Director, Digital Experience Research and Design – Clinical Experiences

at  Ascension

REQUIREMENTS

Education:

• High School diploma equivalency with 5 years of applicable cumulative job specific experiencerequired, with 2 of those years being in leadership/management OR Associate’s degree/Bachelor’sdegree with 3 years of applicable cumulative job specific experience required, with 2 of those yearsbeing in leadership/management.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Ascension Digital Experience Research & Design (xRD) team seeks a dynamic Director of Experience Research and Design for our Clinical Experience product portfolio. In this role, the Director will play a pivotal role in shaping the digital experience of our patients, clinicians, nurses, and other clinical care team members. The xRD Director will lead product design teams and collaborate closely with clinical leadership, product management, and engineering to ensure a seamless and user-centric experience.

IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL HAVE A DIRECT IMPACT ON THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

• Work across our Clinical Transformation and Clinical Experience teams as a “Strategic Tile Lead”, partnering with cross-functional colleagues to shape strategy and oversee program and product delivery.
• Partner with Product Management, Clinical Informaticists, Clinician Leadership, and Digital Engineering to develop quality experiences that drive healthcare engagements and product strategy.
• Collaborate with other xRD Leaders to implement digital product design and human-centered design research best practices to ensure quality, consistency, and engaging experiences for Ascension Clinical Experiences.
• Drive UX research and design to create excellent and consistent experiences across a range of clinician, nurse, support staff, and patient programs and applications — digital care plans, pre-visit communications, connected care solutions, surgical scheduling, EHR app data visualizations, as well as enhancements for clinical experiences such as discharging, rounding, handoff, nurse call systems, and AI-driven tools for navigation, ambient listening, and patient interactions.
• Oversee staff, manage budgets, prioritize work and drive quarterly planning. Additionally, manage capacity and program prioritization, implement Digital Product Design Center of Excellence best practices, and ensure quality control.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Set Strategy and Ensure Delivery: In collaboration with your Clinical Transformation and Clinical Experience, product, and engineering portfolio lead counterparts, refine the strategic direction for your digital experience product portfolio, align feature teams with the vision, and lead discovery and delivery planning each quarter.
• Interdisciplinary Research and Design: Guide your portfolio’s interdisciplinary research and design activities to integrate human-centered design principles into product development strategies for clinician and patient facing products.
• Oversight and Direction of Research & Experience Design Team: Oversee a cross functional team of product designers, researchers, and communication designers.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Drive the established vision for the strategic workstreams and align feature teams with this vision, including quarterly discovery and delivery planning.
• Collaborate with Clinical Experience, Clinical Transformation, and xRD leadership to ensure timely and on-spec implementation of deliverables in line with the strategic vision.
• Manage staff and workload and capacity planning in collaboration with clinical, product, and engineering portfolio leads.
• Prioritize features and experiences based on the Clinical Experience & Transformation strategies and success metrics, refining prioritization as needed based on measured outcomes and performance metrics, including OKRs and KPIs.
• Engage stakeholders and communicate the vision, strategy, budget, project plans, and delivery progress.
• Stay informed about market, competitive, legislative, and product trends to refine roadmaps, deployment strategies, and the clinician experience.
• Coordinate planning efforts with Engineering and Product to align with business objectives.
• Create, build, manage, and track the portfolio budget against the plan and make refinements as required.
• Serve as a subject matter expert in human-centered design, design thinking, and digital product (UX) design for your portfolio.
• Ensure proper staffing and cultivate a strong team of individual contributors and/or contractors to deliver on strategic goals.
• Oversee cross-functional discovery activities, from research to usability testing and ongoing analytics review.
• Lead workshops with key stakeholders to review and approve design work and drive user-centric alignment.
• Ensure adherence to internal and industry best practices, including interaction conventions, brand standards, accessibility practices, and the Helix design system.
• Inspire Clinical Experience teams and Ascension leadership by communicating experience visions and advocating for exceptional design in healthcare.