Product Designer I

<div><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 150, 57);">We are HCSS.</strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 150, 57);"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">For the last </span><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">40 years, </strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">we have been developing software to help construction companies streamline their operations</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 150, 57);">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Based in Sugar Land, TX, our mission is helping customers achieve excellence through our proven customer-centric, end-to-end solutions and exceptionally helpful service, while providing a great life for our employees. With this mission at the core of everything we do, HCSS is a pioneer and leader in the construction software space and a consistently recognized employer. We have earned </span><em style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Best Companies to Work for in Texas</em><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> honors for </span><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">18</strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">consecutive years</strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> and have been named a </span><em style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">USA Today Top Workplace</em><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. HCSS has also been recognized by </span><em style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Built In</em><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> as a </span><em style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Best Place to Work in Greater Houston</em><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> and by </span><em style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Construction Executive</em><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> for our technology innovation, reflecting our strong culture, industry leadership, and commitment to excellence.</span></div><div><br></div><div><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">WHO WE NEED:&nbsp;</strong></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As a </span><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Product Designer I</strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> at HCSS, you are the primary advocate for our users and a core strategic partner within our Product team. You are driven by a strong curiosity to understand the complex workflows of the heavy civil construction and utilities industry, and you are passionate about designing solutions that make a tangible impact on the people building our world's infrastructure.</span></div><div><br></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In this role, you will focus on discovering and validating the right problems to solve. You will partner directly with Group Product Managers, Product Managers, Technical Product Managers (TPMs), and other UX peers to conduct UX discovery and validation research as well as ideate solutions via wireframing, whiteboard, and proofs-of-concept.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">You will advocate for the user's voice throughout the product lifecycle to ensure our solutions are highly valuable, impactful, and usable. You are empowered to focus on product strategy, user advocacy, and workflow validation.</span></div><div><br></div><div><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Qualifications:</strong></div><ul><li class="">A portfolio that demonstrates your critical thinking process, showing how you moved from an ambiguous user problem to validated structural wireframes (e.g., how you approach problem-solving, not UI).</li><li class="">High comfort level with "messy" whiteboarding, rough sketching, and throwaway design work over high-fidelity polish.</li><li class="">Strong proficiency in using AI tools alongside modern whiteboarding tools to rapidly generate proofs-of-concept and visualize ideas at a high velocity.</li><li class="">Excellent communication and facilitation skills to collaborate effectively with Product members, actively participating in defining and gathering product requirements alongside them as well as presenting research findings clearly</li><li class="">Solid understanding of user-centered design methodologies, including how to structure and synthesize user interviews and usability tests</li><li class="">Strong proficiency in modern design and whiteboarding tools to rapidly visualize concepts</li><li class="">A natural curiosity and willingness to dive deep into the highly technical and complex workflows of the heavy civil construction and utilities industry</li><li class="">Demonstrates foundational UX discovery and workflow mapping skills, and thrives in the ambiguity of early-stage product definition</li></ul><div><br></div><div><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Preferred Qualifications:</strong></div><ul><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Bachelor’s degree in Design, Psychology, HCI (or equivalent academic/bootcamp background) or ~2 years of relevant work experience&nbsp;</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Experience using research repositories or product discovery tools </span></li></ul><div><br></div><div><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Role Responsibilities:</strong></div><ul><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Partner closely with Group Product Managers, Product Managers, and Technical Product Managers to understand business requirements, define user problems, and participate in upstream product strategy discussions.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Assist in planning and conducting generative and evaluative research (e.g., user interviews, contextual inquiries, discovery interviews). Synthesize qualitative data to uncover actionable insights about heavy civil construction and utilities workflows.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Translate complex logic into structural wireframes, user flows, and low-to-mid fidelity proofs-of-concept to quickly visualize and test ideas.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Act as the collaborative UX strategy and solutions partner with Product Management to help them visually map out their business logic.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Design and run usability tests on proposed workflows to validate that the solution is both valuable and intuitive for the end-user before any code is written.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Package validated user flows and research insights to collaborate with UX peers to ensure the core UX strategy is maintained as they review and curate the final design and specifications.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Continuously build strong empathy for our unique user base (e.g., estimators, project managers, foremen, field personnel, mechanics, etc.), and advocate for their needs in every product conversation.</span></li></ul><div><br></div><div><strong style="background-color: transparent;">Travel Requirements:</strong></div><ul><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Initial Onboarding: During the first 3 months of employment, employees (in the Houston area) must work on-site at the Sugar Land office 3 days per week to ensure comprehensive training and integration.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Hybrid Requirements</span><ul><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Following the initial onboarding phase, employees transition to a flexible hybrid work model.&nbsp;</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">If an on-site workspace is requested, employees are expected to work from the Sugar Land office up to 2 days per week, subject to team needs and manager discretion.</span></li></ul></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Remote Requirements</span><ul><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Fully remote employees are expected to visit the Sugar Land office periodically up to once a Quarter</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Employees will be expected to attend HCSS-sponsored events per the manager’s discretion (e.g., UGM).</span></li></ul></li></ul><div><br></div><div><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">BENEFITS &amp; PERKS:</strong></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Part of our mission is to provide a great life for our employees. We believe that when our people are happy, they do their best work. Some of the benefits and perks we offer include:</span></div><ul><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Flexibility to work Remotely</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Medical, dental, and vision coverage with </span><strong style="background-color: transparent;">company-paid</strong><span style="background-color: transparent;"> and employee-paid options</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Paid holidays, sick days, and personal time off</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Employee Resource Groups (</span><strong style="background-color: transparent;">ERGs</strong><span style="background-color: transparent;">) that foster connection and inclusion</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">On-site amenities including a covered basketball court, soccer field, track, pickleball/tennis courts, gym, etc.</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Dog-friendly campus and WiFi-accessible courtyards</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">401(k) with a </span><strong style="background-color: transparent;">5%</strong><span style="background-color: transparent;"> company match</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">Coverage for employee professional development and wellness</span></li><li class=""><span style="background-color: transparent;">And more!</span></li></ul><div><br></div>