PS Consulters is recruiting a senior service and UX designer for an engagement with a public sector client in Alberta. The client runs an established program of design engagements, procuring senior designers as named consultants for substantial, well-funded mandates, and the next engagement in that series is anticipated. This is a mature buyer of design work: research with real users is expected, service design is understood at the executive level, and the consultant's recommendations reach decision-makers. The mandate combines service design and UX practice: understanding how members of the public and front-line staff actually experience the client's services, mapping where those journeys fail, and designing improvements that are validated before they are built. The successful candidate will operate as the senior design authority on the engagement, working directly with program leadership, and will be expected to leave behind both shipped improvements and a stronger internal design practice. The engagement is contracted through PS Consulters and is expected to be substantial in both duration and scope; applicants state rate expectations. Delivery is remote with on-site research and workshop days in Alberta anticipated. A portfolio is required with the application. Work is delivered in English. This is an anticipated contract role tied to an active public sector procurement. Start dates depend on award and onboarding timelines. Qualified applicants are contacted as soon as the engagement is confirmed, and strong profiles are kept on file and matched against similar upcoming roles with consent. Applications are reviewed by a practitioner, not a keyword filter; short, specific cover notes describing directly relevant work are read and valued. PS Consulters welcomes applications from all qualified candidates, including members of visible minority communities, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and newcomers to Canada with eligible work status. Accommodation during the recruitment process is available on request. About PS Consulters: PS Consulters is the consulting brand of PMS Analytics, a Canadian software consulting and resourcing firm. PS Consulters places senior technology contractors with public sector and enterprise clients across Canada and delivers software projects as a prime contractor. The firm is built and run by practitioners: engagements are scoped by people who have done the work, candidates are represented accurately, and consultants in the field are supported by a principal who reviews deliverables and stands behind them.
Responsibilities
- Plan and lead discovery research: stakeholder interviews, front-line staff sessions, and research with members of the public
- Map current-state service journeys end to end, across digital, phone, and in-person channels
- Identify, prioritize, and communicate service pain points with evidence, not anecdote
- Design future-state journeys, service blueprints, and the UX of the digital touchpoints within them
- Build and test prototypes with real users; iterate on findings and document the rationale
- Deliver developer-ready specifications and work with delivery teams through implementation
- Design within established public sector design systems and to WCAG 2.x AA accessibility expectations
- Present research findings and design recommendations to executive audiences
- Mentor internal staff and strengthen the client's ongoing design capability
- 8+ years in UX and service design, with a portfolio demonstrating shipped service improvements (not only concepts)
- Strong personal research practice: interviews, usability testing, journey mapping, and synthesis
- Experience as the senior or sole designer on substantial engagements, owning the mandate end to end
- Accessible, plain-language design practice with working WCAG 2.x AA knowledge
- Excellent facilitation and executive-presentation skills in English
- Legally eligible to work in Canada: Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or valid work permit
- Available as an incorporated (corp-to-corp) or T4 contractor
- Able to state hourly rate expectations and earliest availability date in the application
- A portfolio is required with the application
- Public sector design systems experience (Government of Canada or provincial patterns)
- Research experience in housing, health, or social-services contexts, including trauma-informed practice with vulnerable participants
- Service blueprinting across multi-channel operations
- Experience building design capability inside client organizations
