Experience Innovation & Technology Strategist

Duties & Responsibilities
The Experience Innovation & Technology Strategist will:

Serve as the Service Design & Experience team's primary resource for identifying and evaluating emerging technologies and technology-enabled opportunities that could improve MC&FP services and digital experiences.
Conduct continuous environmental scanning across commercial, Federal, DoD, and industry innovation ecosystems to identify emerging technologies, platforms, methods, and capabilities relevant to MC&FP mission and user needs.
Translate technology trends into clearly defined experience opportunities, connecting potential capabilities to specific user needs, service challenges, operational problems, or strategic objectives.
Research and evaluate emerging capabilities across areas including AI/ML, intelligent automation, data and analytics, digital experience platforms, cloud technologies, personalization, conversational experiences, and other relevant technologies.
Conduct structured product, platform, vendor, and capability assessments, including analysis of functionality, maturity, architecture, interoperability, integration requirements, scalability, and mission applicability.
Develop and apply evidence-based technology evaluation frameworks that consider user value, mission value, technical feasibility, accessibility, security and privacy implications, interoperability, implementation effort, operational sustainability, and expected experience impact.
Work with UX researchers, experience strategists, designers, architects, AI/ML specialists, developers, cybersecurity personnel, and other SMEs to evaluate emerging capabilities from multiple perspectives.
Frame innovation initiatives as hypotheses or clearly defined problem statements with measurable success criteria before recommending experimentation or investment.
Design and support rapid experiments, prototypes, proofs of concept, and early-stage pilots to evaluate the desirability, feasibility, usability, and potential mission value of emerging capabilities.
Incorporate human-centered design, user research, rapid prototyping, and iterative testing methods into technology experimentation whenever appropriate.
Define evaluation criteria and collect qualitative and quantitative evidence from experiments and pilots to determine whether capabilities warrant further exploration, modification, adoption, or discontinuation.
Identify technical dependencies, architectural considerations, data requirements, integration needs, accessibility implications, cybersecurity considerations, and potential implementation barriers associated with emerging capabilities.
Develop concise innovation briefs, technology assessments, capability analyses, pilot findings, and recommendations that clearly communicate opportunities, evidence, risks, constraints, and tradeoffs to the SDEL and other stakeholders.
Facilitate technology demonstrations, discovery workshops, innovation sessions, and vendor or platform engagements to collect information and evaluate potential capabilities.
Maintain an organized portfolio of emerging technology opportunities, research findings, experiments, prototypes, evaluation artifacts, lessons learned, and recommendations to support institutional knowledge and avoid duplicative exploration.
Monitor relevant Federal and DoD modernization guidance, standards, policies, and technology developments and assess their potential implications for service and experience design.
Collaborate with the Digital Experience Architect and Task 3 technical teams to assess how promising capabilities could integrate with existing or planned MC&FP platforms, applications, data, APIs, CMS, and enterprise architecture.
Collaborate with the Technical Product Experience Manager when a validated innovation opportunity is approved for further development, supporting transition from experimentation into product definition, roadmapping, requirements, backlog planning, and technical delivery.
Track implemented innovations and available performance evidence to determine whether anticipated user, experience, or mission benefits are being realized and to inform future experimentation.
Provide the SDEL with forward-looking recommendations on technology-enabled experience opportunities while clearly communicating evidence, uncertainty, dependencies, risks, and implementation considerations.
Qualifications
Clearance Requirement
Candidate must possess an active Secret clearance or higher.

Education (Required)
Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Business, Design, Engineering, or a related field.

Experience (Required)

Minimum 5 years of experience in technology research, analysis, or innovation support.
Experience conducting market research, technology evaluations, or vendor/platform analysis.
Experience supporting pilots, prototypes, or early-stage technology testing.
Experience working in federal, DoD, or enterprise IT environments.
Technical Knowledge (Required)

Familiarity with innovation trends across AI/ML, automation, analytics, cloud platforms, and cybersecurity.
Understanding of technology assessment frameworks and evaluation methods.
Experience analyzing product capabilities, architectures, and integration requirements.
Technical Knowledge (Preferred)
Experience supporting innovation or modernization efforts in large organizations.
Familiarity with design-thinking, user-research, or experimentation methodologies.
Experience working within AWS Gov Cloud environments.

Certifications
Preferred:

ITIL v4 Foundation
Technology research, innovation management, or product evaluation certifications

Skills

Strong analytical and research capabilities.
Technical diagramming, wireframing, and information mapping.
Excellent written communication and succinct summarization of findings.
Ability to translate market trends into actionable recommendations.
Strong presentation and stakeholder engagement skills.
Ability to evaluate complex technologies and communicate key differentiators clearly.