Current status

We received 89 applications for this job opportunity.

All applications received on or before the closing date are screened against the qualifications outlined below. Applicants who meet the qualifications will be invited to continue in the hiring process.

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What you’ll be doing

The Ontario Digital Service (ODS) is improving the online experience for citizens by reimagining government services. As an experience design co-op, you will help make government online services feel simple, seamless, and intuitive.

On any given day, you may be designing a research plan to test the extent to which citizens can use a new digital product, conducting one-to-one interviews or usability tests, supporting our research operations efforts, or working with our product teams to tackle a user research challenge.

Our co-op students have the digital skills and enthusiasm to support Ontario’s Digital Government transformation.

Your impact

  • You will put your curiosity into practice, approaching complex design challenges from a neutral point of view.
  • You will put your organizational skills to work, playing a collaborative role in coordinating the various user research activities in our Experience Design Lab (XD Lab).
  • You may also be involved with presenting research findings to the Chief Digital Officer or any number of ministry partners.

What you bring to the team

  • You think digital by default and embrace innovative ideas that put users first to find the best solutions.
  • You believe diversity and inclusion help create the best conditions for people to achieve the best results, knowing the best ideas come from everywhere and everyone.
  • You have a strong moral compass. You consider power dynamics, bias, and privacy protection in all your research projects, but you also know how to differentiate between high-risk and low-risk research.

Requirements of the job

User research skills

  • You have experience testing your ideas early and often.
  • You understand generative and exploratory user research and when to use each method.
  • You are familiar with using a range of user research and user testing techniques (e.g. one-on-one interviews, card sorting, ethnographic studies, etc.)
  • You can explain user research results in a way that is easy to understand and helps create empathy for the end user.
  • You can take the outputs of user research activities into product iterations.
  • You are comfortable creating visual artefacts such as presentation decks, wireframes, or prototypes.

UX design skills

  • You have an eye for design - this is not about making things pretty; it is about understanding how to leverage design to create the desired impact.
  • You have experience using the Adobe Creative suite.
  • You have experience using prototyping software, such as Figma, Balsamiq, Adobe XD, Sketch or InVision
  • You can seamlessly integrate user and usability testing into prototyping development cycles.

Independent team player

  • You work as part of a team but can execute tasks thoroughly and independently
  • You anticipate issues before they happen and proactively address them
  • You take the initiative and step up to support the team and believe no task is too big or small!

Why join the team

Join us and help make government work better for people by delivering simple, effective, and intuitive digital services and products.

We provide employees with constructive feedback to foster their career growth and opportunities to collaborate with talented people.

We offer:

  • work that makes an impact on society
  • learning and development opportunities
  • open and inclusive work environment
  • flexible work arrangements
  • opportunity to lead research engagements on projects across the Ontario Public Service

Job details

  • Job title: Experience design co-op
  • Area of government: Ontario Digital Service
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario
  • Salary: $804.10 - $1072.13 weekly before tax, depending on work term
  • Job term: Temporary, four, eight or twelve months
  • Hours of work: 36.25/week (Schedule 6)
  • Eligibility: Any student enrolled in a cooperative education program approved by an accredited college or university. You must be eligible to work in Canada.
  • Expected term dates: Starting May 6, for 4, 8, 12 or 16 months
  • Tentative interview dates: Monday, January 22 - Friday, January 26, 2024

How to apply

Deadline to apply is Friday, January 12, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. EDT

If you’re interested, skip the cover letter and just send us an email including:

  1. your resume
  2. where you saw our job ad
  3. why this is your dream job
  4. a link to your online portfolio or a compressed version of your portfolio in PDF format

Submit your application by email to milica.stefancic@ontario.ca, and put “Hire me - Experience design co-op” in the subject line.

Please do not include shortened URLs in your message, because your email will not reach us (e.g. https://goo.gl/8lvNl6).

Inclusion and accessibility

The Ontario Public Service is an inclusive employer.

Accommodation is available under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

If you require a disability-related accommodation in order to participate in the recruitment process, please let us know via email at milica.stefancic@ontario.ca.

More questions?

Check out our blog on co-op jobs with the ODS, where we answer a lot of common questions!