Design Strategist (San Diego)

Location: We are actively hiring in San Diego, CA

Who We Are: LINK is a fast-growing Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) that leverages human-centered design to support strategy, innovation, communication, change, and branding within the federal government and adjacent industry partners. At LINK, we partner with engineers, futurists, and thought leaders to untangle complexity, discover opportunity, and communicate clearly with visual stories.

Let us be your partners in change.

About the Opportunity:

Design Strategists at LINK partner closely with federal government clients, engineers, and cross-functional teams to translate complex information into clear, actionable insights through visual storytelling. Operating in fast-paced, mission-driven environments, Design Strategists analyze data, facilitate collaborative workshops, conduct user research, and develop visual concepts that align with client missions, strategic goals, and brand identities.

In this role, you will leverage design thinking, Human-Centered Design (HCD), and various forms of visual mapping to co-create data-informed narratives with clients, strategists, and information designers. Your work will transform research, analysis, and technical complexity into compelling visual concepts that enable shared understanding, support decision-making, and drive action across diverse stakeholder groups.

Design Strategists at LINK navigate ambiguity with confidence, synthesize across disciplines, and elevate both the clarity and quality of LINK’s client deliverables--ensuring that complex ideas are not only understood, but usable.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Communication, Sociology/Psychology, or related fields.

• 5-10 years of experience in design strategy or related roles.

• Expertise in human-centered design and design thinking methodologies, with a proven ability to transform data into impactful visual stories.

• Extensive experience in various design areas (e.g., service design, experience design, brand development, information design, graphic design) and able to propose the best solutions for each project.

• Proficient in designing and facilitating design thinking and interactive research sessions with executive leaders and their teams.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with clients and cross-functional teams.

• Comfort operating in fast-paced environments and adapting to evolving client needs.

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Responsibilities:

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Collaboration Across Technical Teams

• Work closely with engineers and subject matter experts to understand technical contexts and integrate them into human centered solutions.

• Translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders to ensure shared understanding.

• Support product, service, or program level-strategy with research-backed insights.

• Identify content priorities and information hierarchies; support wireframing and content mapping.

Information Strategy and Visualizations

• Partner with strategists and information designers to develop high-quality information graphics, journey maps, and visual frameworks.

• Create visualizations that help clients evaluate options and inform decisions.

• Present complex research in clear, accessible visual formats.

Workshop Design and Facilitation

• Co-design, lead, and facilitate workshops, design sprints, and co-creation sessions to identify stakeholder needs and drive alignment.

• Build human-centered agendas, activities and materials that help government teams think creatively and collaboratively.

• Analyze data points and input from sessions to identify key insights, opportunities, and information or consensus gaps critical for next steps.

User Research and Insight Development:

• Plan and execute rapid user research, including interviews, contextual inquiry and stakeholder analysis.

• Synthesize research into clear insights, opportunity areas, and strategic recommendations.

• Translate technical and complex concepts into user-friendly narratives.

• Perform and synthesize primary and secondary research using qualitative and quantitative methods.

Work Schedule:

• Full time, 40 hours per week

• This position requires an on-site presence with the client approximately 2–3 days per week, following a hybrid work schedule.

Salary
We're committed to offering competitive compensation. While the salary range for this position is $86,00-$116,000, your final offer may be adjusted based on factors like experience and location.

Benefits:

• $100 monthly internet/cell phone stipend

• LINK sponsored healthcare benefits including medical, dental, vision

• Company-paid Short Term Disability Insurance

• 401K with employer contribution of up to 4%

• 11 Federal Holidays per year

• 15 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) per year

• Paid Holiday Time Off (Christmas Eve through the New Year)

• Annual bonus plan participation

• Annual profit sharing participation

• $2,000 Learning and Development program reimbursement

• Technology package that includes a LINK-owned MacBook Pro, monitor, mouse and keyboard

EOE