Lead Design Researcher

San Francisco, CA, United States

Homeward is rearchitecting the delivery of health and care in partnership with communities everywhere, starting in rural America. Today, 60 million Americans living in rural communities are facing a crisis of access to care. In the U.S. healthcare system, rural Americans experience significantly poorer clinical outcomes. This trend is rapidly accelerating as rural hospitals close and physician shortages increase, exacerbating health disparities. In fact, Americans living in rural communities suffer a mortality rate 23 percent higher than those in urban communities, in part because of the lack of access to quality care.

Our vision is care that enables everyone to achieve their best health. So, we're creating a new healthcare delivery model that is purpose-built for rural America and directly addresses the issues that have historically limited access and quality. Homeward supports Medicare-eligible beneficiaries by partnering with health plans, providers, and communities to align incentives - taking full financial accountability for clinical outcomes and the total cost of care across rural counties.

As a public benefit corporation and Certified B Corp™, Homeward's mission and business model are aligned to address the healthcare, economic, and demographic challenges that make it challenging for rural Americans to stay healthy. Our Homeward Navigation™ platform uses advanced analytics to connect members to the right care and local resources that address social determinants of health and improve holistic health outcomes. Since many rural communities lack adequate clinical capacity, Homeward also employs care teams that supplement local practices and reach people who cannot otherwise access care.

Homeward is co-founded by a leadership team that defined and delivered Livongo's products, and backed most recently by a $50 million series B co-led by Arch Ventures and Human Capital, with participation from General Catalyst for a total of $70 million in funding. With this leadership team and funding, Homeward is committed to bringing high-quality healthcare to rural communities in need.

Join us in tackling healthcare for rural America! We're seeking a lead design researcher who is passionate about having positive societal impact, and for using technology for good - solving issues of health inequity for communities who have been perennially underserved. As the second member of our design team, you'll work cross functionally with engineering, product, user research, operations, and clinical teams to define and deliver our core experiences.

What you'll do:

Design longitudinal healthcare services for older adults in rural America. You'll inform the design of significant portions of our care delivery platform and focus on designing a seamless end-to-end experience that is enabled through technology, but driven by human touch-points.

Create and execute research studies to understand core challenges of receiving and delivering healthcare in our target markets.

Work closely with leadership in developing and implementing a research program that will help us continue to understand the needs of our members and providers.

Master of methods and approaches.You are comfortable leveraging a range of research methods to uncover insights and identify opportunity areas. Sample methods might include: quantitative surveys, secondary literature reviews, in-context observations and shadowing, co-creation sessions, etc.

Clearly communicate research insights and identify actionable next steps.

Partner closely with a cross functional team to ideate and develop member-centric and business viable solutions.

Work closely with your cross functional team members to ideate and evaluate how we can simplify and improve the care experience from the perspective of both members and clinicians while delivering a high quality, competitive clinical care model.

Be able to tell the user story - through bringing together the full end to end user experience into a coherent narrative for both internal and external needs.

Partner with the cross functional team to drive product features through their entire creative cycle: prioritization, requirements development, ideation and prototype feedback, feasibility assessments, development, release, analysis, and iteration.

Advocate for human-centric thinking, concrete practices so we continuously better understand our target users and members, and prioritization of their needs.

What you bring: A portfolio that demonstrates 7+ years of hands-on design research and strategy experience defining and shipping products and services that consumers use. We're especially interested in demonstrated experience designing products and services that combine human and software touchpoints to change or support user behavior over time.

Experience partnering with cross-functional stakeholders including engineering, product, and operations teams.

Experience documenting and communicating product and service experiences through service blueprints, journey mapping, and other artifacts.

Experience planning and executing exploratory, generative, and evaluative user research.

Comfort with and excitement for translating messy, complex experiences into a delightful service.

Enthusiasm and aptitude for working at both a strategic level as well as delving into the nuances of human behavior and details of design.

A curious mind, collaborative approach, organizational rigor, and strong communication skills.

Impress us even more: Experience working on a small fast-paced team and defining a product from scratch

Experience with design sprints and other collaborative sessions with interdisciplinary teams

Experience working in healthcare, home services, rural markets and/or with older adults

What shapes our company: Deep commitment to one another, the people and communities we serve, and to care that enables everyone to achieve their best health

Compassion and empathy

Curiosity, and an eagerness to listen

Drive to deliver high-quality experiences, clinical care, and cost-effectiveness

Strong focus on sustainability of our business and scalability of our services, to maximize our reach and impact

Nurturing a diverse workforce, with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and points of view

Taking our mission and business seriously, but not taking ourselves too seriously- having fun as we build!

Benefits: Competitive salary, equity grant, generous paid time off

Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental & vision insurance with 100% of monthly premium covered for employees

Company-sponsored 401k plan

Flexible working arrangement with an office in the Bay Area

The base salary range for this position is $155,000-$190,000 annually. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate's qualifications, skills, location, competencies and experience. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work at Homeward Health. This role is eligible for an annual bonus, stock options, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.

At Homeward, a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences enrich our teams and allow us to achieve above and beyond our goals. If you have yet to gain experience in the areas detailed above, we hope you will share your unique background with us in your application and how it can be additive to our teams.

Homeward is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. Homeward is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities.