Federal ministry · Public Sector · Germany · 2024–2025
Senior UI/UX design for the replacement of a legacy public-sector system — combining field research, service flows, prototyping and AI-supported requirements engineering.
Public funding in Germany was fragmented, opaque, and inaccessible — spread across disconnected portals and paper-based processes. The people most in need of funding support were the least equipped to navigate the system. Funding providers, meanwhile, lacked modern tools to publish, manage, or track programs at any meaningful scale.
The project required replacing a legacy system used by approximately 20,000 people with a platform that served two fundamentally different user groups with equally complex, often conflicting needs.
Citizens, SMEs, and organisations couldn't find, understand, or apply for relevant programs. Disconnected portals, no eligibility guidance, paper forms — the system excluded the people it was built for.
Government bodies relied on manual coordination and paper across administrative levels. No unified tool to publish, manage, or track programs — creating inconsistency, delay, and compliance risk.
I joined as a Senior UI/UX Designer, working across the web and app workstreams from research and journey definition through wireframes, prototypes and delivery. I collaborated closely with conception, engineering and public-sector stakeholders, and supported less-experienced colleagues with UX methods and design craft.
Conducted a structured kick-off with intensive touchpoint mapping. Ran qualitative interviews with both Funding Seekers and Providers. Introduced workshadowing at regional operations office — spending time alongside customs officials to observe real workflows and capture requirements that interviews alone would have missed. This was a first for the engagement.
Translated 20+ research findings into clear UX requirements. Synthesised qualitative insights from interviews and workshadowing into design directions that addressed both user groups simultaneously — a structural challenge unique to dual-sided platforms in regulated environments.
Ran validation sessions with Funding Seekers and government providers to test concept direction and prioritise features. Balanced user-centred insights against strict federal compliance requirements — designing to WCAG accessibility standards from the first prototype.
Iterative delivery across sprint cycles — each improvement grounded in structured testing. Built and maintained design documentation in close coordination with development. Introduced AI-native requirements engineering to maintain epics, user stories, and feature roadmaps at scale — the first time this approach was used on the account.
Manual requirements documentation in Word and Confluence had been creating a persistent bottleneck — slow to update, easy to desync from actual development state, and dependent on a small number of people to maintain.
This was the first time this approach was introduced within the consultancy’s public-sector practice — co-established with the development team and rolled out progressively across the project.
Chose a single platform with role-based views rather than two separate products. Harder to build — but critical for shared data, consistent compliance logic, and administrative coherence across Funding Seekers and Providers.
Moved eligibility screening to the discovery phase — before users invest time in a full application. Reduces invalid submissions, builds trust, and surfaces the right programs earlier. Validated in user testing across multiple sessions.
Committed to WCAG 2.1 AA from the first wireframe — not as a QA step at the end. This required early alignment with development but prevented the costly rework that accessibility retrofits always demand.
Introduced AI-native requirements engineering mid-project rather than waiting for a clean start. The transition required investment but returned immediate speed and consistency gains — and created a model the team could carry into future engagements.
Intelligent filtering matching seekers to relevant programs based on sector, size, region, and project type — replacing the keyword search on the legacy system.
Guided pre-application flow that surfaces eligibility before users invest time in formal submissions — reducing invalid applications for providers and frustration for seekers.
Separate, role-tailored interfaces for Seekers and Providers — each designed around distinct goals, permissions, and task flows — unified under one platform.
WCAG 2.1 AA compliance built from the first prototype — ensuring the platform serves all citizens equally, including those with disabilities.
Tools enabling government bodies to publish, edit, and track funding programs at scale — without technical dependencies or manual coordination across teams.
Real-time visibility for Seekers into application status — reducing the uncertainty and inbound follow-up burden on both sides of the platform.