Jon Grayson

Director of UX Strategy & Design
Haymarket, VA 301-412-3634 jon@jongrayson.com linkedin.com/in/jongrayson jongrayson.com
Summary

Director of UX and Design with 25 years of experience building and scaling enterprise UX organizations, establishing design systems governance, and driving end-to-end experience strategy across multi-product ecosystems. Deep expertise in human-centered design, user research, information architecture, accessibility (Section 508/WCAG), and cross-functional executive partnership. Currently leading UX strategy, AI integration, and design systems across government and defense product lines at LyteForge. Previously built UX practices from scratch for Intelligence Community GEOINT platforms and led AI-assisted mission planning design for AFSOC. Proven track record in design team leadership, stakeholder alignment, usability testing, prototyping (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, Axure), and Agile/Lean UX delivery. Seeking a Head of UX or Senior Director role driving experience strategy, design organization scaling, and measurable business outcomes.

What I Do
Leadership
Building and scaling enterprise UX organizations
Experience strategy across multi-product ecosystems
Design systems governance and adoption
Executive partnership and stakeholder alignment
Practice
UX for classified and regulated environments
AI integration and decision-support interface design
Information architecture at enterprise scale
Usability research in restricted-access settings
Compliance & Craft
Section 508 / WCAG accessibility
Agile, SAFe, Lean UX delivery
Figma, Adobe CC, HTML/CSS/JS
Experience
Director of UX and Design June 2025 – Present
LyteForge · McLean, VA (Hybrid)
  • Lead UX and research across three government and military product lines. Established design standards, component libraries, and review processes — one system, consistently applied
  • Own AI integration strategy. Identified high-value automation opportunities in mission-critical workflows and delivered them on two active programs
  • Run brand and marketing end-to-end: product UI, marketing site, and sales collateral. Single visual system across all touchpoints
UX Lead April 2024 – June 2025
ManMade Creative · Leesburg, VA
  • Led UX for AFSOC’s AI-assisted mission planning platform. Redesigned the interface architecture and data presentation layer, reducing operator task-completion steps in core planning scenarios
  • Ran structured heuristic evaluations and observation sessions with active-duty military operators to identify critical usability issues
  • Aligned engineering, active-duty operators, and civilian program leadership around shared requirements — keeping design decisions grounded in how the software was actually used in the field
UX Architect / Forward Lead April 2019 – April 2024
Blue Clarity · Vienna, VA
  • Led UX practice for team of designers, researchers, and content strategists working across Intelligence Community GEOINT platforms
  • Architected design system for mission applications serving intelligence analysts. Defined component frameworks, interaction patterns, and information architecture standards for classified data visualization
  • Redesigned legacy intelligence workflows through contextual inquiry and iterative prototyping directly with end users
  • Partnered with the company president on business development — proposals, client demonstrations, and contract strategy. Directly supported multiple successful captures
Associate / User Experience Specialist October 2016 – April 2019
Booz Allen Hamilton · McLean, VA
  • Delivered UX strategy across three federal agencies, standardizing design patterns across multiple mission-critical applications
  • Led UX for National Intelligence Agency programs
Senior User Experience Engineer April 2015 – September 2016
Sotera Defense Solutions · Herndon, VA
  • Led the full redesign of a federal law enforcement case management application. Reworked information architecture, data entry workflows, and mobile interaction patterns
  • Partnered with the CTO on corporate website redesign and brand strategy, bringing UX discipline to marketing and external communications
User Experience Manager August 2013 – April 2015
Octo Consulting Group · McLean, VA
  • Managed UX for a federal Intelligence Community client. Established design governance, facilitated executive workshops, and built enough shared understanding of UX that stakeholders started protecting it in the roadmap
  • Integrated UX into the agile delivery process. Implemented handoff standards that cut post-sprint design rework
Earlier Career

Senior Analyst, WBB (2012–2013) — UX and information architecture consulting for federal organizations on SharePoint platforms.

Senior UX/Multimedia Designer, Next Tier Concepts (2009–2012) — UX for enterprise dashboards and federal applications; managed creative teams across government and commercial accounts.

UX Lead, Cynergy Systems (2007–2009) — Led discovery workshops and RIA projects for Fidelity, Microsoft, and eBay.

Senior Web Designer, Toll Brothers (2006–2007) — Webby Award and People’s Voice Award winner.

Web Design Director, Print Cafe Software (2000–2001) — Led a design and development team; set standards, managed timelines, delivered within budget.

Art Director, Robicon Corporation (1998–1999) — Print, web, and interactive design for global manufacturer; mentored junior designers.

Senior Designer, The Spectrum Group (1995–1997) — Advertising agency work for industrial manufacturing, health, professional sports, and technology clients.

Designer/Animator, Source W (1995–1996) — Interactive materials and early websites for Westinghouse, CBS, CBS Sports, and Kennametal.

Lead Designer/Animator, Take 2 Interactive (1994–1995) — 3D animation, video production, special effects, and game design for award-winning video games.

Designer/Animator, Dreamforge Intertainment (1993–1994) — Graphics and animation for SSI Dungeons and Dragons series; character design, art production, and game environment design.

Tools & Methods
Design: Figma, Axure, Adobe Creative Cloud, Sketch, Miro (Pretty much everything)
Collaboration: JIRA, Confluence, Microsoft Office, SharePoint
Front-End: HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Research: Usability testing, heuristic evaluation, contextual inquiry, journey mapping, A/B testing
AI: Predictive UX, AI-driven workflows, decision-support interface design, prompt engineering
Process: Agile, Scrum, Lean UX, Design Thinking, SAFe

Education

A.A., Visual Communications, 1990
Art Institute of Pittsburgh

Liberty University (1985–1987)

Recognition

Webby Award — People’s Voice Winner
IABC Capital Awards — Gold (2)
Marketing Web Awards — Gold