Job Description

The Opportunity Are you a passionate and experienced UX Manager who wants to help change education? SMART Technologies wants you! We invented the SMART Board and established its use in education decades ago. We also provide a suite of educational software and tools for teachers and students. We are looking for a UX Manager to lead our talented team of UX Designers who create engaging, interactive experiences that push the boundaries of how students learn in an evolving education industry. Reporting to the VP of Product, Software & Services, you will be responsible for managing the UX Design team at SMART. You will work closely with our Product Management, Software Development, and User Research teams. Our Team SMART helps educators and schools succeed all over the world. Our technology empowers teachers, students and teams to learn and collaborate in innovative ways, improving learning outcomes and inspiring breakthroughs. We’re looking for candidates who are excited about evolving education through technology. We are very user-focused, and we validate our designs directly with teachers and school administrators. We look for candidates who are curious and love to learn from users at every opportunity. We create hardware and software products with interfaces ranging from mobile up to large touch-screen displays. Ideal candidates have experience managing UX Designers as well as Industrial Designers. We’re looking for candidates who can take ownership and responsibility for the growth of the UX team, the evolution of our products, and are not afraid to challenge the system if they see inefficiency. Responsibilities

• Lead an interdisciplinary team of UX and Industrial designers by providing a vision of the organization, product areas, team and personal objectives
• Apply your insight and experience to create a shared design vision for your team and their product areas that will be communicated through designs and a product roadmap
• Set a high standard for design best practices such as design reviews, prototyping, usability testing, and UX metrics
• Mentor a high-performing team that thrives on delivering exceptional user experiences across multiple platforms. You will ensure continual improvement of your team through regular performance coaching, evaluations and goal setting activities
• Identify and encourage areas for growth and improvement within the team
• Drive the hiring process and growing the team by recruiting great designers and contractors
• Work with your team and their areas to identify new, generative, primary user needs as necessary, collaborating with user research and the Product Management team
• Inspire a climate of innovation through customer insights and research
• Work with team members and ensure they are accountable for all their decisions and own the ultimate outcome of the experience we are trying to deliver on
• Manage your team budget, contractors, and schedules. Drive UX managerial needs for compensation, calibration, etc.
• Stay abreast of the latest trends and advances in HCD including best practices for design tools, patterns and libraries, user research methodologies, lean UX development, and the best practices in team and people leadership
• Participate in higher level leadership activities and task forces
• Performing other duties as required

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with a focus on human-computer interaction, user interface design, human factors, visual design, industrial design, or related area
• 6+ years of industry experience in Human-Centered Design or related area with 3+ years of experience managing people and product areas
• Excellent knowledge of user-centered design methodologies, including depth in at least two interaction models and platforms
• Demonstrated experience in being able to evolve and innovate design processes
• Thorough understanding of user-centered design and agile development methodologies
• Applied experience with common design tools and processes, usability testing and rapid prototyping
• Experience working with multiple interaction models and design tools
• Deep knowledge of user research and various usability validation methodologies
• Excellent communication skills, including written and oral presentation skills
• Intensely curious, creatively inclined, technically accomplished
• Self-starter with strong prioritization, organization, and process optimization skills
• Strong initiative and ability to work in a dynamic and fast-changing environment with minimal direct supervision
• A positive and resilient personality; able to embrace feedback and have a desire for continuous iteration and improvement
• Ability to manage and prioritize a team working on multiple projects of varying timelines, complexity and scope
• Experience managing direct reports spread across multiple time zones is a plus, as is managing both UX Designers and Industrial Designers

Additional Details

• This position has direct reports
• Role can be remote
• Fast-paced work environment
• Travel is expected (up to 25%); no impediment to international travel
• Successful candidate can be located in Seattle, WA, USA or Calgary, AB, Canada

At SMART Technologies, privacy is not an afterthought to us. Privacy is at the core of our software design. The result is that privacy is an essential component at the core of our business. To read more about our specific policies, please follow the links below. For more information please review: https://home.smarttech.com/legal/privacy-policy #LI-VH1