Product Designer I

HCSS develops software for construction companies. The Product Designer I discovers and validates user problems, conducts UX research, and creates wireframes and proofs-of-concept for complex construction and utilities workflows. The role partners with Product Management to validate solutions and advocate for users throughout the product lifecycle.

Responsibilities:

• Partner closely with Group Product Managers, Product Managers, and Technical Product Managers to understand business requirements, define user problems, and participate in upstream product strategy discussions
• Assist in planning and conducting generative and evaluative research (e.g., user interviews, contextual inquiries, discovery interviews). Synthesize qualitative data to uncover actionable insights about heavy civil construction and utilities workflows
• Translate complex logic into structural wireframes, user flows, and low-to-mid fidelity proofs-of-concept to quickly visualize and test ideas
• Act as the collaborative UX strategy and solutions partner with Product Management to help them visually map out their business logic
• Design and run usability tests on proposed workflows to validate that the solution is both valuable and intuitive for the end-user before any code is written
• Package validated user flows and research insights to collaborate with UX peers to ensure the core UX strategy is maintained as they review and curate the final design and specifications
• Continuously build strong empathy for our unique user base (e.g., estimators, project managers, foremen, field personnel, mechanics, etc.), and advocate for their needs in every product conversation

Requirements:

• A portfolio that demonstrates your critical thinking process, showing how you moved from an ambiguous user problem to validated structural wireframes (e.g., how you approach problem-solving, not UI)
• High comfort level with "messy" whiteboarding, rough sketching, and throwaway design work over high-fidelity polish
• Strong proficiency in using AI tools alongside modern whiteboarding tools to rapidly generate proofs-of-concept and visualize ideas at a high velocity
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills to collaborate effectively with Product members, actively participating in defining and gathering product requirements alongside them as well as presenting research findings clearly
• Solid understanding of user-centered design methodologies, including how to structure and synthesize user interviews and usability tests
• Strong proficiency in modern design and whiteboarding tools to rapidly visualize concepts
• A natural curiosity and willingness to dive deep into the highly technical and complex workflows of the heavy civil construction and utilities industry
• Demonstrates foundational UX discovery and workflow mapping skills, and thrives in the ambiguity of early-stage product definition
• Bachelor's degree in Design, Psychology, HCI (or equivalent academic/bootcamp background) or ~2 years of relevant work experience
• Experience using research repositories or product discovery tools