Associate Director, User Experience

Job Description

How will you impact First Command?

The Associate Director UX (User Experience) provides leadership over a combination of internal and external resources engaged in designing easy-to-use, efficient and functionally robust digital experiences in service to our clients and advisors. The Experience Design (XD) team will employ a variety of best practices to define the information architecture, as well as develop and test designs in wireframes and low and high fidelity mockups and comps for our various digital experiences across multiple channels to include voice, web, mobile, social, and email with the intent of seamless omni-channel navigation in context. The team will collaborate with Marketing both to develop digital user personas and both present and future state customer journey maps as well as in the definition and design of various digital assets and content which will be employed in our various experiences / applications. The team will lead in usability testing of designed and developed digital experiences.

The AD will collaborate with Business Information Systems (BIS) in identification and acquisition of tools necessary to support the team and in the agile development and delivery of the designed experiences rendered from those tools.

This position will report to the Vice President of Experience Design and lead the UX Function.

What will you be doing?

• Organize and implement policies, procedures, structures, roles and responsibilities that enable the UX/UI function to deliver expectations and commitments;
• Identify and administer various tools that facilitate the organization to deliver on its explicit design responsibilities;
• Seek out industry best practices as well as look outside the financial services industry for innovative design patterns, paradigms, and task flows that might be applied to financial services in innovative ways;
• Work with researchers to understand findings and incorporate into current design (assist with user research needs where applicable);
• Understand and incorporate complex technical and business requirements to create intuitive user-centered design solutions;
• Provide leadership, direction, and lead holistic design thinking across the various business lines (aka Banking, Investments, Insurance and Financial Planning), platforms, and devices.
• Create system and application concepts by defining information architecture, design patterns and paradigms, task flows, wireframes, low and high-fidelity mockups and comps and other design guidelines;
• Convene various feedback mechanisms including presentation to diverse audiences both in person and in writing to test and verify usability and intuitiveness from initial information architecture, through wireframing, comps to prototypes and launch;
• Generate user interface design specifications, presentations, and other documentation needed to communicate interactions, design direction, and ideas;
• Deliver a UX vision for First Command, along with a plan for evolutionary, iterative updates that actualize the larger vision over time;
• Hire and recruit a best-in-class team, including contractors, to deliver on goals;
• Leverage the team's strengths through engaging and effective team management;

What skills/qualifications do you need?

Education

• Bachelor's degree required;
• Master's degree preferred, in Design, HCI, or equivalent field

Work Experience

• 6-8+ years' relevant UX experience designing B2B2C applications and experiences
• Financial services industry experience a plus; highly regulated industry experience a plus;
• Experience working within an Agile environment
• Experience driving influence in an organization

Knowledge, Skills, Behavioral and Technical Competencies

• Solid understanding of user-centered design processes and ability to balance customer needs with business goals in developing solutions;
• Substantial experience in interaction design, complemented by knowledge of visual design, usability, accessibility, and information architecture
• Deep understanding of ideation, prototyping, testing, design frameworks and concept visualization in and across various digital channels;
• Demonstrated ability to develop innovative solutions and apply cutting edge user interface techniques;
• Solid understanding of the relationship between successful user interface design and performance metrics;
• A demonstrable portfolio of successfully delivered projects that demonstrate design expertise;
• Strong leadership, team building and interpersonal skills;
• Must be able to generate trust and build alliances in the organization;
• A strong and empathetic listener, and is able to engage with others verbally in a range of styles and contexts;
• A high energy, results-oriented leader and self-starter with little supervision required;
• An individual with the utmost professional and personal integrity;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to present information concisely; and to influence others, and to negotiate, persuade and sell ideas whilst maintaining trust and confidence.
• Willingness to travel to the Field to better understand needs.

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