SIGIA-L Mail Archives: SIGIA-L: Job > Director of User Exper
SIGIA-L: Job > Director of User Experience > Bigstep.com
From: John Shiple (john_at_bigstep.net)
Date: Fri Oct 06 2000 - 17:51:45 EDT
Hello,
Bigstep.com is hiring! We are looking for a bright and talented individual
to lead our User Experience team to greater heights. Take a look at our Web
site, sign up for our service, check out our vision, values, and user
experience, and let us know if you are interested in this opportunity.
Bigstep.com's offices are in the heart of the Mission District in San
Francisco.
The job description is below my .signature.
-=John Shiple
john_at_bigstep.net
Vice President of User Experience and Community
Director of User Experience
Job Description
The Director of User Experience will oversee, manage, and lead the User
Experience (UE) group and its development efforts. The Director will work
closely with Product Management, Marketing, Customer Support, Engineering,
and QA in maintaining strong, open lines of communication and on product
planning and vision. The Director will be the keeper, definer, and overseer
of the ongoing prototyping and related development processes in the context
of the overall organization. The Director will oversee the day-to-day
development activities of the UE team and be required to provide UE resource
and time requirements. As part of this, the Director will be responsible for
estimating UE development schedules, as well as defining the exact range of
UE services to be utilized on a project or engagement. The Director will
champion the UE team and the underlying UE framework. Also, the Director
will be required to contribute toward the development of the UE discipline
through attendance and participation in internal meetings and assisting in
the implementation of new directives.
UE is a founding principle, framework, and team within the Bigstep.com
organization. The UE team practices the arts of Information Architecture,
Interaction Design and Visual Design, with a strong focus on empathy and
user-centered design. The extended UE family includes Content, Usability,
Interface Engineering (IE), and Engineering. As a result, the UE team works
closely with the Usability, Content, IE, and Engineering teams (and have
often worked in these fields previous to and at Bigstep.com). The extended
UE family forms a broad, multi-disciplinary team that defines the form,
functionality, and relevant aspects of the Bigstep.com service.
Throughout their efforts, the UE team (and family) ensures that customer
needs are carefully balanced relative to the desired business goals and
objectives. Channeling the technical characteristics or limitations of the
medium and network are crucial to developing a world-class user experience.
The UE team utilizes market and strategic research on the demographic and
behavioral characteristics of the service's intended audience and assesses
competitor sites and market trends in order to make informed decisions that
satisfy customers. Additionally, the UE team must create a solution that
scales and grows over time as the site functionality and content matures, as
customer requirements evolve, and as business objectives change.
Responsibilities
* Provide strong leadership, mentoring, and training for the UE staff
o Manage 6 direct reports
o Allocate UE resources to all on-going projects and initiatives
o Estimate UE development schedules and provide work estimates
o Recruit additional staff and contractors to meet the growing demand
and opportunity
o Actively participate in the functional manager activities
* Define the range of UE services to be utilized on projects and initiatives
o Lead other UE team members to drive the creation and evaluation of UE
deliverables describing a solution (prototypes and functional
specifications)
o Direct discovery (research) on project-related topics to better
understand UE and customer needs, best practices, and successful UE
strategies
o Analyze customer-related research to better inform UE efforts and
deliverables.
Skills and Knowledge
* Experience staffing, managing, and growing an organization
o Four (4) years of managing design/development teams
* Demonstrable leadership and collaboration skills
* Five (5) years experience in user-centered design (with a focus in Visual
Design, Information Architecture, and Interaction Design)
o Experience with flowcharting/ diagram creation tools (Visio) and
office productivity suites (Microsoft Office)
o Experience with usability testing and primary research (focus groups,
interviewing, etc.)
o Advanced HTML production knowledge sufficient to prototype concepts
o Awareness and/or expertise in working with content creation and
delivery as well as Interface Engineering
* Hands-on experience in Website implementation
o Four (4) years experience designing and implementing large-scale
Web-specific systems, including n-tier architectures
o Three (3) years experience designing and implementing substantial
e-commerce/e-business systems
* Advocating a world-class user experience
o Deep understanding of the principles Information Architecture,
Interaction Design, Visual Design
o Extensive experience working with Usability, Content, and Engineering
o Contribute to the development of the UE discipline through
participation in internal meetings and execution of new UE directives
* Excellent verbal, written, and visual communication skills
* Excellent organizational skills
* BA/BS/BFA degree or background in human factors, cognitive sciences,
visual or industrial design, information science/design, engineering,
library science, cultural/social anthropology or related area
* Project Management experience is a plus
Compensation
Compensation is based on previous experience. However, Bigstep.com offers a
total package that is competitive with industry standards and reflects the
potential upside of working for a start-up. Bigstep.com is an equal
opportunity employer, striving to recruit and employ highly qualified
individuals who represent the diverse communities in which we live.
Submissions
Please send résumés to hr_at_bigstep.net, with your name and the position
you're applying for clearly specified in the subject line of your email.
Primaries only, please. Thank you!
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