UPA Job Bank: January 2010

The Job Bank is a service of the Usability Professionals' Association, listing jobs for usablity and user experience professionals.

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UX Designer
KOHL Group
Manhattan, NY

Posted on: 29 January, 2010

Arrangement:  Full-time, permanent employment with our client company

Client Company:  Major Global Investment Bank

Work Location:  Work is full-time onsite in Manhattan, NYC

Job Title:  Senior User Experience Designer

Start:  February 2010

DESCRIPTION

Responsible for driving the interaction design of applications and web site look & feel developed within our client’s Sales Technology organization, and for defining UI standards across business units.  He/she will actively assist in defining and communicating a vision to improve the user experience of our client’s applications.  The designer must be innovative, think out-of-the-box, and push our approach beyond typical corporate design.  MUST BE FIRST AND FOREMOST A DESIGNER - technical skill a plus, but not a requirement.

In addition to web design, must have experience designing Windows desktop applications and be familiar with platform conventions, best practices, and MS Office suite.  Experience should include UI design for data intensive, report-oriented, and transaction-oriented applications. Data visualization experience is a plus.

The front-end designer will work with business stakeholders and development teams to conceptualize the user experience of our client’s internal and external users.  He/she will identify commonalities across different areas and drive the creation of standards to create consistency of experience.  This person must have extensive experience working with development teams, and needs to define the process around incorporating a user-centered design approach into the software development life cycle.

He/she must be experienced working with business and development groups through all phases of the software development lifecycle. This includes:

-Gathering and analyzing user requirements

-Translating user requirements into front end specifications

-Reaching consensus among stakeholders with differing opinions

-Defining information architecture, interaction elements, and content composition

-Creating wireframes, screen flows, and state diagrams

-Working with graphic designers to provide static and interactive low and high fidelity prototypes

-Vetting design concepts with stakeholders and development groups

-Usability testing

-Defining high level and detailed design specifications

-Partnering with development groups and graphic designers to provide UI guidance and assure correct implementation

Must have excellent communication and organization skills.  Must be able to work on multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Work closely with usability team members, product managers, development teams and other internal stakeholders to design wireframes, proof-of-concept mockups, demos and prototypes of proposed and planned applications and features.  Create prototypes of user interface designs for usability analysis and client review.

Collaborate in the definition of user interface design standards for desktop and Web applications, to optimize ease-of-use and achieve an integrated and consistent look and feel.

Produce style guides and other tools to assure that our client’s applications comply with these standards.  Promote these standards firm-wide. Consult with business and development teams to facilitate compliance.

Be knowledgeable about and comply with Corporate Communication branding guidelines. Serve as a knowledge resource for the latest trends in UX design and best practices.

QUALIFICATIONS

-7+ years of experience in user interface / human factors design

-Post-graduate degree in interaction design or related field

-Proven experience designing interactive applications that have been developed and achieved great success with users

-Expert on Windows operating system metaphors and MS Office front-end conventions

-Experience with software development groups and processes

-Self-motivated and self-managed with a high degree of analytical ability and intellectual curiosity

-Strong fluency in desktop application and web standards and technologies

-Attention to detail and accuracy, commitment to delivering highly-polished designs

-Ability to manage the design process

-Ability to work well under pressure, to handle shifting priorities and ad-hoc requests

-Superior interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate actively and proactively with others in a cross-functional team

-Ability to communicate effectively in writing, verbally and as a presenter

PREREQUISITES

Must be able to submit portfolio samples before interview.  Portfolio should include examples of:

-Desktop and web application designs that have been delivered to end users

-Samples of wireframes or other high level design documents

-Samples of front end design specifications

Information Architect
Fry, Inc.
Chicago-area, IL

Posted on: 29 January, 2010

Fry, Inc. (www.fry.com) helps retailers and consumer goods manufacturers optimize their direct-channel businesses by identifying market opportunities and providing multi-channel solutions. From strategy and marketing through design, development, managed services and fulfillment, Fry provides both the strategic expertise and technical solutions that yield real business results for clients such as Ann Taylor, Brookstone, Crate and Barrel, Eddie Bauer, Godiva Chocolatier, Meijer, The Swiss Colony and Whirlpool. One of the industry’s leading e-commerce solutions, Open Commerce Platform™, was developed by Fry. With offices in Ann Arbor, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, Fry is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MICROS Systems, Inc. (Symbol: MCRS) and has been designing and developing e-commerce applications since 1994.

Information Architect

Looking to flex your information architecture muscle helping lead a team of talented, collaborative user experience experts and professional Web developers? Become an Information Architect at Fry. Information Architects work within the Fry User Experience Group, the group responsible for helping our clients define their business goals and objectives, and then designing Web experiences and interfaces around them.IAs work closely and collaboratively with project teams consisting of creative designers, front-end developers, engineers, quality assurance engineers, and project managers, to help our clients launch successful Web sites, as well as lead internal efforts to continuously improve our user-centered design processes. IAs at Fry also have the opportunity to lead user research activities, assist in the development of new research approaches and design strategies around usability testing.

Responsibilities:

• Lead requirements gathering efforts; work with clients to understand their business models and goals and define business requirements, content, and features that guide the project scope
• Interview key stakeholders to gather requirements
• Analyze audience segments and their information and functional needs
• Research and analyze industry trends and competitive information
• Create user interface specifications consisting of business rules, process flows, task flows and wire frames
• Create product taxonomies and/or enhance find-ability through taxonomy optimization and the design of supporting features and functionality
• Define metrics for assessing ROI
• Act as user advocate -Develop White Papers
• Participate in project scoping activities
• When acting as a lead IA on a project, delegate responsibility for deliverables as necessary and provide developmental feedback to other IAs on the project
• Assist in sales activities as needed

Required Skills:

• Minimum 5 years experience directly related to information architecture and user experience design designing complex web sites. E-commerce experience a plus

• Bachelors Degree in human factors, HCI, information design or equivalent work experience in information architecture and/or user experience design
• Strong knowledge of user centered design approaches and usability principles
• Ability to analyze customer needs and define strategies for meeting needs
• Ability to organize large bodies of information
• Familiarity with database design
• Experience with usability test design and implementation
• Ability to work within project teams in a collaborative, dynamic environment
• Professional client-relationship management skills and commitment to client service
• Excellent written (i.e., writing, editing, and proofing) and oral communication skills
• Able to take ownership of tasks and drive them through to completion
• Commitment to learning
• Strong problem solving skills
• Positive and constructive personality
• Team-building skills

***Only applicants that send portfolio samples (or links to their portfolio) will be given serious consideration.***

Fry offers competitive pay/benefits, including medical, dental, vision, 401k, and a fun, casual environment with flexible scheduling options.

Candidates must apply online: https://hostedjobs.openhire.com/epostings/submit.cfm?company_id=15770&version=1

Please note: Candidates must be US permanent residents or green card holders only. We are not sponsoring visa candidates at this time.

3rd Party Recruiting/Sales calls or emails will not be accepted.

UX Designer
Laserfiche
Long Beach, CA

Posted on: 27 January, 2010

URL:  www.laserfiche.com/jobs

To Apply:  ***Please submit your resume directly through our website at www.laserfiche.com/jobs

Job Descriptions:

As a UX Designer, you will be responsible for generating innovative, elegant and highly usable software interface designs. You will be expected to complete all steps in the product design process from conceptualization, user research, detailed user interface, functional design, through implementation and usability review.

Responsibilities:

• Distill and organize large amounts of complex information into simple, useful, and usable designs.
• Conduct user research to uncover current practices, user goals and context to add value to design based on HCI methods.
• Develop mockups, user flows, wireframes, and prototypes to effectively communicate and validate designs.
• Plan and conduct usability testing.
• Conduct usability review to validate and improve interface designs.

Requirements:

• BA/BS or advanced degree in Human Factors, Human-Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, Cognitive Psychology, or related field.
• 1+ years experience in Information Architecture or related field a plus.
• Experience in creating wireframes, visual mockups, graphics, and user workflows.
• Knowledge of and experience with CSS, HTML, JavaScript skills and Windows GUI standards.
• Ability to incorporate input from multiple sources and for synthesizing it into coherent designs.
• Excellent critical thinking, complex problem solving skills, and analytical approach.
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Visual design skills a plus.

Laserfiche employees enjoy:

• Competitive salary
• Free catered lunches every day
• 401 (k) plan
• Flexible spending (health care/child care) account
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage plus paid vacation time
• Game room with ping pong, foosball, and pool tables

What is Laserfiche all about?

Laserfiche creates simple, elegant document management solutions that help organizations run smarter.  The conversion of paper documents into digital images provides fast retrieval, various search capabilities, reduction in storage error, and easy backup and disaster recovery solutions.  Since 1987, the company has led the document imaging industry in offering flexible and easily integrated document management solutions for a broad range of business and government needs. Today, Laserfiche serves over 27,000 organizations. The company has software development offices in Long Beach, California, Hong Kong, and Shanghai along with resellers all over the world.  With our rapidly growing customer base and the increasing popularity of document imaging, Laserfiche is growing rapidly and is always looking for qualified applicants.

Compulink Management Center, Inc. (dba. Laserfiche) complies with all Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action regulations. Employees are equally considered for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or handicap.

User Interface Specialist
Esurance
San Francisco, CA

Posted on: 27 January, 2010

Summary

Responsible for user interface design, documentation and implementation of functionality on Esurance’s multiple website platforms.

Responsibilities

• Analyzes Business Requirements Documents (BRDs) for projects from other departments. Designs and authors supporting user interface (UI) requirements.
• Performs requirements gathering, ROI estimates, and UI design for Marketing initiatives.
• Writes clear, concise, thorough, detailed requirements documents.
• Works with all departments to ensure UI designs satisfy business, rating, compliance, legal, performance, technical and other needs.
• Develops mockups and customer-facing copy and works with Creative Services for approval or iteration to final versions.
• Leads implementation of projects from requirements’ sign-off through development, QA and user acceptance testing, to production.
• Advocates usability standards and customer experience in all areas
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational and project management skills, able to work well under deadlines in a changing environment and perform multiple tasks effectively and concurrently.
• Demonstrated ability to manage relationships with both internal and external customers.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and within a collaborative team oriented environment using sound judgment in decision-making.
• Must have excellent communication skills both oral and written.
• Must have strong negotiation, analytical and problem solving skills.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Office products (Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) required; knowledge with Photoshop, HTML, and Dreamweaver desired.
• Ability to rapidly conceptualize new designs impacting multiple platforms, and iterate through multiple versions.

Experience / Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent education required.
• Two or more years of Web site experience, preferably in consumer services.

Please send resume to mgrossmann@esurance.com

Manager User Interface
Esurance
San Francisco, CA

Posted on: 27 January, 2010

Summary

Manages the non-technical development and implementation of features and functionality on Esurance's multiple website platforms and implements new platforms as needed.

Manages team responsible for analyzing business requirements for UI impact, creating UI designs to meet those requirements, creating mock-ups, working with Creative Services on design approvals, and producing detailed functional specifications.

Establishes clear processes to ensure the team works closely with software developers and stakeholders to implementation changes to the website platforms.

• Leads requirements gathering, ROI estimates, UI design, and writing of Business Requirements Documents (BRDs) for Marketing projects.
• Initiates new Marketing projects to optimize Web site results.
• Manages analysis of Business Requirements Documents (BRDs) from other departments for user interface (UI) impact; including managing UI design, requirements, and documentation.
• Ensures all UI designs, project scopes, and requirements' clarity meet standards.
• Works with all departments to ensure UI designs and requirements satisfy business, rating, compliance, legal, performance, technical and other needs.
• Manages project implementation from BRDs' sign-off through development, QA, and user acceptance testing (UAT), to production.
• Prepares reports and documentation concerning departmental activities.
• Participates in the establishment of department goals and for implementing procedures and performance standards to achieve these goals; Manages, coordinates, monitors and evaluates the activities of department staff.
• Responsible for the employment, promotion, associate performance evaluation, training, motivation, counseling, and discipline of assigned associates.

• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills, able to work well under deadlines in a changing environment and perform multiple tasks effectively and concurrently.
• Must have excellent project management skills and ability to manage multiple large-scale projects concurrently.
• Demonstrated ability to design and implement projects to optimize results.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and within a collaborative team oriented environment using sound judgment in decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to direct cross-functional teams.
• Must have excellent communication skills both oral and written.
• Must have strong problem solving and negotiation skills.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Office products (Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) required; knowledge with Photoshop, HTML, and Dreamweaver desired.
• Must have strong understanding of current Web usability best practices. Experience with mobile devices desired.

Experience / Education:

• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent education required.
• Eight or more years Web site experience, preferably in consumer services.
• Two or more years experience managing a team.

Please reply to  mgrossmann@esurance.com

User Experience Architect
Hayneedle, Inc.
Omaha, NE

Posted on: 27 January, 2010

Hay, YOU!

Superstars are easy to spot. They're bright, dynamic, and passionate. They don't settle for good enough, they demand excellence both of themselves and others. And at Hayneedle, superstars are the norm, not the exception.

Hayneedle owns and operates over 200 online specialty stores. At Hayneedle, customers find what they love and love what they find - for their home, their life, their style. We combine the best selection with innovative online shopping tools and top-notch customer service, culminating in a revolutionary, easy shopping experience.

We've built Hayneedle on hard work, passion, and incredible energy. That's why we've been named one of Omaha's Best Places to Work more than once. If you value a workplace environment that values you, consider applying at Hayneedle. Our expectations are high, but the job satisfaction is higher. And we owe it to our employees to make sure we hire only the best and the brightest.                                                                                                        

What does a User Experience Architect at Hayneedle do?

The User Experience Architect will lead the conceptualization, planning and information architecture for retail ecommerce applications and design prototypes for usability testing.  As a User Experience Architect you will work closely with Product Managers, Visual Designers, Application Architects, and Web Developers. You will be responsible for providing information architecture leadership for key components of the user experience and will develop in depth understanding of customer needs.  The User Experience Architect will identify application features and enhancements, and plan for the life cycle of those features and enhancements, from idea conception to post-launch analysis. You will work to develop a shopping experience that customers love! 

Key Responsibilities:

• Analyze customers and their information and functional needs
• Observe customers in usability testing and perform analysis to gain a deep understanding of their shopping needs and goals
• Help define strategy, content, and features for design of the online retail shopping environment
• Define site architecture and navigation that serves as a blueprint of the site upon which all other aspects are built
• Innovate & architect new user interaction paradigms and navigation methods
• Create wireframes, site maps, schematics, process maps, and mockups
• Develop working high fidelity prototypes for usability testing; integrating visual design and other artifacts to describe the intended user experience
• Work collaboratively with Creative and Web Development teams implement interface functionality
• Work with Technology and QA to ensure expected feature & functionality in product rollouts
• Perform ongoing analysis of application features and usage
• Report to Online Product Manager

Key Requirements:

• Strategic thinking skills: ability to see the big picture while maintaining focus on daily details 
• Demonstrated success in developing creative solutions to problems
• Strong analytic skills with experience using data to make decisions
• Proactive work style – takes initiative to improve products and processes, proactively communicates with teams, follows up on issues, and brings projects to closure
• Excellent prioritization, organization, and time management skills and ability to work with minimal supervision in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to tactfully communicate with business and technical colleagues verbally and in writing, lead meetings, present to groups, and write detailed reports
• Have balanced Interaction Design skills (IA and UI), visual design sensibilities and an understanding of how all disciplines must exist together to create experience design solutions.
• Strong knowledge of site design and principles of Web design (HCI, HTML, CSS)
• Strong knowledge in JavaScript, jQuery, and a working understanding of other JavaScript libraries.”
• Strong knowledge of user interface design processes and methodology
• Working knowledge of User Centered Design Principles and Practices
• Knowledge of architecture-related software (Illustrator, Visio, Photoshop, SQL Server, MS Office, Acrobat, Dreamweaver)
• Advanced degree or equivalent experience required

If you think you're the needle in the haystack we're seeking, convince us. Explain in your cover letter why you think you'll be a good fit at Hayneedle. If the idea of a fast-paced, challenging, and fun environment appeals to you, apply. If you can bring fresh ideas, a great attitude, and commitment to your work, apply. If you're a superstar, you're already composing your opening sentence. Read on for details.

1. Check us out on the web – www.hayneedle.com
2. Write us an original and sincere letter telling us about yourself, how you can contribute to our winning team, and what you desire regarding your career.
3. Fill out our online application – either through Careerlink or at www.hayneedleinc.com/careers.html

Follow us on Twitter at:

http://twitter.com/hayneedlejobs

http://twitter.com/hayneedle

Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hayneedlecom

Apply now. Your life is waiting...

Interaction Designer
Blackbaud
Daniel Island, SC

Posted on: 27 January, 2010

Are you an innovative and collaborative user advocate who has a passion for creating a rich user experiences? Are you seeking an opportunity to create software that helps make the world a better place? Blackbaud is seeking a highly skilled Interaction Designer with a unique blend of communication, analytical, and technical skills to join our team in creating world class software solutions that help non-profits world-wide fulfill their missions more effectively.

Key Requirements:

• Develop a deep understanding of our customers' business and individual needs by planning and executing user research activities including persona creation, heuristic evaluation, and usability reviews

• Work with customers and other subject matter experts to identify business requirements and translate those requirements into highly useful and usable designs.

• Work with developers, product managers, quality assurance, and other interaction designers to create visually appealing, highly usable, and intuitive web interfaces in an Agile environment (Scrum).

• Communicate your ideas using prototypes, wireframes, interactive mock ups, or other work products that help others understand your intended design.

• Define and document system process flows and business logic resulting from user interactions.

• Diligently ensure that your design deliverables are well thought out, up to date, and communicated to the appropriate stakeholders.

• Articulate the pros and cons of designs and support choices with clear, detailed evidence and rationale for decisions.

• Champion user needs and continually strive to improve the usability of our products while understanding business and technical constraints. Understand the balance of user experience, business case, and time-to-release, and make tradeoffs where appropriate.

• Synthesize findings from design validation to suggest improvements to the software, and/or suggest ways to capitalize on design patterns that delight our customers.

• Build lasting relationships with multiple product teams and contribute to an open, creative, dynamic, and productive atmosphere.               

Required Experience:

• Experience that demonstrates how you have designed systems that accommodate complex user and business requirements

• Familiarity with user-centered design principles

• Competency with design support tools such as Visio, Photoshop, Fireworks, HTML

• Solid understanding of Web-based application design guidelines and HTML/CSS

• A four year degree in human computer interaction, human factors, industrial design, computer science, computer information systems or equivalent, combined experience

• 2-5 years of experience designing applications

Apply now! http://blackbaud.submit4jobs.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=75022.viewjobdetail&CID=75022&JID=79982&BUID=523

Or through our website at www.blackbaud.com- then select Careers.

Director of Research
AnswerLab
San Francisco, CA

Posted on: 22 January, 2010

Director of Research: oversee wide variety of user experience research projects for Fortune 500

Job Description:

Technologies change, competitors become savvier, and customer expectations and needs are often a moving target. At AnswerLab, we discover and create research
solutions to meet our client's evolving business needs.

Right now, AnswerLab's research teams are conducting custom user experience research to improve the latest websites, software and mobile applications for clients
such as eBay, Yahoo!, Cisco, Microsoft, Intuit and Honda.

As our Director of Research, your mission will be to consult with our clients, design custom research projects, and then oversee a team of researchers through the
project's execution, analysis and presentation to the client. Part consultant, part researcher and part manager, this role offers:

--Extensive client interaction and consultation.

-- Exposure to a wide variety of interesting and challenging research projects and
methodologies.

-- The opportunity to impact a rapidly growing company.

-- A stimulating work environment comprised of intelligent and experienced research professionals.

-- Location! We are located right at the corner of Market and New Montgomery in the heart of San Francisco.

If you have strong consulting experience, either in research (market or user experience) specifically or with a management consulting firm that uses analytical
data to support conclusions, we invite you

IMPORTANT: HOW TO APPLY:

We want you to be as selective as we are! For a detailed 'insider's view' of this position and to submit your resume online, please visit the following URL:

http://answerlab.jobinfo.com/description.lasso?adid=21763

If the link does not work, simply copy the complete URL and paste it into your browser's address line.

PLEASE RESPECT OUR RECRUITMENT PROCESS. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER METHOD

TO APPLY OR CLICK ANY OTHER BUTTONS. Thank you for your attention to this

Lead User Interface Designer
Citrix Systems, Inc.
Santa Clara, CA

Posted on: 15 January, 2010

Apply online:

http://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_citrix/external/gateway.do?functionName=viewFromLink&jobPostId=22768&localeCode=en-us

The Lead User Interface Designer will work closely with user research, marketing, product management, and development teams to create a world class user experience for Citrix products. This candidate will drive the user experience for a set of next generation products and be responsible for ensuring their designs are simple, intuitive and support Citrix business objectives and brand. This candidate will also influence information architecture and ensure designs result in optimal web server and site technical performance.Additionally, the Lead User Interface Designer will lead advanced designs projects, and creates guidelines for consistent product interaction. Works with the larger user experience team in developing new processes, system design tools and design guidelines.

Primary Duties / Responsibilities:

• Identify, address and solve complex user interface and information design challenges
• Manage and develop concepts from project inception through launch
• Create design solutions that fully represent user, business, and brand, market, requirements
• Produce wireframes, site architecture, screen layouts, and interactive prototypes
• Work with user research professionals to incorporate user feedback into designs
• Constantly look for ways to improve the development environment, coding standards and lead design initiatives towards leveraging the latest technologies.
• Continuously challenge the effectiveness of design, recommending changes, as appropriate.
• Work with business owners, marketing and technology teams on various interfaces
• Establish interaction guidelines and standards
• Troubleshoot technical issues/bugs effectively and efficiently
• Perform platform and browser compatibility analysis

Qualifications and Requirements Requirements (Education, Certification, Training, and Experience):

• Demonstrate strong innovative and creative design skills
• Possess strong understanding of industry standard applications/technologies such as HTML, CSS, AJAX, Flash and publishing systems and Web 2.0 technologies
• Understand the importance of documentation and coding standards
• Excellent organizational and communication skills
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to technical and non technical audience
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and constantly changing environment
• Ability to influence others to sell design
• Comfortable working with engineering to implement designs and able to work around or within software/ hardware limitations
• Attention to detail and information architecture
• Bachelor's degree in Human Computer Interaction, Industrial Design, Visual Arts, Graphic Design or related field or equivalent
• 5+ years experience in designing online and consumer software
• product interfaces, with
• Online portfolio with a range of interactive samples
• Experience in defining and prototyping end-to-end user experience, including user workflows, layouts, design of specific UI screens and components

**A PORTFOLIO IS REQUIRED WITH YOUR APPLICATION, PLEASE INCLUDE WITH YOUR RESUME**

Lead User Interface Researcher
Citrix Systems, Inc.
Santa Clara, CA

Posted on: 15 January, 2010

Apply online:

http://careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/client_citrix/external/gateway.do?functionName=viewFromLink&jobPostId=22764&localeCode=en-us

The Lead User Researcher will work closely with UI designers, marketing, product management, and development teams to create and validate the entire user experience. This candidate will drive the user experience for a set of next generation of Citrix products and be responsible for ensuring that these products are simple, intuitive and support Citrix business objectives and brand. This candidate will work with customer to collect feedback throughout the entire product lifecycle.Additionally, the Senior User Researcher will lead advanced research projects, and evaluate guidelines for consistent product interaction. Works with the larger user experience team in developing new processes and tools.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Collect user feedback to ensure the development of clean, efficient, useful interface designs from conceptualization through implementation.
• Ensure all product interfaces are held to a consistently high standard of user-centered design Collect user requirement via site visits, surveys and interviews
• Transform user data into personas
• Create usability plans, organize/conduct usability studies on wireframes and code *Present solutions back to product teams and drive product/design decisions based on usability studies Benchmark released products
• Conduct competitive analyses
• Work with UI designers to identify, address and solve complex user interface and information design challenges
• Continuously challenge the effectiveness of design, recommending changes, as appropriate.
• Evangelize user experience within Citrix

Qualifications (knowledge, skills, abilities)

• Demonstrate strong research and analytical skills
• Excellent organizational and communication skills
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to technical and non technical audience
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced and constantly changing environment
• Ability to influence others to sell user experience
• Comfortable working with engineering to influence change and able to work around or within software/ hardware limitations
• Exceptional attention to detail

Requirements (Education, Certification, Training, and Experience):

• Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors, or related field
• 5+ years experience in collecting user data for online and consumer software product interfaces Excellent knowledge of user-centered design methods and best practices
• Work well in a fast-paced environment with iterative design process
• Independent self-starter with strong project management skills
• Ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team with product managers, graphics
• designers, UI designers, and others

Usability Analyst
Usability Sciences Corporation
Dallas, TX

Posted on: 15 January, 2010

Company Overview:

Usability Sciences Corporation was founded in 1988 and has provided usability research services and technologies to more than 230 companies around the globe. Our services provide a complete usability solution for Internet e-commerce and b2b sites, corporate Intranets, and software and hardware products. USC is headquartered in Las Colinas, Irving, TX.  We offer competitive pay, great benefits, and a corporate environment that is built upon fostering the strengths of each employee to create winning teams. 

Job Summary:

We are currently seeking a usability analyst to conduct user experience research and usability tests aimed at improving the user interfaces of websites, software applications, and hardware devices.  The usability analyst participates in all phases of the usability testing process, which include:

• Working with our clients to understand their project objectives
• Developing a usability test plan which addresses the client's objectives
• Facilitating projects such as one-on-one usability sessions and focus groups to obtain user preferences and feedback
• Scribing user feedback
• Analyzing and documenting the results discovered from the usability sessions

Note: It is the job of the client's development team to correct the issues that surface during testing, thus this position does not involve any design or programming.

Job Requirements:

• Gathers, analyzes, and documents user feedback
• Facilitates (moderates and scribes) testing sessions
• Presents feedback and recommendations to client within business and user experience framework
• Provides assistance to colleagues in support of deliverable completion
• Travel up to 20%, domestic and international

Required Skills:

• At least 2 years of experience as a Usability Analyst, Usability Support Analyst or similar role in a professional environment
• A strong desire to make a product (website, software, hardware) "usable".  While we often work with software and hardware products, a high amount of our services pertain to websites, thus familiarity with websites is strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of consistently producing deliverables that are well-written and contain helpful information, providing solid and actionable recommendations for the client
• Experience with an extensive variety of Usability methodologies and involvement in running a variety of tests, according to methodology and industry
• Strong people interaction and facilitation skills
• Project lifecycle experience with web application implementations
• Detail-oriented, with the ability to multi-task
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Should be self-directed and have effective time management skills
• Proven ability and desire to work effectively as a member of a team
• The ability to quickly learn and adapt in a fast-paced, highly interactive environment
• Self-starter who is comfortable with minimal day-to-day guidance and independently managing deadlines
• Ability to work well with a variety of high-profile clients 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, Outlook and virtual meeting software tools
• Good analytical and quantitative skills and the ability to make sound recommendations and decisions based on observed user behavior and prior experience
• Active membership in an organization that promotes usability, such as Usability Professionals Association, is desired
• Strong understanding of the equipment and software (e.g., Morae) used in a usability lab including the ability to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve related problems
• Bachelor’s degree required

About Usability Sciences:

Since 1988, Usability Sciences continues to be the leading user experience solutions provider.  http://www.usabilitysciences.com/about-us/

Who We Are:

USC was built around a set of core beliefs and values.  Being a relatively small company, it is critical that all of our employees promote the ideals listed in our "What we believe": http://www.usabilitysciences.com/about-us/our-beliefs/

Location:

This position is being offered from our main office located in Irving, Texas (Dallas area).  Relocation expenses will not be covered.

Next Steps:

Please send cover letter expressing your interest in working for Usability Sciences along with your resume, salary requirements, and/or examples of past work to careers@usabilitysciences.com

Note:  Unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position.

Senior Software Developer (UI Architect)
Research In Motion
Redwood City, CA

Posted on: 15 January, 2010

Full Time, Permanent Position

How to Apply:  To apply directly, please contact Stacey Schut at sschut@rim.com

Job Description:

Research In Motion Limited® (RIM)® is a world leader in the mobile communications market and has a history of developing breakthrough wireless solutions. RIM's portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies is used by thousands of organizations around the world and includes the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools and software/hardware licensing agreements. RIM is seeking driven individuals who can take our wireless data products to the next level in the global wireless market. Are you ready to make a difference in the world of mobile communications with RIM?

POSITION SUMMARY

Are you passionate about user interface design? Are you fanatical about simplicity and efficiency? Does the code you write astonish and amaze your friends and colleagues? Does competition inspire you to do even better?

The Core User Interface team is looking for exceptional people to join us in bringing the mobile user experience to next level. As a software developer, you will be designing and implementing the object-oriented programming frameworks used by internal and third party developers to create best-of-breed applications for BlackBerry smartphones. You will be working closely with teams across the organization, so in addition to top-notch design and coding skills, you are also a superb communicator and team player. You are highly motivated, and comfortable with an agile and fast-paced work environment.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The successful candidate's responsibilities will include:

• Actively participating in all phases of product development
• Taking ownership of key components of the software architecture
• Working with Product Management and development to drive the Core User Interface framework forward

ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelors of Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or equivalent
• Minimum10 years of product development experience, with exposure to integrating and developing software components and third party products
• Experience with API development, and systems management (with load, stress, and performance benchmarking)
• Strong understanding of design patterns, re-factoring techniques, multi-threading, and security

ADDITIONAL ASSETS

• Experience developing software (Java-based or otherwise) for embedded devices
• Experience with advanced graphics APIs
• Experience developing in a J2ME-based environment

If you're driven to take wireless technologies to the next level, it's time you join the team at RIM. We offer a challenging environment that fosters creativity and rewards excellence. Employees also have use of our award winning BlackBerry!

© 2009 Research In Motion Limited. All Rights Reserved. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties of Research In Motion Limited. RIM, BlackBerry, "Always On, Always Connected" and the "envelope in motion" symbol are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries.

Research In Motion is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Interaction Designer
PracticeWorks Systems, LLC
Atlanta, GA

Posted on: 15 January, 2010

Role description:

The Interaction Designer is a key member of the Product Design team. Working with the Product Owner and using their observation skills in a customer environment, the Interaction Designer is responsible for developing a software design which is intuitive and compelling. In partnership with the Visual Designer and the R&D team, the Interaction Designer will be responsible for bringing their solutions to market.

As one of our Interaction Designers you will be expected to carry out research in order to understand the needs of the users, as well as continual evaluations of your designs to ensure they appropriate.

You will be expected to research competitive and complimentary technology offerings to identify competitive gaps and develop plans to close them, as well as researching complimentary technology offerings to identify opportunities for synergistic partnerships.

Reports to: Global Director, Dental Software Platforms
Role based: The Exchange: Atlanta, Georgia
Travel:

Hours: PracticeWorks has business and teams in several countries around the World. While the position will be office based, in order to gather information and work effectively with your team, a moderate amount of travel will be required.
You will need to work with teams in multiple time-zones. PracticeWorks operates a results driven philosophy, and recognizes that individual working hours may need to be irregular.

Experience required:

• Three years experience working as an Interaction Designer or User Experience Professional, designing and developing software solutions
• Three years experience interacting with users, understanding their needs and translating into product designs.
• Two year experience working in a Software Development environment using one of the AGILE SDLC methodologies.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority

Key skills required:

• Communication – the ability to communicate at all levels, the role will require the Interaction Designer to be able to communicate effectively with their team, a peer network of stakeholders, Senior Executives, technical resources as well as staff in other countries.

• Problem solving – the Interaction Designer will have to be able to assimilate information from a variety of sources, and develop an intuitive software design for meeting those needs.

• Quality – the program is the pinnacle of the software organisations efforts. As such, the Interaction Designer must have high personal standards and always work to deliver the very best product.

• Task Management – As a key member of the Product Design Team, the Interaction Designer must be able to deliver to target, managing issues and risks in a transparent and professional manner.

• Creativity – It is the job of the Interaction designer to translate the customer needs into compelling, innovative software designs.

• Organisation – as a regulated business in many countries, all project information and artefacts must be well managed and available. Using the Development Framework, the Interaction Designer must ensure that their deliverables are well managed.

• Acute observation skills - must be able to demonstrate the art of watching and listening, as opposed to seeing and hearing.

• Comprehension - An extremely strong comprehension and understanding of user behaviour and how it relates to UI design and of the benefits of good usability and experience within software. Solid understanding of market trends and software innovations

• Design - Superb information design abilities, fastidious and efficient production and optimization habits, and impeccable problem solving skills

Primary Responsibilities:

• Usability Research – based on the direction of the Product Owner, and inline with the stories selected from the backlog, the Interaction Designer should use best practices to observe users in their environment performing those tasks.

• Interaction Design - based on the selected stories and on the conducted usability research the Interaction designer should design and develop software solutions that meet the need of the user and business, in a compelling and intuitive way.

• Story development – working with the Product Owner, who will be responsible for the Product Backlog and high-level story outlines, the Interaction design should use their knowledge and research to refine the Stories so that they accurately reflect the needs of the user and the scenarios they find themselves in.

• Analyze current product range to extract best practice and user interface styles – A key part of the role will involve reviewing our existing product portfolio, understanding what we do well and what we need to improve, in terms of features / functionality, workflows and user interface designs.

• Liaise with customer base to gather information and requirements – Ultimately the customer is the target of our efforts. NextGen development must solve their problems and meet their requirements. The Interaction Designer will be responsible for understanding their needs and articulating them to the rest of the team.

• Analyze information fed back from the consultancy groups – As part of our fact finding activities we will utilize Voice of Customer / Consultancy groups to endeavour to understand user requirements. The Interaction Designer must be able to consider the advice and findings of this group when building requirements.

• Work closely with the R&D team – Although there will be many consumers of the information produced by the Interaction Designer, one of the key objectives of the role is to articulate the UX requirements to the R&D team so that they can implement the correct solution. To that end, not only will precise, accurate requirements need to be produced, but also the Interaction Designer will need to be able to work closely with the development group to ensure that the team can work efficiently.

• Present information to the internal stakeholders and external customers where necessary – It is important that the information that the NextGen team consumes is fed back to the project stakeholders so that they are able to comment on the direction of the project and, in order, they remain invested. The Interaction Designer will from time to time be expected to provide this feedback in both meeting sessions and presentations.

• Attend regular NextGen Development meetings – As part of the core team the Interaction Designer is expected to attend and contribute to project meetings.

Other key responsibilities

• Be aware of technology advances – new tech changes in the dental and IT world could mean changes in how we deliver our solutions. Interaction Designer should always be looking out for ways to make our solutions more beneficial to our user, extend our presence or increase our business using new technology advances.

• Program Evangelist – as a senior member of the Product Design team you will expected to propagate knowledge of the program and its benefits to stakeholders and non-stakeholders alike.

Deliverables:

Primary: Highly intuitive, attractive software
Secondary: User Experience Vision
Low-fi prototypes
Information flows
Storyboards
Persona’s
Wireframes
Screen mock-ups
User Interface controls and concepts

All candidates for this position should forward resumes or questions to: nextgen@practiceworks.com

Senior UI Designer
Matrikon Inc.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Posted on: 08 January, 2010

If you have a passion for excellence, an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to play for a winning team, then consider Matrikon for your next career move. We can offer you a family friendly environment, best-in-class industrial technology, significant advancement opportunities locally and around the world, and an opportunity to become a globally recognized expert in your field.

We’re looking for a full time, permanent, Senior UI Designer capable of transforming ourProducts using Sharepoint and Silverlight. The successful candidate will have a passion for usable software and canpush creative boundaries;while effectively communicating their ideas from simple paper drawings through to compelling, high-fidelity prototypes. They will have experience with dynamic interfaces and animation tools and possess an enthusiasm for creating breakthrough UI.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Responsibilities include working with product management and engineering to conceive, develop, and prototype the software user interaction model and visual appearance. Then continuing the process to finalize designs, clearly document the solutions, and monitor their implementation. This role requires understanding business and technical objectives, creating/modifying information architecture, developing interaction models, defining user interfaces, and helping with the visual design. Additional responsibilities include:

• Participating in feature idea creation and selection. (Example: cross-functional brainstorming sessions to determine product features and functionality based on the business needs and objectives)
• Facilitating a collaborative relationship and help bridge gaps between design and development.
• Communicating design strategy and rationale to key stakeholders
• Translating business requirements into concept scenarios
• Translating usability and research findings into design improvements
• Documenting functionality
• Adhering to project timelines in a fast-paced work environment
• Working independently as well as in teams that span multiple functions and/or departments

Skills and Knowledge:

Experience building commercial software and understanding the constraints of the software development environment is preferred. You must be a solid team player with excellent communication, presentation and problem solving skills with proven leadership. Other required skills include:

• Solid understanding of user interface fundamentals
• Exceptional understanding of design disciplines (composition, information architecture, color theory, typography and animation) and principals of good user interface design (consistency, simplicity, usability, etc.)
• Leadership skills, ability to drive teams to consensus and the ability to work independently.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent portfolio
• Experience using Silverlight, XAML, SharePoint or other relevant technology skills
• Experience creating prototypes using expression blend

Experience/Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in Interactive Design, Human Factor, Software Engineering or Visual Design
• Several years of experience in a UI design role

Matrikon values Innovation and Creativity, Passion and Drive, Care and Respect, Ownership and Integrity, Persistence and Commitment; if you can identify with these values, you will thrive in our environment.

Matrikon is a leading provider of integrated industrial intelligence products for the continuous process enterprise. Our solutions promote safe, reliable operations and support our industrial clients’ vision of operational excellence.

Matrikon employs more than 550 people, working from a network of offices throughout Canada, U.S., Europe and Australia, as well as regional offices and projects worldwide. Matrikon shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “MTK”.

Please apply to directly to our online job posting by clicking here.

User Interface Designer
Network Solutions
Herndon, VA

Posted on: 08 January, 2010

Network Solutions is a leading provider of online, E-solutions and the pioneer of the domain name registration service. We currently manage more than 8 million domains for more than 4 million customers worldwide. We draw on 30 years of experience to make it simple and affordable for our customers to build and manage an online presence through a one-stop Web solutions provider. We offer a full range of Web-related services, including Web site design and hosting, e-commerce platforms, online security products, and online search engine marketing.

We have a great opportunity for a User Interface Designer to join our team in our headquarters in Herndon, VA. We seek creative and energetic individuals who understand UI/UX principles and best practices, and how to design online products and services with a customer-centric focus.

We are looking for someone with experience creating interaction designs, process flows, and user interface specifications. If you have a passion for UI design and usability, we offer the opportunity to work in a collaborative User Experience team designing and maintaining a large ecommerce Website that is used by millions of our online customers.

Responsibilities:

• Understand customer needs and work with the user experience team to design online user experiences, ensuring ease of navigation and simplicity of design.
• Organize diverse business requirements and architect the flow of information into an intuitive, coherent, easy-to-navigate Website or Web-based application.
• Document user interface designs and user interactions with process flows, wire frames, and screen specifications.
• Must be able to work well in multi-disciplinary groups including technical, business, and customer experience perspectives.
• Identify opportunities to improve the usability of customer interactions.
• Identify opportunities to improve customer conversions.
• Work with designers and programmers to achieve strong visual and technological solutions without sacrificing usability.
• Articulate problems and solutions in a fast-paced environment.

Experience:

• Minimum 1 - 2 years of professional experience in human factors, user interaction design, and information architecture (This is not a graphic design/visual design position.)
• Bachelors degree in a related field
• Experience with standard design and documentation tools (Adobe, Visio, etc.)
• Keen sense of customer experience and customer needs
• Prefer experience working on transactional Web sites or software applications
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Attention to detail
• Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written)

If you would like to apply for this position please send your resume to tresumes@networksolutions.com.

Usability Professionals' Association
promoting usability concepts and techniques worldwide

Job Bank and information about how to post a job: http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/usability_resources/jobs/
Phone + 1630.980.4997       Email office@usabilityprofessionals.org