The San Francisco Digital Services Team is transforming how residents interact with the City, by building services designed around the people that use them.

The team improves the public’s experience with the city by delivering high-quality, accessible experiences for the website, in-person experiences and for the city employees supporting these services.

SFDS is composed of product managers, designers, developers, and content strategists. As a member of this team, you would be part of a new and growing movement, with an opportunity to shape the City’s approach to technology.

Our Values

We are committed to equity in our hiring, team culture, and product outcomes and to fostering an inclusive work environment. We are building a team that reflects a diverse set of lived experiences and identities. This effort includes considering qualified candidates across a spectrum of races, colors, religions, genders, gender identities, sexual orientations, national origins, genetics, disabilities, ages, or veteran status.  If you’re looking for a team where you can make an impact and improve the lives of all San Francisco residents, then we want to hear from you.

Appointment Type: Permanent Exempt (PEX), this position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer.

As a Senior Product Designer in the San Francisco Digital Services team, your focus will be to improve the public’s experience with City services. You’ll lead the ongoing evolution of our citywide design system, developing design patterns and reusable components that make it easy for the City to deliver high-quality, accessible experiences online. Your work can also touch in-person experiences, and tools for City staff .

You’ll work with other designers, researchers, product managers, and developers from across SF Digital Services to understand their projects’ design needs and expand our design patterns to works for all of them. You will get into the detail of designing and implementing a robust, integrated design system, but be able to switch into the high-level view to make sure the overall user experience is easy and clear.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Design and specify information flow and interface design
• Produce user requirements, specifications, storyboards, and prototypes as needed to iterate and communicate design
• Lead the project team in prototyping potential solutions
• Effectively communicate research findings, conceptual ideas, detailed design, and design rationale both verbally and visually
• Manage the design process within their project team, drive decisions, track issues, and assist in estimating resource needs and schedules
• Work closely with development teams to ensure that design specifications are implemented

Work Location:

Incumbent will conduct the majority of work at the Department of Technology, (1 S Van Ness, Ave San Francisco, CA 94103).  

This position does not support fully remote work. Employees may be permitted to work a hybrid schedule with supervisor approval, after which they must work at least one day in the office every week.

Experience:

• Three years of relevant work experience
• A bachelor's degree in a related field or its equivalent in terms of total course credits (additional work experience can be substituted for a degree on a year-for-year basis)

Desired skills and characteristics

Design

• Demonstrated experience leading the design of a digital product
• A mature perspective on design values for public sector interfaces
• Strong visual and UI design skills (some illustration ability is a plus)
• Expertise in designing performant web interfaces
• Experience designing and implementing design systems or pattern libraries
• Meticulous and thorough, experience designing comprehensive solutions that account for edge cases and alternative states
• Experience with responsive design for different devices and screens
• Experience designing for accessibility and low bandwidth, without compromising brand experience
• Experience collaborating with user researchers and content designers throughout the design process
• Familiarity with modern web product development
• Ability to work closely with front end developers (any actual front end dev experience is a plus)
• Familiarity with current design and design system tools such as Figma, Storybook, etc.

Collaboration

• Flourishes when working as part of a team with other designers, content writers, developers, and product managers
• Excellent communication skills with experience influencing cross-functional stakeholders and presenting to non-technical executives
• Able to be practical and resourceful to remove blockers and get things done
• The desire for constructive criticism of your work and ability to constructively review the work of others

Important: Your application must include a cover letter that explains why you are applying for this job, and how your experience makes you a good fit for this role. To upload these items, please attach using the "additional attachments" function.

Guidance for Applying:  Applicants must include all relevant job experience in the online application.

Verification: Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point in the application and/or departmental selection process. Written verification (proof) of qualifying experience must verify that the applicant meets the minimum qualifications stated on the announcement. Written verification must be submitted on employer’s official letterhead, specifying name of employee, dates of employment, types of employment (part-time/full-time), job title(s), description of duties performed, and the verification must be signed by the employer. City employees will receive credit for the duties of the class to which they are appointed. Credit for experience obtained outside of the employee’s class will be allowed only if recorded in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Commission Rules. Experience claimed in self-employment must be supported by documents verifying income, earnings, business license and experience comparable to the minimum qualifications of the position. Copies of income tax papers or other documents listing occupations and total earnings must be submitted. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at http://sfdhr.org/index.aspx?page=456.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco. 

Additional information

Information About The Hiring Process

• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

Application Opening: April 1, 2024 

Applicants are encouraged to apply immediately as this recruitment may close at any time, but not before Monday, April 29, 2024.

Salary Range: $70.3125- $88.4625(hourly) / $146,250 - $184,002 (annually)

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.