and with other subject matter experts, to shape and manage projects
Flexible strategies for research methods, recruiting, and other reporting
Reporting on research results to non-researchers
And some combination of experience in:
- Writing in plain language
- Ensuring accessibility for people with disabilities
- Working on materials in languages other than English
- Working with community groups, from or representing different cultures
- Working on implementation in a government regulatory, legal, or policy context
- Collaborating with government offices (especially election offices)

You must be located in the United States, eligible to vote in the US elections.

How to apply

Complete a short application form and upload your resume. (You must log in to a Google account to access the form.)
Based on your application and resume, we will select candidates for an interview.

Details

Location: Remote, United States
Salary: $106,000 to $110,000, depending on experience
Type: Full-time
Start date: As soon as available, targeting early 2026
Benefits: Health insurance including medical, dental, vision, 401(K) with employer match, stipend for home office expenses and professional development, flexible work hours, 11 holidays, 17 PTO days, 10-day winter break
Some travel is required
Application deadline: Open until filled, with a priority deadline of October 8
- If you apply by October 8, you should hear from us by October 17 about whether you are selected for an interview.
- If you apply after that, you should hear from us within a few weeks after.

About CCD

At the Center for Civic Design, we are a small but mighty team working to make a difference in American elections:

Committed to diversity. We want to encourage everyone—regardless of race, gender, orientation, ethnicity, disability, or belief—who feels they could do a great job to apply.
Committed to supporting language access in elections and including on our team people who speak languages other than English (especially languages most commonly required by the Voting Rights Act)
A distributed team (from the start). You’ll collaborate with remote teammates as you apply your research skills to modernizing elections.

Read more about our work on our website or in these articles:

Good design is the secret to better democracy in the New York Times
How to beat bad ballot design and make sure your vote counts and How North Carolina’s mail-in envelope got a new, easier-to-use look in the Washington Post
How Smart Design Is Strengthening Our Elections in Architectural Digest

The Center for Civic Design is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to attracting and developing exceptional people, and creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding, and enables each of us to realize our potential. We encourage people of all races, colors, religions, national origins, sexual orientations, genders, sexes, ages, abilities, branches of military service, and political party affiliations to apply.