Director, UX at The Ohio State University

Director, UX at The Ohio State University

Job Type
Full-time
Posting Date
June 13, 2018
Location of Position

Columbus, OH

Company Summary

For 144 years, The Ohio State University's campus in Columbus has been the stage for academic achievement and a laboratory for innovation. It's where friendships are forged. It's where rivalries and revelry are born.

The university's main campus is one of America's largest and most comprehensive. As Ohio's best and one of the nation's top-20 public universities, Ohio State is further recognized by a top-rated academic medical center and a premier cancer hospital and research center. As a land-grant university, Ohio State has a physical presence throughout the state, with campuses and research centers located around Ohio.

Duties and Responsibilities

Message to applicants:

Candidates must submit a portfolio demonstrating expert knowledge in all facets of the digital UX lifecycle, including examples of both UX artifacts and results/impact to be considered

Summary:

As a member of University Marketing, the Director, User Experience (UX) is responsible for the comprehensive design of scalable, effective, user-focused, omnichannel digital experiences.  They will lead a team of UX design and web professionals that work collaboratively and cross-functionally to combine design thinking, best practices and disciplined user research and validation methodologies to enhance The Ohio State University’s brand experience in its digital channels. With an expert understanding of the digital UX lifecycle and processes, the Director, UX advises, consults and partners with colleagues across disciplines both within University Marketing and across the enterprise–including web developers, designers, strategists, analysts, project managers and writers.

The ideal candidate will be a dynamic, self-starting, detail-oriented, cross-functional leader that thrives in a fast-paced marketing environment while also possessing a keen understanding of user behavior and consumption of branded experiences through technology. Successful candidates will possess excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills and the demonstrated ability to communicate ideas to a wide variety of key stakeholders, including senior leaders while also exhibiting the behaviors associated with the Office of Advancement’s core competencies: Leadership, Continuous Improvement, Teamwork and Collaboration, and Communication/Interpersonal Effectiveness

 50% User Experience Leadership and Vision –

Manages and coaches UX staff; Directs and reviews work outputs; Supports professional development and growth path planning for team; Effectively and efficiently manages and allocates resources; Drives creation of UX deliverables (journey and site maps, wireframes, user flows and stories, etc.) that translate partner, business and user needs/goals into creative user-centric digital solutions and guides presentation of output to partners and leadership; Work with marketing strategy and insights staff to leverage research, personas, task analysis, competitive reviews, as well as craft and conduct interviews to create best-in-class user experiences; Continually work to improve UX process; Steward cross-functional integration and collaboration on web/mobile projects with key teams across University Marketing, including presiding over UX ideation and brainstorm sessions; Maintains a portfolio of user experience external resources; Continually evaluates and builds relationships with digital agencies and consultants

25% Web/Mobile Channel Experience Management –

Evaluates performance of OSU.edu (including regular reviews of web analytics, heuristic reviews, and test outputs) and drives recommendations for improvement through cross-functional partnership with marketing and digital strategists, web developers and copywriters; Partners with web development and technology staff to guide implementation of comprehensive both front and back-end user experience optimization strategies for OSU.edu, including content management system (CMS) user interface design, designing for assistive technologies (web accessibility), and personalization and testing tools

20% Strategic Consultation –

Champion disciplined UX design methods, through ongoing in-house consultation with agencies and partners, blogging, and leading UX presentations at campus community forums and events; Steward enterprise-wide optimization and brand consistency of experiences across web and mobile channels; including leading enterprise-wide digital experience workgroups and collaborative initiatives; Stay abreast of digital user experience, accessibility, usability and technology trends and best practices and proactively shares and advocates for best-in-class approaches across the Ohio State digital experience community

5% – Other Duties as Assigned

Position Requirements

Desired

Experience testing and/or designing for Section 508 or WCAG 2.0 web accessibility standards; Experience working with Agile teams and working within an iterative, agile culture; Experience with web optimization strategies; including SEO, A/B testing, and web personalization

Required Experience

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or HCI-related field; 8 years of progressive work experience in UX design for digital channels (web, email, social, mobile, etc.) including digital interface design, information architecture, usability and/or interaction design; 3 years leading and advising web/mobile design staff; Expert knowledge of UX and web design and testing tools (UsabilityHub, Adobe Creative Suite/Cloud, Sketch, InvisionApp, Proto.io, etc); A strong portfolio demonstrating expert knowledge in all facets of the digital UX lifecycle, including examples of both UX artifacts and results/impact; Demonstrated proficiency with web technologies and concepts, with the ability to collaborate well and discuss technical details with web developers; Insight-driven sensibilities that include using data and research to inform and optimize experiences

Apply Here

The Ohio State University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, national origin, disability status, or protected veteran status.