Senior UX Designer & Researcher - 12-month contract

The opportunity

The Senior UX Designer & Researcher creates exceptional omnichannel experiences. Increasing self-service efficacy and reducing assisted-service reach will be the focus of our digital first strategy. They play a key support role on the team and ensures that projects undertaken by Ontario Teachers’ are researched, usable and accessible, are designed and implemented using modern techniques, and meet the necessary standards of efficiency and quality. The ideal candidate is a creative thinker with an analytical slant and a team player who values innovation, has a solutions-oriented mindset and a great sense of humour.

Who you'll work with

Reporting to the Director, Experience Design & Innovation, the Senior UX Designer & Researcher will have regular contact with staff and management. Liaise with the Manager and Product Owners, Service Request Managers, IT with regards to product development life cycle and rollout scheduling. Also, contact with internal and external users to participate in usability and to resolve complex issues.

What you'll do

Imagine

• Apply research skills and work with the user, business, content and web development teams to derive goals and requirements of projects
• Work with the user, business and web development team to derive goals and requirements of projects
• Mentor and support the other designers on the team
• Stay abreast of trends and emerging technologies, design techniques and usability methods, industry standards and guidelines
• Create mock-ups, storyboards, prototypes and use cases to determine effective designs/design options
• Recommend technical/design improvements to existing applications that are consistent with business objectives

Create

• Document functional and design requirements as appropriate
• Design, implement and maintain internal and external web sites/applications, enterprise desktop, social properties and email

Transform

• Construct, participate and analyze usability sessions, focus groups, needs analysis
• Collect and apply knowledge of user issues/constraints to design and interaction solutions
• Provide on-demand analytics to support business needs
• Monitor analytics to validate and improve online experience
• Review delivered features to ensure value has been delivered
• Responsible for digital design, page/template construction and integration of graphics, video, text and other content from a variety of sources to achieve effective layout
• Propose, build and maintain information architecture, design/interaction template and style guide
• Propose experimentation opportunities, support, build & maintain supported experiments.
• Initiate liaison with technical and non-technical staff to ensure successful implementation of web/desktop applications by refining user interface specifications and requirements and develop design solutions that supports site content
• Co-ordinate with business areas for timely delivery of site content
• Ensure that all designs and implementation comply with all legislation including the AODA, TPA, and PBA
• Lead peer-reviews for designs across the products
• Provide informal user/trainer training and technical support as required
• Work with internal staff to support and maintain the member/employer service websites (content, administration, security) and the enterprise desktop
• Manage the implementation of email broadcasts and campaigns
• Other duties as assigned

What you'll need

• Fluent and knowledgeable in the technologies (CSS, SASS, JavaScript, Adobe Creative Suite HTML, JSPs, Java, Angular) in use at OTPP
• Thorough knowledge of the principles of user-centered design, information architecture and usability and employs practical skills, techniques and strategies for their application
• Certification or equivalent job experience in User Experience practices including design thinking, interaction design, research and heuristics
• Strong understanding of the life cycle of web development including analysis, design, construction, implementation and support
• Ability to assess user needs and support these in design solutions
• Strong understanding of data analytics
• Excellent communication capability, both verbal and written to be able to:
• explain designs and interactions to stakeholders and project team members
• explain technical information to non-technical users and
• conduct presentations and facilitate meetings as required
• communicate at the appropriate level (technical or business) for the audience
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and on projects in fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment
• Excellent organizational, analytical and problem solving skills
• Minimum 5+ years of design and development experience
• Good working knowledge of Teachers’ Pension Act, policies and procedures, and other relevant legislation a benefit
• Sound understanding and knowledge of existing designs and administrative processes in use at OTPP
• Web content management (AEM) and Adobe Analytics experie