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Senior UX Designer

National Geographic Society

Job Overview

Location

Washington, DC

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• Lead the end-to-end user experience for National Geographic Society’s digital ecosystem, translating the mission to “illuminate the wonder of the world” into intuitive, inclusive, and emotionally resonant products that serve Explorers, Educators, Youth, and Donors across web, mobile, and emerging platforms.
• Own and evolve the Society’s design system using Atomic Design and Object-Oriented UX principles, ensuring every component is reusable, accessible, and on-brand while still allowing for the flexibility needed to tell uniquely National Geographic stories.
• Plan and execute generative and evaluative research initiatives—contextual inquiries, diary studies, moderated usability tests, A/B experiments—that uncover deep insights about user motivations, pain points, and unmet needs across global and culturally diverse audiences.
• Translate research findings into actionable design artifacts: service blueprints, user flows, information architectures, low- and high-fidelity prototypes, and interaction specifications that clearly communicate vision, edge cases, and success metrics to product managers, engineers, and content strategists.
• Facilitate collaborative design sprints and workshops with cross-functional teams spanning Product, Technology, Content, Education, and Advancement, guiding stakeholders from problem framing through ideation, prototyping, and iterative validation in Lean/Agile two-week cycles.
• Champion inclusive and ethical design practices, ensuring that every experience meets or exceeds WCAG 2.1 AA standards and reflects the diverse identities, abilities, and perspectives of National Geographic’s worldwide community.
• Create and maintain living documentation—research repositories, pattern libraries, design rationale decks, and style guides—that empowers junior designers and external partners to move quickly without compromising quality or brand integrity.
• Continuously benchmark against industry best practices and emerging technologies (AR/VR storytelling tools, AI-driven personalization, voice interfaces), distilling insights into strategic recommendations that keep the Society at the forefront of digital exploration and education.
• Present research findings and design concepts to executive leadership, board members, and external funders, translating complex UX decisions into compelling narratives that secure buy-in and resources for future initiatives.
• Mentor and up-skill the broader UX team through lunch-and-learns, design critiques, and paired research sessions, fostering a culture of curiosity, rigor, and constructive feedback that elevates the entire organization’s design maturity.
• Track quantitative and qualitative success metrics—task completion rates, Net Promoter Score, donor conversion, educator engagement—then iterate rapidly based on data, ensuring every release measurably advances the Society’s strategic goals.
• Collaborate closely with offshore development partners, providing detailed annotations, interactive prototypes, and real-time design QA to guarantee pixel-perfect implementation across responsive breakpoints and device types.
• Balance long-term vision with short-term delivery pressures, deftly prioritizing features and research activities so that each sprint delivers user value while building toward a cohesive, scalable product roadmap.
• Contribute to grant proposals and partnership briefs, articulating how superior UX will amplify the impact of scientific expeditions, conservation campaigns, and educational programs, thereby unlocking new funding streams and strategic alliances.

🎯 Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in UX, HCI, product design, or related humanities discipline
• 4+ years of professional UX, IA, or product design experience with a portfolio showcasing end-to-end projects from research through shipped product
• Expert proficiency in Figma, InVision, Axure, or similar prototyping tools plus comfort discussing front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
• Demonstrated command of qualitative user research, usability testing, A/B or multivariate testing, responsive/mobile design, and workshop facilitation
• Experience working in Lean/Agile environments and collaborating daily with product managers and engineers
• Nice-to-have: prior work in media, nonprofit, or cultural sectors; experience coordinating with offshore development teams

🏖️ Benefits

• Competitive salary range: $108,300–$114,000 with transparent, market-based pay philosophy
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plus employer-paid life and disability coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan with matching contributions after six months of employment
• Up to 22 days paid annual leave (15 days for new hires, prorated), 10 sick days, 12 holidays, and paid winter break Dec 25–31
• Paid parental leave, adoption & surrogacy reimbursement, fertility benefits, and Lifestyle Spending Account
• Learning & development stipends, National Geographic discounts, pet adoption assistance, and pre-tax transportation benefits with generous employer subsidy

Skills & Technologies

JavaScript

REST

Design

Senior

Remote

Degree Required

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National Geographic Society

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About National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization based in the United States, founded in 1888. It funds and supports research, exploration, conservation, and education projects across the world. The organization provides grants to scientists, explorers, and educators working in areas such as geography, archaeology, wildlife, climate change, and cultural preservation. It also produces magazines, books, documentaries, and digital media through its media arm, using the proceeds to further its mission of inspiring people to care about the planet.

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