Coforma is looking for two Design + Research Interns to join our distributed team. The Design team at Coforma is looking for a part-time summer 2022 intern to work from mid-June to late August (approximately 10-12 weeks at 20-30 hours per week). This is a paid internship opportunity.

Coforma is looking for two creative, curious, and thoughtful interns to collaborate with one another and members of our diverse design department to organize and optimize our processes, practices, and methodologies while supporting our distributed team. The selected candidate(s) will learn about how Coforma integrates all types of design into the creation of crucial digital services, while helping to bring about operational process efficiencies and improvements.

Interns will report to and receive support and training from the Senior Manager, Design Operations and will work closely with internal stakeholders at various levels of experience and expertise.

Interns may be responsible for various tasks associated with supporting our team, including helping to document our processes, methodologies, and workflows, researching software and tooling, and helping to build out our knowledge base.

If you want to learn about how human-centered design and technology are designed and delivered, and you’re passionate about improving lives through digital products and services, Coforma is a great place for you, and we encourage you to apply to join us this summer.

Pay: $30 Hourly
Time Frame: mid-June to late August
Responsibilities: Leadership Support

Supporting internal projects as needed and assigned to help our team
Meeting-level event planning and logistics including but not limited to distributing agendas, setting up collaboration tools, sending calendar invites and reminders, note taking and sharing next steps
Research and recommend tools and workflows that enable teams to work smarter

Responsibilities: Internal Projects

Work with leadership to propose and implement improved ways to document our internal processes, methods, and best practices—learning directly from varied design leaders over the course of the internship
Organize and maintain a library of design and research resources and tools (videos, books, documents, webinars, conference material, slide decks, etc.)
Help refine design team onboarding materials in collaboration with DesignOps
Establish a system for documentation of team insights and notes from company-sponsored design team professional development efforts
Help improve and maintain the existing design systems we utilize in Figma

Requirements – General Experience

Recent college or trade school graduate, a student currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate level program, or a professional with equivalent experience and interest
Comfortable in a fast-paced environment, flexible, innovative, and attentive to detail
Exceptional written and oral communication skills and experience successfully balancing multiple tasks

Preferred Qualifications

Experience working on a remote team/collaboration (school collaborations count)
Access to a computer and internet for remote portions of the role
Knowledge and experience with GSuite, Slack, Zoom
Experience working within an office environment
Analytical — strong analytical skills and an ability to create systems
Calm manner — able to handle stressful situations and different personalities
Planner — able to anticipate what could go wrong when planning and coordinating
Organized — able to prioritize projects and complete tasks on time
Self-starter — works well without a lot of direction
Cooperative — able to manage up and work with a range of design leaders and cooperate with staff across different teams
Communicative — able to communicate ideas and create personal relationships through writing and in-person exchanges
You’re an effective communicator with the ability to present a strong rationale for your decisions and recommendations

Bonus Qualifications

Experience in Mural (or other collaboration software like Miro or FigJam), Monday.com, and/or other task management tools
Working knowledge of tools such as Figma, Sketch, XD, Dovetail, Airtable, Coda
Strong grasp of web and mobile standards and accessibility
Strong time management skills and you can self-direct when needed
A curiosity to learn and a willingness to adapt as new and different challenges constantly emerge

What You Will Learn and Where You Will Grow

How to work effectively and efficiently with a remote team
Knowledge and experience with tools that facilitate remote collaboration and documentation
Experience working within the Design, Research, and DesignOps environments
Analysis and systems thinking
Planning and organization
Cooperation and communication
Change management
Experience and understanding of working within government or startup environments
A better understanding of Design, UX, Design Research, Content Design, and DesignOps

Mindset

You take pride in building high-quality, high-impact products that drive Coforma’s vision
You are a relentless contributor to your projects, your team, and the company
Curiosity drives youYou lead through influence, not authority
Delivering on-time and on-scope is second nature to you
You’re open to new ideas, no matter their source
You collaborate with your team early and often
You have a bias for action and you don’t let “analysis paralysis” hold the team back

We Don’t Care About

Whether or not you have a degree of any kind
Whether your educational major, if you had one, is related to this role
Whether or not you have Dribbble followers
Whether or not you have worked at a well-recognized company
Whether you’re sure that you check every box

We Do Care About

Your passions — professional or otherwise
Your well-informed opinions about technology, teams, and process
You
We’re Coforma
We use creativity to get results for clients and the communities they serve.

We’ve honed a modern, agile, user-centered approach that elevates human needs through thoughtfully-designed systems and products.

From connecting families in crisis at the US border to improving the way governments consume COVID-19 mobility data through a more accessible and user-friendly tool, we’re dedicated to improving people’s lives through thoughtful technology products and services. Together. Our cross-functional team works closely with each other and with our government, nonprofit, and commercial partners to research, design, and build better products and services.

Coforma employs over fifty talented creators. Our leadership has decades of experience in improving government digital services from a civic service mindset, and a strong record of developing innovative technology solutions for government, enterprise, and nonprofits.

We thoughtfully integrate design into product development. We are experts in leading the design and development of products to meet business goals, build alignment, and deliver value through technically feasible and iterative design activities.

Business objectives and human beings are at the center of our work. We work very closely and collaboratively with our partners, from solicitation through to delivery, to ensure that the solution provides a high level of value to the business. Accessibility is never overlooked in our work, and our iterative approach validates the utility and delight of the final product.

Equal Opportunity & Inclusive Workplace

Coforma is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination. As a federal government contractor, all employees of Coforma are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4, 2022. Background checks and other security clearances may be required for some roles as it relates to the nature of our client work.

Our team and our office aims to be an accessible and hospitable place to work. We welcome applicants, contractors, and employees who are committed to improving our culture and practices.