Senior UX Designer

Project overview

The COA is renovating the applications that employees at the reception locations use daily. As a Senior UX & Design System Designer, you will determine the real problem for the employee on location and translate it into a solution that the development team can build. At the same time, you will help build Shelter, the COA's design system, so that it fits what the users in Team Reception and Chain need. You will not be given an assignment, but a problem. You determine the approach.

The employees at the reception locations are your users. Every minute they spend on an inconvenient screen is time taken away from residents. Your question is therefore always: what is the real problem here, and how can we make it as easy as possible for the employee on location?

You will work daily with Product Owners, business analysts, and developers. UX is still young at the COA and Shelter is still under development, so you will also explain why a good solution starts with the question and not with the screen.

Key Responsibilities

You will refine the question, observe users, and come up with a solution that solves the problem, is feasible, and remains maintainable.

The Team

You will join the UX group of the Reception and Chain team, part of COA ICT: two UX/UI designers and a UX lead. The lead will provide feedback but does not set the direction. With the designers from two other departments, you form the UX guild. For Shelter, you will collaborate with the front-end developer and the Product Owner.

Other Information

• You determine how much design a question requires. Sometimes a sketch with a developer is enough, sometimes user research is needed before anything is drawn.
• You document your choices so that the team can find out why something is the way it is even after your assignment.
• You translate what you encounter in the applications to Shelter: which components and patterns are missing, and what belongs in the shared layer.
• You design and maintain components, tokens, and documentation, together with the front-end developer, so that Figma and code do not diverge.
• You actively explore what AI tooling can mean for design work and the team.
• You push back if an assignment is incorrect, before any design work begins.
• The Hague / Hybrid working possible
• Presence in The Hague is expected on two fixed days (in consultation)
• A Certificate of Conduct (VOG) is mandatory before starting the assignment
• Initial 12 months, with option for extension
• 36 hours per week

Requirements

You possess:

Desired Skills

Additionally:

Your Offer

When submitting your offer, please include a portfolio (link or PDF) with at least two case studies:

For each case study, describe the initial situation, your considerations and choices, your personal contribution, and the result. Anonymized work is permitted. Offers without a portfolio will not be considered.

• At least 5 years of experience as a UX/UI designer in product teams, with demonstrable work on internal or task-oriented applications.
• Experience with interaction design, information architecture, and UI in Figma, and with building or further developing a design system (components, tokens, documentation).
• Demonstrable experience with end-to-end design: from the question of, for example, a Product Owner to the real problem and a substantiated solution.
• Demonstrable curiosity about how AI is changing the design profession: you actively explore what it means for research, design, and collaboration with developers.
• Excellent command of the Dutch language, both spoken and written.
• Applying WCAG and translating it into concrete design adjustments, including at the component level, is a plus.
• Experience in government or another large organization with legacy systems is a plus.
• Experience with setting up and conducting user tests and interviews yourself is a plus.
• Knowledge of how design translates into code is a plus.
• Experience with service design or journey mapping is a plus.
• One case study about AI in design work: what you researched, experimented with, or implemented, what the results were, and what wasn't. Experiments and personal projects also count.
• One case study from a complex corporate environment, with many stakeholders, regulations, or legacy systems.

Project details

• Start: flexible
• Duration: 12 months
• Remote: hybrid
• Location: Den Haag, NL
• Languages: Dutch

Source notes

COA stands for Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers. COA is responsible for the reception of asylum seekers and guiding them towards a future in the Netherlands or their country of origin. They work closely with other organizations within the asylum chain, such as the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V). All partners have their own tasks and responsibilities.

Independent Administrative Body

The COA is an independent administrative body (zbo) and carries out the tasks stipulated in the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers Act (Wet COA). The organization is accountable to the State Secretary of Justice and Security.