Director of UX, Accessibility & Service Design (Volunteer)

About Mentor A Promise

Mentor A Promise (MAP) is a NYC-based nonprofit organization supporting children, youth, and families experiencing housing instability through mentorship, literacy, educational enrichment, social-emotional learning, workforce development, creative opportunity, advocacy, housing innovation, and community-centered support. At MAP, we believe great products are not measured by features alone—they are measured by how effectively they serve people. Every student, family, mentor, volunteer, staff member, and community partner deserves technology that is intuitive, accessible, inclusive, and designed with dignity in mind.

About PromiseExperience

PromiseExperience is MAP's user experience, accessibility, and service design division responsible for ensuring that every digital and service experience across the organization is human-centered, accessible, and easy to use. The division helps bridge the gap between technology and people by ensuring that products are designed around real user needs and experiences. PromiseExperience establishes design standards that promote accessibility, inclusion, usability, consistency, and organizational excellence.

Role Overview

The Director of UX, Accessibility & Service Design serves as MAP's leader for user experience strategy, accessibility standards, service design, and human-centered product experiences. This role is responsible for ensuring that all MAP products, platforms, systems, and services are intuitive, inclusive, accessible, and effective for diverse users. The Director works closely with product, engineering, accessibility, education, and program teams to create experiences that reduce barriers, increase engagement, and improve outcomes. This leader champions a fundamental principle across MAP: Every product should be usable by students, families, volunteers, staff, and individuals with disabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• User Experience Strategy: Lead MAP's UX vision and user experience standards; establish user-centered design practices across products and services; promote evidence-based design and usability principles; develop experience guidelines and best practices; support organizational design maturity and excellence
• Accessibility Leadership: Champion accessibility-by-design across all MAP products; promote inclusive design standards and universal design principles; collaborate with accessibility and disability inclusion leaders; support compliance with accessibility best practices and standards; ensure accessibility remains embedded throughout the product lifecycle
• Service Design: Design and improve end-to-end service experiences; map user journeys across programs, products, and services; identify barriers, friction points, and opportunities for improvement; strengthen organizational experiences across multiple touchpoints; improve service delivery through human-centered design
• User Research & Insights: Support user interviews, research, and testing initiatives; gather insights from students, families, volunteers, staff, and stakeholders; translate research findings into actionable recommendations; promote data-informed design decisions; ensure user voices remain central to product development
• Design Systems & Standards: Establish design systems and experience frameworks; promote consistency across MAP platforms and services; support scalable design practices; create standards for usability, accessibility, and visual consistency; strengthen collaboration between design, product, and engineering teams
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with product and engineering leadership; support product discovery and innovation initiatives; collaborate with education, programs, operations, and community teams; advocate for user needs throughout the organization; align experience design with organizational goals and mission impact

Leadership Responsibilities

The Director provides leadership and oversight for:

• UX Design: User experience strategy, user flows, wireframes, experience optimization
• UI Design: Interface design, visual consistency, product usability, user engagement
• Accessibility Design: Inclusive design, accessibility standards, universal design implementation, accessibility reviews
• Service Design: User journeys, service mapping, experience improvement, process design
• Design Systems: Design standards, component libraries, design governance, experience consistency

Design Standard

PromiseExperience establishes the following organizational standard: Every MAP product, platform, service, and experience should be usable, accessible, and welcoming for Students, Families, Mentors, Volunteers, Staff, Community Partners, and Individuals with Disabilities. Accessibility, inclusion, and usability are not optional features—they are foundational design requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in UX design, service design, accessibility, human-centered design, product design, user research, or related fields
• Strong understanding of accessibility and inclusive design principles
• Experience conducting user research and usability testing
• Knowledge of design systems and service design methodologies
• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Passion for mission-driven innovation and equitable user experiences

Why This Role Matters

Technology should remove barriers—not create them. The Director of UX, Accessibility & Service Design helps ensure that MAP's products and services are designed for the people they serve. By creating experiences that are intuitive, accessible, and inclusive, this role helps expand access, strengthen engagement, and improve outcomes for children, families, volunteers, and communities.

Volunteer Expectations

• Approximately 5–10 hours per week
• Minimum 6-month commitment
• Maintain timely and professional communication
• Collaborate through MAP systems and technology platforms
• Support MAP's safeguarding, accessibility, privacy, and inclusion commitments
• Participate in leadership and product planning meetings

What You'll Gain

• Leadership experience shaping user experience and accessibility strategy
• Opportunity to build inclusive, mission-driven products and services
• Collaboration with product, engineering, education, and executive leaders
• Professional references and letters of recommendation
• Meaningful impact improving experiences for children and families experiencing housing instability