UI/UX Front-End Designer
Lynker
UI/UX Front-End Designer
Lynker
Government contracting for environmental science services
Lynker is seeking a detail-oriented UI/UX Front-End Designer to lead the user experience overhaul and interface design for the website for the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), spaceweather.gov. SWPC operates 24/7, monitoring space weather conditions that impact national security, satellite operations, aviation, power grids, and emergency management.
This role focuses entirely on user experience design, research, visual communication, and design system management. You will bridge the gap between complex space science—geomagnetic storms, solar flares, radio blackouts—and accessible visual products used by aviation controllers, power grid operators, satellite technicians, and the public. You will create production-ready UI designs, visual assets, wireframes, and design specs for our software engineering team to implement.
The ideal web designer selected will be local to the Boulder, CO area, and able to support a hybrid office and home work environment.
Duties of the UI/UX Designer will include the following:
UI/UX Design & Scientific Visualization
Design intuitive, audience-centered navigation, content organization, and user journeys that provide rapid access to authoritative space weather information. Create differentiated experiences for the public, critical infrastructure operators, government decisionmakers, and scientific users, prioritizing the information most relevant to their needs and decisions.
Transform complex scientific information, including evolving space weather severity scales, into clear, understandable, and actionable digital experiences. Develop visual approaches that communicate hazard severity, potential impacts, geographic relevance, timing, forecast confidence, and uncertainty, helping users understand what is happening, what it means to them, and when action may be warranted.
Design interactive dashboards, maps, timelines, charts, and other visual tools that translate real-time observations, forecasts, and probabilistic guidance into meaningful information. Emphasize sector-specific risks, geographic and temporal context, anticipated conditions, and evolving hazards while preserving scientific accuracy and supporting rapid interpretation during significant space weather events.
Develop wireframes, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity designs using Figma or comparable tools to explore, communicate, and validate new digital services. Support the progression of emerging capabilities from experimental concepts and user evaluation to reliable, operationally suitable interfaces.
User Research & Testing
Engage forecasters, scientists, critical infrastructure operators, aviation and space-sector stakeholders, emergency managers, and public users to understand their information needs, operational workflows, decision thresholds, and time-sensitive requirements. Translate research findings into design priorities that improve the relevance, usability, and effectiveness of SWPC services.
Evaluate how users interpret space weather severity, potential impacts, probabilities, uncertainty, and recommended actions. Apply usability testing, behavioral research, and risk communication principles to develop clear, consistent, and scientifically credible presentations that reduce ambiguity and support appropriate decision-making.
Use stakeholder feedback, usability testing, website analytics, and measurable user-experience outcomes to continually refine interfaces and communication approaches. Prioritize improvements that reduce cognitive burden, accelerate access to decision-relevant information, and strengthen performance during rapidly evolving events.
Design System & Accessibility
Develop and maintain a scalable, reusable design system aligned with the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS), NOAA branding, and federal digital service standards. Establish consistent components, design tokens, interaction patterns, and visualization conventions across public-facing websites, dashboards, and emerging digital services.
Integrate Section 508 compliance, contemporary WCAG accessibility practices, mobile responsiveness, and plain-language principles throughout the design process. Ensure critical information, including severity levels, warnings, probabilities, and scientific visualizations, remains understandable and accessible across devices, abilities, and levels of scientific expertise, without relying solely on color or specialized terminology.
Establish reusable visual and content patterns that support consistent interpretation of space weather conditions, forecasts, warnings, and potential impacts across digital products. Collaborate with scientific, operational, and communications teams to ensure terminology, severity indicators, uncertainty representations, and decision-support messaging remain coherent and authoritative.
Work closely with software engineers, scientists, and operational staff to translate validated designs into maintainable, responsive, and production-ready interfaces. Provide documented components, design specifications, interaction behaviors, accessibility requirements, and implementation guidance while supporting design reviews, quality assurance, and iterative refinement.
The UI/UX Designer selected should have the following:
The Ideal UI/UX Designer will have the following:
About Lynker
Lynker is a growing, employee owned business, specializing in professional, scientific and technical services. Our continually expanding team combines scientific expertise with mature, results-driven processes and tools to achieve technically sound, cost effective solutions in hydrology/water sciences, geospatial analysis, information technology, resource management, conservation, and management and business process improvement.
We focus on putting the right people in the right place to be effective. And having the right people is critical for success. Our streamlined organization enables and empowers our talented professionals to tackle our customers' scientific and technical priorities – creatively and effectively.
Lynker offers a team-oriented work environment, and the opportunity to work in a culture of exceptionally skilled professionals who embrace sound science and creative solutions. Lynker's benefits include the following:
Lynker is an E-Verify employer.
Lynker is an equal opportunity employer and makes all employment decisions based on merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other legally protected status under federal, state, or local laws.
Compensation: 77000 to 108000 (USD)
Lynker provides professional, scientific, and technical services to federal agencies, with NOAA as its main client. It works on weather and climate science, marine and ocean science, systems integration, and environmental policy, including forecast models, data assimilation, and maritime observing networks. The company differentiates itself through deep domain expertise in environmental science, data analytics, and geospatial solutions, delivered by an employee-owned team focused on environmental security and economic prosperity. Its goal is to support NOAA and other agencies in advancing weather, oceans, and environmental monitoring to improve public safety, scientific understanding, and economic resilience.
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