User Experience (UX) Designer (Technology Innovation Division)

Job Summary

The UX Designer is responsible for planning and delivering user experience design and research activities that improve the usability, accessibility, and effectiveness of MBTA products and services. This role collaborates with cross-functional partners to understand user and stakeholder needs, translate insights into actionable solutions, and ensure design decisions align with organizational goals and constraints. UX Designers contribute to defined product areas or initiatives by conducting research, developing design artifacts, and supporting implementation through partnership with product and engineering. They produce reliable, production-ready outputs and apply established design systems, standards, and processes.

Duties & Responsibilities

Plan and deliver UX design work across features or defined product areas, producing production-ready artifacts such as flows, wireframes, prototypes, and specifications.

Conduct and contribute to qualitative research activities, including research planning, interview guides, interviews, task analysis, synthesis, and communicating findings to inform design decisions.

Apply research insights to design solutions that balance user needs, accessibility requirements, operational realities, technical constraints, and agency goals.

Use and contribute to established design systems, documentation standards, and UX practices to ensure consistency and quality across experiences.

Design coherent experiences across touchpoints, considering the full rider or staff journey where relevant.

Contribute to product definition, roadmap discussions, and sprint planning by representing user needs, constraints, and experience risks.

Identify usability, accessibility, or experience risks early and partner with cross-functional teams to address them.

May mentor junior designers and contribute to defining design standards.

Participate in usability testing, accessibility evaluation, and design quality assurance activities to ensure experiences meet standards.

Engage in team rituals (e.g., stand-ups, planning, retrospectives) and contribute to strengthening UX principles, standards, and shared practices.

Support the growth of the design practice through knowledge sharing, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Collaborate with product, engineering, and design partners to align on goals, define requirements, and ensure solutions are feasible, user-centered, and consistent with design standards.

Protect data security, compliance, and privacy across all work by following best practices and established industry/MBTA policies, standards, and procedures for secure research, design, documentation, and data handling.

Perform all other duties and projects that may be assigned.

Minimum Requirements & Qualifications

Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.

Two (2) years of relevant professional experience in UX design.

Strong working knowledge of UX design methods and practices.

Ability to support the planning and delivery of UX work for more complex, predictable problem spaces.

Experience conducting or contributing to qualitative research activities end-to-end.

Experience designing multi-touchpoint or platform-level user experiences.

Ability to collaborate effectively with product and engineering partners.

Ability to communicate design and research decisions clearly, including tradeoffs.

As part of the selection process, candidates will be asked to complete and pass job-related technical assessments, which may include presenting a UX case study and/or a timed whiteboarding exercise.

Preferred Experience & Skills

More than four (4) years of relevant professional experience.

Experience working with engineering to document interactions and system behaviors.

Familiarity with Service Design, outcomes, and jobs-to-be-done frameworks.

Experience working in agile delivery environments on cross-functional teams.

Job Conditions

Ability to effectively read, comprehend, communicate, and respond to instructions, orders, signs, notices, inquiries, etc. in English.

Be at least eighteen (18) years of age, except if participating in an approved high school internship / co-op program.

Ability to commute to assigned work locations in the Boston, MA metro area, as required by the role.

Ability to provide internal and external customers with courteous and professional experiences.

Ability to work effectively, independently, and as part of a diverse workforce team (or supervise, if required).

Ability to uphold the rights and interests of the MBTA while building and maintaining effective relationships with employees and co-workers.

Ability to adhere to rules, regulations, collective bargaining agreements (if applicable), and policies of the MBTA, including the EEO, anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, and anti-retaliation policies.

Have a satisfactory work record for the two (2) years immediately prior to the closing date of this posting (unless if current student or recent graduate), including overall employment, job performance, discipline, and safety records (infractions and/or offenses occurring after the closing of the posting and before the filling of a vacancy may preclude a candidate from consideration for selection).

Ability to pass a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check, comprehensive background screening, and / or medical Clinic screening, potentially including physical examination and drug and alcohol screenings.

Ability to work all shifts and / or locations assigned, directed, or necessary for this position, including (for some transit / operations roles) up to twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week as necessary to accommodate severe weather conditions, emergencies, or any other circumstances that may potentially impact service or the safety of service.

Intern / co-op staff must be enrolled full or part-time in an accredited educational program and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 for the entire duration of the internship / co-op. Additionally, interns / co-ops must have valid work authorization and U.S. Social Security Number prior to starting pre-employment screenings / pre-boarding, working in their positions, and throughout the duration of their program.

Employment Benefits at the MBTA

Full-Time Employees: The MBTA offers comprehensive benefits packages. Types of benefits offered at the MBTA are subject to the union affiliation / Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of the position to which you apply. Benefits that may apply to your position include the following:

• Insurance: Health, Dental, Vision, Life (basic and supplemental), and Long-Term Disability
• Paid Time Off (PTO): Vacation, Personal Days, Sick Leave, and Holidays
• Retirement: Pension or deferred compensation 401(a), plus MBTA contributions
• Complimentary pass for travel on the MBTA transit system (bus, train, ferry, and Commuter Rail)
• Tuition Reimbursement (up to $10,000 per year)
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for student loans
• Commuter Choice Parking Program: Pre-tax benefits for parking
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA): Pre-tax benefits for healthcare-related expenses
• Discounted tickets for concerts, movies, travel / vacation, etc. via TicketsAtWork.com
• Shopping discounts via GovX.com
• Verizon and AT&T service discounts
• And more...

Disclaimer: The above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the MBTA, which may or may not apply to a specific position. This summary is not a contract and is not meant to change the provisions of union contracts or Authority policies and does not establish a binding practice. Please contact the assigned Recruiter directly or email for more information.

The MBTA is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer