Senior Service Designer, Design CoE

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Service Designer, Design CoE

Company: College Board

Location: Remote - Virginia, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Design / User Experience Operations

Date Posted: April 07, 2026

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-10 years)

Remote Status: Fully Remote (Hybrid option for those near CB offices)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the end-to-end service design strategy for the Authentic Work Platform (AWP), a critical SaaS offering for educational assessment.

• Drive systems thinking to map and optimize complex user journeys, processes, and technical platforms across K-12, higher education, and professional contexts.

• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration among design, product, engineering, and operational teams to ensure a cohesive and intuitive platform experience.

• Conduct generative and evaluative user research to synthesize insights that inform strategic platform decisions and prioritize development efforts.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is titled "Senior Service Designer," its focus on a large-scale platform (AWP) with significant implications for user experience, operational efficiency, and strategic decision-making positions it adjacent to roles within a broader "Design Operations" or "Product Operations" framework, particularly in its emphasis on systems, processes, and cross-functional alignment.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design and steward end-to-end service journeys across the full Authentic Work Platform lifecycle: onboarding, creation, preparation, delivery, scoring, reporting, and support.

• Apply systems thinking to map and improve complex relationships between users, programs, policies, processes, and technical platforms.

• Develop and maintain key service design artifacts, including service blueprints, journey maps, ecosystem maps, and information architecture, to guide platform strategy and execution.

• Partner with product and technology leadership to shape platform strategy, identify major service investments, and influence cross-program design decisions.

• Ensure key capabilities and components (e.g., onboarding, help, scoring workflows, reporting patterns) are designed once and reused effectively across different domains within the platform.

• Plan and conduct generative and evaluative research across diverse user groups (students, educators, administrators, coordinators, providers) to gather critical insights.

• Synthesize qualitative and quantitative data into clear, actionable insights that directly inform product, service, and platform decisions.

• Translate research findings into compelling narratives and design artifacts that support alignment and decision-making at multiple organizational levels.

• Act as a steward of the platform-wide service experience, aligning designers across teams through shared principles, patterns, and journey frameworks.

• Facilitate workshops and working sessions that bring together design, product, engineering, and operational stakeholders to drive consensus and action.

• Contribute to the evolution of shared design standards, service patterns, and ways of working for the Design CoE.

• Design service experiences that responsibly integrate AI, balancing authenticity, transparency, user control, and policy requirements.

• Consider equity, accessibility, security, privacy, and accommodations as foundational design inputs, especially in high-stakes assessment contexts.

• Account for operational realities such as reliability, fault tolerance, and scalability when shaping service concepts and recommendations.

• Contribute to the growth of the service design practice at College Board through mentorship, shared tools, templates, and evolving methods.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strategic focus on platform-level service design, moving beyond single-product design. This involves significant cross-functional influence, strategic input into product roadmaps, and a deep understanding of operational realities and scalability, all critical for senior operations-adjacent roles.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in a related field (e.g., Interaction Design, HCI, Information Science, Industrial Design, Computer Science, Social Sciences, Graphic Design) and/or equivalent professional experience designing for complex service ecosystems.

Experience: Significant experience in service design, with a proven track record of leading end-to-end service projects that connect user needs, business goals, and delivery systems. Experience applying systems thinking to identify pain points, map complex relationships, and improve processes across touchpoints.

Required Skills:

• Service Design Expertise: Demonstrated ability to design and steward complex, end-to-end service journeys across a platform lifecycle.

• Systems Thinking: Proficient in identifying and mapping complex relationships between users, programs, policies, processes, and technical platforms.

• Research & Synthesis: Experience planning and conducting generative and evaluative research, and translating insights into clear design direction and actionable strategies.

• Service Design Artifacts: Fluency in creating and utilizing service blueprints, journey maps, ecosystem diagrams, and information architecture.

• Cross-functional Facilitation: Ability to facilitate workshops and working sessions that align diverse stakeholders (design, product, engineering, operations).

• Influence & Collaboration: Proven ability to influence and align cross-functional teams without formal authority.

• Communication & Storytelling: Excellent communication and storytelling skills, capable of tailoring complex ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Ethical & Inclusive Design: Commitment to designing ethically responsible and inclusive services that consider equity, accessibility, security, privacy, and accommodations.

• Tool Proficiency: Proficiency with design and collaboration tools such as Figma, Miro, and Dovetail. Familiarity with research synthesis tools.

• Proactive & Self-Directed: A proactive, self-directed mindset with the confidence to navigate ambiguity and take ownership of outcomes.

• Growth Mindset: Curiosity and a growth mindset, staying current on design trends, tools, and practices.

• Mission Alignment: A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing for AI integration, focusing on responsible implementation, user control, and policy alignment.

• Understanding of operational realities, including reliability, fault tolerance, and scalability in large-scale systems.

• Familiarity with assessment systems, K-12, higher education, or professional development contexts.

• Experience contributing to the growth of a design practice through mentorship and evolving methods.

• Comfort learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively.

• Authorization to work in the United States for any employer.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "systems thinking," "platform strategy," "operational realities," and "cross-functional alignment" aligns strongly with the core competencies expected in senior operations roles, even within a design-focused title. The required toolset (Figma, Miro, Dovetail) is common in design and product operations.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio demonstrating end-to-end service design work for complex systems or platforms.

• Case studies showcasing the application of systems thinking, including mapping complex relationships and identifying process improvements across touchpoints.

• Examples of service blueprints, journey maps, ecosystem maps, and information architecture artifacts that illustrate strategic decision-making.

• Research synthesis examples that clearly translate qualitative and quantitative data into actionable design direction and platform strategy.

• Evidence of influencing cross-functional teams and facilitating alignment on complex design challenges.

Process Documentation:

• Showcase how you document and communicate service design processes, including research methodologies, synthesis techniques, and ideation frameworks.

• Illustrate your approach to creating and maintaining service design artifacts throughout a project lifecycle, ensuring they serve as living documents for ongoing strategy.

• Provide examples of how your process documentation has led to tangible improvements in user experience, operational efficiency, or team alignment.

• Detail how you integrate operational realities and technical constraints into your service design process.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role like this, a portfolio is paramount. It's expected to demonstrate not just design outputs but also the process behind them, with a strong emphasis on systems-level thinking, research integration, and cross-functional collaboration – all key indicators of operational maturity.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $112,000 - $154,000 per year

Benefits:

• Annual bonuses

• Merit-based raises

• Promotions

• Comprehensive benefits package (specifics not detailed, but typical for a large non-profit organization)

Working Hours: Full-time position, likely standard business hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility for remote work. Travel is expected 3-5 times per year to College Board offices or for business needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is a hiring range, and the final offer will be adjusted based on location, experience, and comparison to other candidates. The mention of "adjust salaries by location" is a standard practice for remote roles to account for cost of living differences. The benefits mentioned are typical for experienced professionals and reflect a commitment to employee well-being and career progression. The estimated working hours are based on the "full-time" employment type and standard industry practices.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Education Technology / Non-profit Educational Services. College Board is a mission-driven organization focused on clearing a path for students' futures through assessments and educational services.

Company Size: The exact number of employees is not specified in the input, but College Board is a large, established non-profit organization with a significant national presence.

Founded: The founding date is not specified, but College Board has a long history in educational assessment.

Team Structure:

• The role is within the "User Centered Platforms and Practices" team, which brings together product, content, design, and engineering.

• This team focuses on creating the "connective tissue"—tools, platforms, and practices—that enable teams to deliver user-centered products at scale.

• The Senior Service Designer will partner closely with product, engineering, research, and program teams working on the Authentic Work Platform (AWP).

Methodology:

• Emphasis on user-centered design and systems thinking.

• Focus on creating a coherent, intuitive platform experience (AWP) rather than disconnected tools.

• Data-driven decision-making, grounding decisions in user research and operational realities.

• Collaboration across disciplines (design, product, engineering, research, program management).

• Commitment to designing ethically responsible and inclusive services.

• Iterative learning and continuous improvement based on user input and external benchmarking.

Company Website: https://www.collegeboard.org/

📝 Enhancement Note: College Board's mission-driven nature and its focus on educational equity are central to its culture. The "User Centered Platforms and Practices" team and the "Design CoE" indicate a structured, strategic approach to design and product development, with an emphasis on scalable solutions and cross-functional collaboration, which is crucial for operations-minded professionals.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is classified as "Senior," indicating a mid-to-senior level position requiring substantial experience and the ability to lead complex projects and influence strategy. In an operations context, this senior level implies expertise in process optimization, system design, and cross-functional leadership.

Reporting Structure: The role reports into the "User Centered Platforms and Practices" team, likely under a design or product leadership role. The Senior Service Designer will influence and collaborate with multiple product and engineering teams without formal authority over them.

Operations Impact: The Senior Service Designer's work on the Authentic Work Platform (AWP) will have a direct impact on the efficiency, usability, and scalability of assessment processes for millions of users (students, educators, institutions). Strategic decisions made now will shape the future of assessment delivery and administration, influencing operational costs, user satisfaction, and the integrity of educational evaluations.

Growth Opportunities:

• Service Design Specialization: Deepen expertise in platform-level service design, systems thinking, and designing for complex ecosystems.

• Leadership & Influence: Develop leadership skills in influencing strategy and aligning diverse teams through design advocacy and facilitation, potentially leading to roles in design leadership or product strategy.

• Domain Expertise: Gain deep knowledge of the K-12, higher education, and professional assessment landscape, including the evolving role of AI in education.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor junior designers and contribute to the growth of the service design practice at College Board.

• Strategic Impact: Contribute to a critical platform transformation that will define College Board's assessment capabilities for years to come.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Senior" title, coupled with the strategic platform-level responsibilities and cross-functional influence, points to significant growth potential. For operations professionals, this role offers a pathway to influencing large-scale system design, process optimization, and strategic product direction within a mission-critical educational context.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully remote role. Candidates residing near College Board offices have the option to work hybrid (two days per week in office: Tuesdays and Wednesdays).

Office Location(s): While the role is remote, the option for hybrid work suggests proximity to physical College Board offices in Virginia is a consideration for some candidates. Specific office locations are not detailed.

Workspace Context:

• Remote Collaboration: The role relies heavily on digital collaboration tools (Figma, Miro, Dovetail) for design, research synthesis, and team alignment, typical of modern remote work environments.

• Cross-functional Interaction: Expect frequent interaction with product managers, engineers, researchers, and program leads, fostering a collaborative and dynamic work environment.

• Design CoE Integration: Participation in a Design Center of Excellence implies access to shared resources, best practices, and a community of practice for designers.

• Focus on Process & Systems: The work environment encourages a focus on structured processes, system design, and measurable outcomes.

Work Schedule: Full-time employment, with the flexibility inherent in a remote role. Travel is required 3-5 times annually for meetings, workshops, or user engagement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid option for those near offices indicates a strategic balance between remote flexibility and in-person collaboration for key activities, which is a growing trend in many organizations. For operations professionals, understanding the tools and methods for effective remote and hybrid collaboration is key.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Application Review: Initial screening of resumes and portfolios.

• Recruiter Screen: A preliminary phone or video call to assess general fit and interest.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Deeper dive into experience, approach, and alignment with the role's strategic objectives.

• Performance Exercise: This may include a live design challenge, a case study presentation, or a technical assessment relevant to service design and systems thinking.

• Panel Interview: Discussion with multiple team members, including peers and potentially cross-functional stakeholders, to evaluate collaboration style and problem-solving abilities.

• Leadership Conversation: A final discussion with senior leadership to assess strategic alignment and cultural fit.

• Reference Checks: Verification of professional background and performance.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Platform Focus: Ensure your portfolio clearly showcases end-to-end service design for complex systems or platforms, not just individual product features.

• Systems Thinking Emphasis: Highlight projects where you applied systems thinking to map complex relationships, identify pain points, and propose holistic solutions. Use diagrams like service blueprints and ecosystem maps to visualize this.

• Research Integration: Demonstrate how user research directly informed your design decisions and led to tangible improvements or strategic shifts.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Provide examples of how you collaborated with product, engineering, and operations teams, and how you influenced decisions without direct authority.

• AI & Ethical Design: If possible, include examples of designing with AI considerations or focusing on ethical/inclusive aspects of service design.

• Storytelling: Structure your case studies with a clear narrative: problem, your role, process, solution, and impact (quantifiable where possible).

Challenge Preparation:

• Systems Anatomy: Be prepared to analyze a complex system (e.g., an educational platform) and identify opportunities for service design improvement.

• Journey Mapping Exercise: You might be asked to map a specific user journey or identify key touchpoints within the AWP.

• Problem Decomposition: Practice breaking down complex, ambiguous problems into smaller, manageable parts and proposing phased solutions.

• Stakeholder Alignment Scenarios: Prepare to discuss how you would align different stakeholders with potentially competing priorities.

• AI Integration Scenarios: Consider how AI might impact assessment workflows and how a service designer would approach its integration responsibly.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process suggests a thorough evaluation, with a strong emphasis on practical application of service design principles, systems thinking, and collaborative skills. The portfolio and challenge preparation sections are tailored to highlight the operations-adjacent aspects of this design role.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: For UI design, prototyping, and collaborative design workflows.

• Miro: For collaborative whiteboarding, ideation, journey mapping, service blueprints, and workshop facilitation.

• Dovetail: For qualitative research synthesis, organizing insights, and creating user research repositories.

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to the service designer role, but understanding how user data is managed and how automated workflows function within the AWP platform would be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The specified tools are standard for modern design and product teams, emphasizing collaboration and research synthesis. For operations professionals, understanding how these tools facilitate workflow design, process documentation, and data-driven insights is valuable.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centered: A deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of students, educators, and institutions.

• Mission-Driven: A passion for College Board's mission of clearing paths for student success and educational equity.

• Systems Thinking: A proactive approach to understanding and optimizing complex interconnected systems rather than isolated components.

• Collaboration & Empathy: Working effectively across diverse teams, fostering trust, and valuing different perspectives to achieve shared success.

• Impact & Excellence: A drive to solve complex problems, make data-informed decisions, and continuously improve through learning and benchmarking.

• Ethical Responsibility: A strong commitment to designing services that are responsible, inclusive, equitable, and secure.

• Growth & Learning: A learner's mindset, welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving feedback, and continuously improving through iterative learning.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Strong emphasis on partnering with product, engineering, research, and program teams.

• Facilitative Leadership: Leading by facilitating discussions, workshops, and alignment sessions rather than dictating solutions.

• Shared Ownership: Encouraging teams to reuse common patterns and components, fostering a sense of shared ownership over the platform experience.

• Open Communication: Clear, concise, and accessible communication, utilizing plain language and inclusive design practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values and collaboration style emphasize a mature, operations-oriented approach to design. The focus on systems, collaboration, and impact aligns well with the principles of effective operations management.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Platform Complexity: Navigating the inherent complexity of a large-scale, multi-faceted platform like AWP, which serves diverse user groups and use cases (classroom to high-stakes exams).

• Balancing AI Integration: Designing responsibly for AI in educational assessment, ensuring authenticity, trust, and equity while leveraging new technologies.

• Cross-Team Alignment at Scale: Achieving and maintaining design coherence and consistent service experiences across numerous product and engineering teams without formal authority.

• Operationalizing Design: Ensuring that service design recommendations are practical, scalable, and account for the operational realities (reliability, fault tolerance) of a massive platform.

• Ambiguity & Transformation: Operating within an active platform transformation, where foundational decisions will shape future experiences and require navigating uncertainty.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI in Education: Gaining expertise in the application of AI within educational assessment and its impact on service design.

• Platform Strategy: Developing advanced skills in shaping long-term platform strategy and roadmaps through service design insights.

• Systems Design Leadership: Enhancing capabilities in leading complex system design initiatives and influencing organizational strategy.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor junior designers and contribute to the professional development of the design practice at College Board.

• Industry Trends: Staying abreast of emerging trends in service design, systems thinking, and educational technology.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges outlined are typical for senior roles in large-scale product development and platform transformations, requiring strong operational thinking, strategic foresight, and problem-solving skills. The growth opportunities focus on deepening expertise in critical areas relevant to both design and operations.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing a cohesive onboarding experience for the Authentic Work Platform, considering the diverse needs of educators, students, and administrators?" (Focus on process, research, and systems thinking)

• "Describe a time you used systems thinking to identify a critical pain point in a complex service ecosystem. What was your process, and what was the outcome?" (Prepare a detailed case study showcasing your methodology)

• "How would you ensure that AI capabilities are integrated into the AWP service experience in a way that maintains authenticity, user control, and ethical standards?" (Prepare to discuss responsible AI design principles and practical application)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about College Board's mission, and how does that align with your personal values?" (Research College Board's mission and impact)

• "How do you approach integrating operational realities and technical constraints into your service design process?" (Demonstrate an understanding of scalability, reliability, and practical implementation)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role, the process you followed (emphasizing research and systems thinking), the solutions you designed, and the measurable impact.

• Visual Clarity: Use your service blueprints, journey maps, and ecosystem diagrams effectively to illustrate complex relationships and your strategic thinking. Ensure they are easy to understand.

• Process Deep Dive: Be ready to explain why you chose certain methods or tools at each stage of your process.

• Stakeholder Engagement: Highlight instances where you successfully collaborated with and influenced product managers, engineers, or operational stakeholders.

• Ethical Considerations: If relevant, explicitly discuss how you addressed ethical, inclusive, or accessibility considerations in your projects.

• Conciseness: Practice presenting your portfolio within the allotted time, focusing on the most impactful aspects of your work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The suggested interview questions are designed to probe for strategic thinking, process-driven problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills, all critical for operations-adjacent roles. The portfolio presentation advice emphasizes demonstrating the operational maturity behind the design work.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Service Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the College Board careers portal.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your resume and portfolio to highlight your experience in designing complex systems, applying systems thinking, conducting user research, and facilitating cross-functional teams. Emphasize case studies that demonstrate end-to-end service design for platforms.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your experience level and skills in service design, systems thinking, research synthesis, and collaboration, using keywords from the job description. Quantify achievements where possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, your approach to complex problems, and your experience with tools like Figma and Miro. Prepare specific examples for behavioral questions related to influence, collaboration, and problem-solving.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research College Board's mission, values, and the Authentic Work Platform (AWP). Understand their commitment to educational equity and how AI is being considered in assessment. This will help tailor your responses and demonstrate genuine interest.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.