About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, user researchers play a critical role in planning, designing, and carrying out research activities with users to help teams gain a deep understanding of the people that use government services. This research informs policy, service, content, and interaction design so that government services work well for users and achieve policy intent.

In this role, you'll work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to enhance the grant recipient experience through service design. You'll be part of a team that shapes impactful solutions to improve how grant recipients access support, helping them deliver critical services to communities more efficiently and effectively. This is an opportunity to contribute to innovative projects that maximize the impact of government funding and improve the well-being of children, youth, families, and communities across the nation.

What you’ll do

• Develop research plans (e.g., what methods to use) in alignment with the strategic context of the project
• Find and connect with good user research participants
• Apply a mix of quantitative and qualitative user research techniques (e.g., user interviews, contextual inquiry) to gain a greater understanding of user needs
• Clearly communicate research findings with internal and external collaborators
• Translate research findings into service/product design hypotheses
• Employ usability testing to validate those hypotheses
• Guide the direction of the service/product and continually advocate for users
• Collaborate with others as part of a cross-functional team that includes product managers, product designers, engineers, and other functional specialists
• Maintain organized, well-written documentation throughout the research process

What we're looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Ability to align user research activities with organizational strategy and objectives
• Can correctly apply a wide-range of user research methods at different stages of the product life cycle
• Understand how to include all kinds of users in appropriate research activities to help teams deliver accessible services
• Can turn research data into clear findings that inform decisions
• Ability to help colleagues better understand the social and technological context for government services (e.g., how digital technology is changing user behavior)
• Possess an understanding of the different technologies and technical roles within a multidisciplinary team used to build and operate digital services
• Can apply user-centered design practices within the context of an agile, multidisciplinary team

Nice-to-have qualifications

• Prior experience with grant programs for government or nonprofit organizations, particularly those related to health and human services
• Familiarity with federal grant regulations and the ability to navigate grant lifecycle processes from application through reporting
• A background in using data analytics to track the effectiveness and impact of grants, ensuring alignment with public service goals
• Prior experience working in the civic tech space
• Experience working in a remote-team environment

Don’t meet 100% of the criteria but think you can do the job? We’d love to chat anyway! We’re on a mission to build diverse teams, and studies have shown that women and marginalized folks are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t check every box.

Other requirements

• All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories. Some federal contracts require U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
• You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.
• As a government contractor, you may be required to obtain a public trust or security clearance.
• You may be required to complete a company background check successfully.
• Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

Position type

This is a full-time, exempt position.

Location

This is a fully remote position.

Care package

Salary

We want to give you the most competitive salary possible. After all, you deserve it! To that end, we use the results of our interview process to determine what salary is most appropriate given your current level of seniority. For a User Researcher at Skylight, the current salary ranges are as follows:

• Associate User Researcher: $90,000–$125,000
• User Researcher I: $120,000–$140,000
• User Researcher II: $135,000–$160,000
• Senior User Researcher: $150,000–$185,000
• Staff User Researcher: $170,000–$203,000
• Principal User Researcher: $180,000–$230,000

Benefits

Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:

• Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
• Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
• Paid time off, including 20 vacation days, 11 federal holidays, and flexible sick leave
• Up to 12 weeks paid time off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
• Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
• Business development / sales bonuses
• Referral bonuses
• Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
• Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
• Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
• Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
• Access up to $1,000 before payday to cover emergency expenses
• Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
• An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good

Interview tips

We want you to have a great interview experience with us! Here are some tips to help you prepare for a successful interview:

• Visit our join page to learn more about how our interview process works.
• Check out our Career Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
• Please include a portfolio of 1–2 showcase projects with your application. Your portfolio can be anything from a website to a slide deck (whatever works for you). So that we can prioritize your application for consideration, please ensure that you either remove your access password to your portfolio or provide access details.
• If you’d like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at [email protected].

We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you’re authorized to work in the U.S.

We're an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.