Join us as we work to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.
Lead Designer
The Opportunity
Join athenahealth’s quest to make healthcare work the way it should.
Our health is incredibly precious, and people in need of healthcare are often at their most fragile. Yet the function and experience of healthcare continue to fall far behind the innovative services we experience in other parts of our lives.
athenahealth is looking for designers who can dive into complex design challenges and create solutions that help transform the healthcare industry. If you’re a talented, innovative, and strategic designer motivated to make a difference in healthcare, we want to talk to you.
Help us reduce complexity in healthcare workflows and improve the experience of clinicians, staff, and patients across the healthcare ecosystem. From a visit to the doctor to managing chronic illness over a lifetime, your work will contribute to making healthcare simpler, safer, and more effective.
Position Summary
We’re looking for a Lead Designer to help shape the next generation of athenahealth’s electronic health record and physician practice management products.
In this role, you will partner closely with Product Management and Engineering to define, design, and deliver complex workflow solutions that improve the daily experience of healthcare professionals. You will translate research insights, user needs, and product strategy into clear interaction models, workflows, and design artifacts that guide engineering implementation.
This role will have significant influence on the design direction of athenahealth’s scheduling and clinical workflow experiences, shaping solutions used every day by healthcare professionals across the athenahealth network.
As athenahealth continues evolving toward spec-driven development and AI-enabled product workflows, you will help ensure design outputs provide the clarity and systems thinking needed to support scalable product development.
Role Location
Austin, TX
Candidates should be able to work in the office approximately one day per week as needed.
Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to
70% — Design Execution (Primary)
Identify and frame complex user-centered problems across clinical and operational workflows
Lead problem framing and solution development for complex product challenges, guiding teams from discovery through delivery
Design efficient, safe, and intuitive workflows that support high-stake clinical and operational decision making
Design and refine complex scheduling workflows that coordinate patients, providers, and operational staff in dynamic healthcare environments
Create artifacts ranging from early concepts and prototypes to detailed workflow and interaction specifications
Translate UX concepts into clear workflow and interaction specifications that support spec-driven development
Use prototypes, research, and experimentation to evaluate the usefulness and usability of product experiences
Collaborate closely with Product Management and Engineering to ensure delivered features meet design intent and quality standards
Apply shared design system patterns and collaborate with the design systems team to evolve components when new product needs emerge
Leverage AI-assisted tools to accelerate research synthesis, design exploration, and prototyping where appropriate
20% — Design Strategy and Planning
Build deep understanding of healthcare workflows through user research, client engagement, and domain exploration
Plan and execute exploratory research and experiments to inform product strategy and solution direction
Contribute to journey maps, workflow models, and product vision artifacts that guide roadmap and backlog prioritization
Partner with Product and Engineering to define success metrics and evaluate product outcomes
Use behavioral data, analytics, and research insights to inform design decisions
Help product and engineering teams build deep empathy for healthcare users and operational environments
Contribute to the design of intelligent or AI-enabled product capabilities that improve scheduling efficiency and clinical productivity
10% — Leadership & Mentorship
Guide junior designers and cross-functional team members through mentorship and design reviews
Participate in team-wide initiatives to improve design processes, tools, and ways of working
Champion modern design practices including systems thinking, design-to-engineering alignment, and data-informed design
Education, Experience, & Skills Required
Bachelor’s or master’s degree in design, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Business, or related disciplines (relevant professional experience also considered) required
4–6 years of professional experience in product or UX design
Experience designing complex workflow systems within enterprise or SaaS products
Strong capability in interaction design, prototyping, and visual communication
Experience planning and synthesizing insights from user research and usability testing
Experience collaborating with product and engineering teams within agile development environments
Ability to translate UX concepts into clear workflows, interaction models, or behavioral specifications
Experience designing within established design systems and contributing feedback to improve shared components and patterns
Familiarity with modern design tools and AI-assisted design or research workflows
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Behaviors & Abilities Required
Design simple, effective, and elegant interactions for complex product workflows
Create strong problem statements and metrics to ensure design solutions achieve meaningful business and user outcomes
Build strong collaborative relationships with product, engineering, and research partners
Provide clear rationale for design recommendations to gain alignment and support
Navigate ambiguity and complex problem spaces with curiosity and structured thinking
Adapt to evolving business priorities in a dynamic product environment
Passion for improving healthcare experiences and solving meaningful real-world problems
Experience in healthcare is a plus, but a passion for improving people’s lives through better technology is essential.
Expected Compensation
$124,000 - $212,000The base salary range shown reflects the full range for this role from minimum to maximum. At athenahealth, base pay depends on multiple factors, including job-related experience, relevant knowledge and skills, how your qualifications compare to others in similar roles, and geographical market rates. Base pay is only one part of our competitive Total Rewards package - depending on role eligibility, we offer both short and long-term incentives by way of an annual discretionary bonus plan, variable compensation plan, and equity plans.
About athenahealth
Our vision: In an industry that becomes more complex by the day, we stand for simplicity. We offer IT solutions and expert services that eliminate the daily hurdles preventing healthcare providers from focusing entirely on their patients — powered by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.
Our company culture: Our talented employees — or athenistas, as we call ourselves — spark the innovation and passion needed to accomplish our vision. We are a diverse group of dreamers and do-ers with unique knowledge, expertise, backgrounds, and perspectives. We unite as mission-driven problem-solvers with a deep desire to achieve our vision and make our time here count. Our award-winning culture is built around shared values of inclusiveness, accountability, and support.
Our DEI commitment: Our vision of accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all requires addressing the inequities that stand in the way. That's one reason we prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of our business, from attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce to maintaining an inclusive environment for athenistas, our partners, customers and the communities where we work and serve.
What we can do for you:
Along with health and financial benefits, athenistas enjoy perks specific to each location, including commuter support, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, employee resource groups, and collaborative workspaces — some offices even welcome dogs.
We also encourage a better work-life balance for athenistas with our flexibility. While we know in-office collaboration is critical to our vision, we recognize that not all work needs to be done within an office environment, full-time. With consistent communication and digital collaboration tools, athenahealth enables employees to find a balance that feels fulfilling and productive for each individual situation.
In addition to our traditional benefits and perks, we sponsor events throughout the year, including book clubs, external speakers, and hackathons. We provide athenistas with a company culture based on learning, the support of an engaged team, and an inclusive environment where all employees are valued.
Learn more about our culture and benefits here: athenahealth.com/careers
https://www.athenahealth.com/careers/equal-opportunity
Top Skills
athenahealth Austin, Texas, USA Office
800 W Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX, United States, 78701
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