Senior User Experience Specialist

Description

How to Apply

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position, and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position. If possible, please include a link to your electronic portfolio/dossier as part of your resume.

Job Summary

The University of Michigan Library is seeking a Senior User Experience Specialist who will be responsible for setting direction, designing solutions, and architecting a consistent user experience (UX) across the library’s web presence. The person in this position will set and document the vision for the library’s digital user experience and partner with those who oversee the UX of our physical spaces. The Specialist needs to possess project management expertise, effective communication skills, strong knowledge and pragmatic experience incorporating user research and design within development workflows. The Senior UX Specialist will have the capacity to quickly understand internal (library stakeholders) and external (students, faculty, etc.) user needs while balancing them within a project’s functional requirements and within larger service design frameworks.

The Senior UX Specialist will supervise two full-time positions, a user experience specialist and an interface designer, and together will work closely with developers and stakeholders to create universal designs for interfaces that support the improvement of the websites and applications across the web presence. The Senior UX Specialist will also collaborate on library-wide assessment efforts.  The Senior User Experience Specialist reports to the Head of Design & Discovery.

The Design & Discovery department focuses on interface design, user research, web accessibility, content strategy, front-end development, and program management. The department manages the library’s primary interfaces, including multiple websites and applications. These interfaces provide access to over 10 million physical and digital resources and are visited by over 2 million users a month.

The University of Michigan Library is one of the world's largest academic research libraries and serves a vibrant university community that is home to 19 schools and colleges, 100 top ten graduate programs, and annual research expenditures approaching $1.5 billion a year. To enable the university's world­changing work and to serve the public good, the library collects, preserves, and shares the scholarly and cultural record in all existing and emerging forms, and leads the reinvention of the academic research library in the digital age.

We champion diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our work engages a broad and diverse community with wide-ranging needs and concerns, and we empower all employees to actively participate in the ongoing process of learning about and responding to these needs. We value the synergy that results from sharing and leveraging our different experiences, backgrounds, skills, talents, and interests to build an environment in which all our community members can flourish.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning and execution of the Library’s web design strategy and design library in collaboration with designers, programmers, and other internal stakeholders

• Assess and improve user experience design and accessibility workflows

• Lead efforts to improve search engine optimization through analysis of UX research and web analytics

• Conduct ongoing quantitative and qualitative user research to identify and integrate new design trends and UX strategies within web development and service design projects

• Lead efforts to create content inventories, personas, user journeys, user stories, page flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes, service design blueprints, etc. to support the design process across the web presence

• Supervise two full-time staff; mentor new and existing design and UX staff

• Actively engage in professional development activities to expand skills and competencies

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Library/Information Science, User Experience, Information Design, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, HCI, or a related field with 3 or more years of experience is required. For appointment as a librarian, an ALA-accreditedmaster's degree or equivalent combination of a relevant advanced degree and experience is required.

• A solid understanding of qualitative and quantitative user research and usability testing methodologies

• Ability to clearly and effectively communicate design processes, ideas, and solutions to teams and stakeholders

• Ability to mentor other UX and design staff and consult with staff across departments in conducting independent user research

• Understands and values diversity and the importance of inclusion as demonstrated through a commitment to apply and incorporate the differences, complexities, and opportunities that diversity brings to an organization

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards as well as responsive, universal, and device-agnostic web design principles and practices

• Familiarity with cloud services and the types of connections between interface, application, and infrastructure layers of a complex web architecture

Additional Information

Minimum salary for this position is $64,000.  Appointment is anticipated as a Web Designer/Administrator Intermediate or may be filled as a librarian.  The university library uses a four rank librarian system of assistant librarian, associate librarian, senior associate librarian, and librarian.  Salary and rank dependent on the candidate's qualifications and experience.  Librarian appointments carry with them increased expectations regarding professional development, professional engagement, research, and service, in keeping with the Library's process for librarian promotion and advancement.

The University of Michigan offers excellent benefits and wellness opportunities.

This position receives 24 days of vacation a year, paid sick leave with provisions for extended benefits, as well as opportunities for professional development and travel. TIAA-CREF and Fidelity Investments retirement options available.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days.  This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended. Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled.

U-M EEO/AA Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.