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User Experience Designer, Data Context Layer

Merck · Multiple locations ·

Pay:
$117,000-$184,200/yr
Job type:
Contract

Job Description
This role is part of a broader enterprise initiative to establish a

Data Context Layer (DCL)

– a foundational capability designed to provide consistent, reusable, and scalable context across enterprise data products.

The DCL is intended to address challenges related to

data fragmentation, lack of shared semantics, and inconsistent interpretation of data across systems and products . It establishes a unified layer for representing context, relationships, and meaning, enabling downstream products to operate with greater consistency, interoperability, and intelligence.

In addition, the DCL plays a critical role in enabling

agentic AI capabilities across the enterprise

by providing the structured context and semantic grounding required for intelligent agents to operate reliably. This includes ensuring that agent-driven workflows and decisions are based on

consistent, governed, and interpretable data context , reducing risks associated with fragmentation, ambiguity, and lack of control.

Within this initiative, we are seeking a UX/Service Designer to design the end‑to‑end experience for an enterprise capability that enables teams to

publish, discover, and consume standardized data context through self‑service . The role will focus on defining user journeys, service blueprints, interaction models, prototype user interfaces, and operating processes that make the platform usable, trustworthy, and scalable across the enterprise.

The ideal candidate has strong service design skills, experience working with technical platforms, and the ability to translate complex data/semantic/AI concepts into intuitive user experiences. Familiarity with

agentic AI, prompt engineering, and context engineering

is required, as the service must support AI‑enabled workflows that depend on high‑quality, governed context.

Key Responsibilities

Design the end‑to‑end service experience for the enterprise data context self‑service capability.

Map user journeys across publishers, consumers, administrators, and governance stakeholders.

Develop service blueprints that connect front‑stage user interactions with back‑stage processes, systems, and support models.

Define intuitive workflows for:

publishing context

discovering context

requesting access

validating context quality

managing versions and updates

Collaborate with product, engineering, data, governance, and security teams to ensure the service is usable, scalable, and operationally sound.

Identify pain points, service gaps, and opportunities to simplify adoption across teams.

Design experience patterns that support both human users and AI‑enabled workflows, including agentic systems that rely on structured context.

Contribute to standards and design principles for self‑service, discoverability, consistency, and trust.

Prototype and test service flows with users and stakeholders.

Help define service metrics such as task completion, adoption, support load, and time‑to‑onboard.

Support the transition from concept to production by ensuring the service design is operationally feasible and well documented.

Minimum Required Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree

5+ years of experience in service design, experience design, or related design strategy roles.

Experience designing complex enterprise services, digital platforms, or self‑service experiences.

Strong ability to map journeys, service blueprints, and operational processes.

Strong ability to mockup user interfaces using Figma or similar tools.

Comfort working with technical teams on data platforms, APIs, workflows, or infrastructure‑enabled services.

Familiarity with data context, metadata, ontology, or semantic concepts.

Working knowledge of agentic AI, prompt engineering, and context engineering concepts.

Strong facilitation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Ability to simplify complex systems into clear, human‑centered service experiences.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience designing enterprise data, AI, or knowledge platforms.

Familiarity with ontologies, OWL, RDF, knowledge graphs, MCP, A2A, or Timbr‑like technologies.

Experience with governance‑heavy or regulated environments.

Background in design systems, service blueprinting, journey mapping, and usability research.

Experience supporting AI‑enabled or agentic workflows.

Familiarity with operational service design, including support models, escalation paths, and adoption planning.

What Success Looks Like

The service is intuitive and easy to navigate for different user groups.

Teams can self‑serve context with minimal friction.

The service works well across human and AI‑driven workflows.

The experience is consistent, trusted, and scalable across the enterprise.

Back‑end processes and front‑end interactions are aligned.

Adoption grows while support needs decrease.

Required Skills

Applied Engineering

Client Counseling

Communication

Content Writing

Context Mapping

Data Visualization

Enterprise Data

Experience Design

Knowledge Graph

Measurement Analysis

Ontology

Production Operations

Prompt Engineering

Publishing Process

Service Blueprinting

Stakeholder Management

Strategic Planning

User Experience (UX) Design

User Experience Analysis

User Experience Evaluation

User Research

Salary & Benefits
Salary range: $117,000.00 – $184,200.00.

Benefits include medical, dental, vision, and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, compassionate and sick days. The successful candidate will be eligible for an annual bonus and long‑term incentive, if applicable.

Location Requirements
US and Puerto Rico Residents Only.

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.

Equal Employment Opportunity
As an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, we provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. As a federal contractor, we comply with all affirmative action requirements for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit EEOC Know Your Rights and EEOC GINA Supplement.

EEOC Know Your Rights

EEOC GINA Supplement

We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing together talented, and committed people with diverse experiences, perspectives, skills and backgrounds. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when people with diverse ideas, broad experiences, backgrounds, and skills come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another’s thinking and approach problems collectively.

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