annahiggins@gmail.com | LinkedIn | annamoorehiggins.com

Senior Service Designer and UX Researcher with 7 years of experience in digital services, delivering actionable insights that shape product design and service ecosystems to improve customer experiences at scale. Driven by empathy, curiosity, and the belief that technology can be human centered. Experience working in federal and local government on UX/CX strategy and digital transformation. PhD in Anthropology.

• Systems thinking and omnichannel service design
• Human Centered Design training and advocacy
• Mixed-methods research (qualitative and quantitative)
• CX strategy
• Agile product development
• Stakeholder influence and communication
• End-to-end research operations and knowledge management
• Workshop facilitation and co-design

• Conducted strategic research using service design principles for an innovative Customer Experience insight framework for Veterans Administration.
  • Created an internal product for prioritizing user-centered technology decisions using synthesized findings from CX insights, technical processes, and business operations, enabling confident decision making.
  • Developed a root cause framework to help stakeholders form shared understanding of causes and impact of problems as they worked on CX improvement efforts.
  • Mapped systems, stakeholders, and processes to discover contributing factors to unmet Veteran needs.
  • Led content strategy and data strategy research to determine the right type, scale and tone of content to support our users’ strategic decision making process.
  • Led synthesis of mixed-method insights by integrating operational and Voice of the Customer data into in collaboration with Data Analysts.
• Led User Experience Research for an agile, cross functional development team working on Medicare payment modernization, reducing wait time for data consumers from days to minutes.
  • Created and managed research operations for the delivery team, including participant management, knowledge management, strategy, and advocacy.
  • Conducted discovery, formative, and usability research with users of CMS claims data to inform product roadmaps and design decisions.
  • Conducted deep technical research with developers working with complex legacy systems for a claims data API that increased the speed of data update availability from days to minutes.
  • Created research deliverables including system and journey maps, enabling agency stakeholders to understand and prioritize data sources for payment processing.
  • Used research insights to develop an API enabling payment processors to connect Medicare beneficiaries with customer service agents who speak their preferred language. 
  • Developed a research repository and a program-wide research collaboration effort, leading to reduced research repetition and better communication across contractor teams.
• Led discovery and prototyping for an internal AI tool to enable easier and more accurate content writing.
• Contributed Human Centered Design strategy expertise and insights on Veteran needs to growth work and bids.
• Coached and onboarded early and mid-career researchers. 

City of Orlando, Digital Service Designer and Delivery Manager 

Worked with city staff and residents on discovery, design, and implementation of digital services, including empowering frontline city employees with Human-Centered Design training. 

• Integrated qualitative research with operational and Voice of the Customer data to identify Customer Experience improvement opportunities, and to help service owners prioritize improvements.
• Led user research and engagement during the city’s digital transformation.
• Project highlights:
  • Orlando.gov development from alpha site to production, creating 300+ new digital services.
  • Led discovery and UX research for design and implementation of a high volume application platform for building, business and special events permits, enabling residents and businesses to submit online permit applications, and reducing staff time spent issuing permits. 
  • Conducted discovery and prototyping for an online process for residents to submit redistricting feedback, enabling city planners to advocate for redistricting decisions that made sense to affected residents. 
  • Conducted mixed-methods research to design content and messaging for city services and policies. 
  • Conducted on-site ethnographic research to design downtown rideshare hubs, improving traffic flow by understanding riders’ expectations and signage needs. 
  • Led contextual inquiry to document disability access to public services and infrastructure, enabling transportation planners to include disabled residents’ insights in their five year plan. 
  • Conducted quantitative survey research and data visualization for large scale urban planning projects.
• Designed and facilitated service design workshops.
• Shared user insights with internal clients and leadership using video, journey maps, research participation, and data dashboards and visualizations. 
• Contributed to the city’s software procurement process by user testing products and advocated for user experience and accessibility in the procurement process.
• Consulted with other government agencies who wanted to learn from our team’s CX and service design work, including FAA, VA, Austin, and Miami.

• Designed and conducted ethnographic research studies for food and beverage, beauty and medical technology design. 
• Worked with agencies including The Palmerston Group, The Hartman Group, Round Feather and Flamingo Agency.

• Taught university and community college Anthropology courses including Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Ethnography of China, and Anthropology of Globalization. 

• Designed and conducted an 18 month ethnographic field research project on cultural context of medical technology use among pregnant patients and their families in Beijing. 

Education 

University of California, Santa Cruz — PhD in Anthropology 
New College of Florida — BA in Anthropology/Literature 

Orlando Digital Services Playbook, 2021.

Building a Trauma-Informed Research Practice , Josh Kim, Cindy Merrill, and Dave Sukharan. Ad Hoc Blog, 2022. Contributor.

Orlando Case Study: Building Trust Through Digital Platforms and Good City Services, Cameron Brown and Anna Higgins. National Civic Review, Summer 2021.

Awards 

• Service to the Citizen Award 2020 
• Harvard Government Innovation Award 2020 
• GovTech Government Experience Award 2019 and 2020 
• Bloomberg Engaged Cities Award finalist 2019

• Led a brigade process design workshop series to create a collaborative, research-informed system for developing projects
• National Day of Civic Hacking project facilitator
• Co-designed Empathica, an educational game to introduce new members to Human Centered Design practices.

Skills and Tools