Job Opening — Digital Strategist, User Experience

At SimpsonScarborough, we build higher education brands that inspire and endure. The brands we create in true partnership with colleges and universities across the country are based in industry leading research, then brought to life through informed creative that’s tested against and refined to meet specific strategic goals. We are looking for a User Experience Strategist to join our growing digital team.

As User Experience Strategist, you will be an integral part of all of our digital engagements. Your work will bind brand strategy and analytics to inform design and technology solutions for all of our client engagements. Specifically, you will be responsible for translating audience research into website visitor personas, sitemaps, user flows, and wireframes. You will collaborate with team members on content strategies, workshops, and usability-testing. Finally, once a project is live you will identify ways to measure and refine its performance.

You must have experience and knowledge of university websites, including their audience characteristics and expectations. General knowledge of enrollment digital communication tactics and online fundraising is an expected part of your core competencies. You should have an understanding of the role WCAG plays in UX decisions, best practices for SEO, and a working knowledge of how university website governance impacts your work.

Experience

• 3-5 years of experience in User Experience, digital strategy, or related field
• Higher education marketing agency experience desired
• Internal college/university experience a plus
• Bachelors degree minimum required

Responsibilities

• Lead the user experience phases of all digital projects.
• Work directly with project teams to gather requirements from research, stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis, etc.
• Work directly with Account Leads, Web Development Leads and stakeholders to clarify and define project requirements as they apply to the user experience
• Work directly with the design and content team to collaborate on solutions
• Develop user flows, journey maps, page flows, wireframes, and sitemaps
• Evaluate existing websites and social channels and provide discovery nsights.
• Lead user experience workshops with clients.
• Conduct A/B and usability testing.
• Develop information architecture strategies.
• Ask smart questions, take risks and champion new ideas.

Requirements

• Three or more years of UX experience. Preference will be given to candidates who have experience designing complex solutions for complete digital environments.
• Expertise in standard UX software such as Sketch and InVision are a must. Basic HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript skills are a plus but not required.
• Knowledge of higher education CMS types is important – most common are Wordpress, Drupal, Cascade, and Omni.
• Ability to work with clients to understand detailed requirements and design complete user experiences that meet client needs and vision.
• Extensive experience in using UX design best practices to design solutions, and a deep understanding of mobile-first and responsive design.
• A solid grasp of user-centered design, planning and conducting user research, user testing, A/B testing, rapid prototyping, heuristic analysis, usability and accessibility concerns.
• Ability to clearly and effectively communicate design processes, ideas, and solutions to teams and clients.
• Ability to work effectively in a team setting including synthesizing abstract ideas into concrete design implications.
• Be excited about collaborating and communicating closely with teams and other stakeholders via a distributed model, to regularly deliver design solutions for approval.
• Be passionate about resolving user pain points
• Be open to receiving feedback and constructive criticism.
• Be passionate about all things UX and other areas of design and innovation.
• Research and showcase knowledge in the industry’s latest trends and technologies.