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Irvine, California, United States
Hybrid
We're looking for a UX consultant who leads with problem-solving and brings strong UX methodology to bear on it - not a visual designer whose primary output is Figma comps or style guides.
At CompassX, UX consultants work directly with enterprise clients to shape digital products, internal tools, and service experiences. You'll bring structure to ambiguous problems, run discovery with real users, and design solutions that are both technically feasible and genuinely usable - moving fluidly across research, interaction design, and prototyping depending on what the engagement needs.
The right person here is someone who has built real UX credibility but operates like a consultant: comfortable with ambiguity, able to work across the full design spectrum, and not precious about deliverable type.
Lead Discovery: Plan and facilitate user research - interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing - to surface real problems before jumping to solutions.
Design Across the Stack: Move fluidly between journey maps, service blueprints, wireframes, and high-fidelity prototypes depending on what the engagement needs. Own the end-to-end design arc.
Build and Validate: Go beyond static deliverables where needed - build interactive prototypes, contribute to design systems, or work directly in tools like Figma, Tableau, or low-code platforms to get something in front of users faster.
Translate for Technical Teams: Partner with developers, architects, and data engineers to make sure what you design is actually buildable - and that what gets built matches the intent.
Communicate Design Decisions: Articulate your design thinking to non-design stakeholders: why this approach, what it solves, what trade-offs were made. Make design accessible without dumbing it down.
Bring AI Into the Work: Use AI tools to accelerate synthesis, prototype generation, and design iteration - and help clients think through how AI changes their product and service design.
Generalist UX Range: 5–8 years across UX research, interaction design, and/or design build. You've done at least two of the three well - and ideally all three.
Consulting or Client-Facing Experience: You've worked in an agency, consultancy, or embedded client delivery context. You know how to operate with ambiguity, shifting priorities, and real stakeholder pressure.
Enterprise Design Context: Experience designing for internal enterprise tools, workflows, or platforms - not just consumer-facing products. You understand organizational complexity and design within it.
Prototyping & Build Fluency: Proficiency in Figma is expected. Familiarity with Tableau, Power BI, or low-code tools is a strong plus for engagements with a data visualization component.
Research Rigor: You know how to run a proper user interview, synthesize findings, and turn messy qualitative data into design direction - not just pretty journey maps.
AI-Forward Mindset: You actively use AI tools to accelerate design work and bring a point of view on how AI is changing product and service design.
Local Presence: Based in LA or Orange County, with the ability to be on-site at client locations in the SoCal area.