Senior Design Strategist (San Diego)

Location: We are actively hiring in the San Diego area. 

Who We Are: LINK is a fast-growing Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) that leverages human-centered design to support strategy, innovation, communication, change, and branding within the federal government and adjacent industry partners. At LINK, we partner with engineers, futurists, and thought leaders to untangle complexity, discover opportunity, and communicate clearly with visual stories. 

Let us be your partners in change.

About the Opportunity: 
LINK is actively seeking a Senior Design Strategist to join our dynamic team, where we leverage strong partnerships and a robust portfolio of clients across diverse industries. The Senior Design Strategist leads the development and execution of innovative, human-centered design strategies that address complex client challenges. This role partners closely with internal teams and executive-level clients to shape strategic direction, uncover insights, and translate them into compelling visual stories and solutions that drive meaningful impact and advance client objectives.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Communication, Sociology/Psychology, or related fields
• 10+ years of experience in design strategy or related roles
• Active Clearance: Secret required, Top Secret preferred
• Expertise in human-centered design and design thinking methodologies, with a proven ability to transform data into impactful visual stories
• Extensive experience in various design areas (e.g., service design, experience design, brand development, information design, graphic design) and able to propose the best solutions for each project
• Proficient in designing and facilitating design thinking and interactive research sessions with executive leaders and their teams
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with clients and cross-functional teams
• Strong working knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud and professional design tools
• Government contracting experience
• Design portfolio that highlights design strategy expertise and related project outcomes

Responsibilities:

Cross-Functional and Technical Leadership

• Lead deep collaboration with engineering teams and subject matter experts to shape strategy grounded in technical realities and human needs.
• Act as a strategic bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders, aligning perspectives and driving shared understanding at the program and portfolio levels.
• Inform product, service, and program strategy through research-driven insights that influence direction, prioritization, and decision-making.
• Define content strategy, information architecture, and experience frameworks, guiding wireframing and content mapping efforts across teams.

Information Strategy and Strategic Visualization

• Set direction for information designers and partner with strategists and designers to develop high-impact visual frameworks, journey maps, and decision-support tools.
• Translate complex systems, research findings, and trade-offs into visualizations that enable executive-level evaluation and confident decision-making.
  
  
• Elevate the clarity and rigor of research communication through compelling, accessible visual narratives.

Workshop Strategy, Facilitation, and Alignment

• Design and lead high-stakes workshops, design sprints, and co-creation sessions that align diverse stakeholders and advance strategic outcomes.
• Develop human-centered facilitation approaches, agendas, and materials that enable government teams to collaborate, innovate, and navigate complexity.
• Synthesize qualitative and quantitative inputs from workshops to surface critical insights, strategic opportunities, and alignment or decision gaps that inform next steps.

User Research and Strategic Insight Development

• Lead the planning and execution of mixed-method user research, including interviews, contextual inquiry, and stakeholder analysis, to inform strategy and design direction.
• Synthesize complex research into actionable insights, opportunity areas, and strategic recommendations that influence senior stakeholders.
• Translate technical and policy-heavy concepts into clear, human-centered narratives that resonate with diverse audiences.
• Oversee and conduct primary and secondary research, integrating qualitative and quantitative findings into cohesive strategic perspectives.

Work Schedule:

• Full time, 40 hours per week
• Occasional onsite presence may be required for client meetings, presentations, or working sessions. This could include local or national travel, depending on the locations of the employee and client.

Salary: We're committed to offering competitive compensation. While the salary range for this position is $112,000-$145,000 your final offer may be adjusted based on factors like experience and location.

Benefits:

• $100 monthly internet/cell phone stipend
• LINK sponsored healthcare benefits including medical, dental, vision
• Company-paid Short Term Disability Insurance
• 401K with employer contribution of up to 4%
• 11 Federal Holidays per year 
• 15 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) per year 
• Paid Holiday Time Off (Christmas Eve through the New Year) 
• Annual bonus plan participation
• Annual profit sharing participation
• $2,000 Learning and Development program reimbursement
• Technology package that includes a LINK-owned MacBook Pro, monitor, mouse and keyboard

EOE