Lead UX Architect

Company

Cox Automotive - USA

Engineering / Product Development

Lead UX Architect

Manager - Non People LeaderHybrid - Ability to work remotely part of the week

Yes, 15% of the time

Day

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary of $106,700.00 - $177,900.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

A User Experience Lead at Cox Automotive researches, plans, and architects the users’ experience for websites, mobile apps, and Web applications. This person leads the creation of digital products from a user's perspective and coordinates the efforts of other UX architects and researchers working on products within the same area. The Lead devises interaction strategy in sync with user and business goals, develops navigation and structure, designs wireframes or interactive prototypes, organizes content, and tirelessly advocates for real users' needs and goals. 

This person will make strategic and tactical UX decisions related to design, usability, features, and functions. The best candidate will possess outstanding creativity, be highly detailed, and help define and solve complex user problems.

Candidates must be passionate about user experience and design thinking and want to take advantage of working with highly talented team members and stakeholders who wish to have a design-led, customer-centric experience for our product platforms. In return, they will get the opportunity to transform digital customer experiences in a fast-paced environment by balancing the transactional and the emotional —always keeping our users and their goals in mind.

This person is metric-sensitive and understands that success is based on meeting customer needs and revenue goals. 

The successful candidate’s portfolio must demonstrate a depth of experience, with emphasis on user interface design for digital applications, including complex data-driven web sites and multi-screen applications. Mobile experience is needed. 

The Lead will support and assist in the continuing development of a holistic design system that incorporates design patterns, interactive elements, visual standards, and coded components for use across our product ecosystem. He or she will research, conceive, document, and evangelize user experience principles and standards across the company.

The successful candidate will be able to articulate and execute a strategic vision through research, documentation, presentations, and relationships built within the company.

They will aid in mentoring junior, mid, and senior UX Architects within the team.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Analyze customer, business, and product performance metrics and interpret underlying drivers to translate into data-based recommendations.
• Develop knowledge and influence across Product and Engineering.
• Lead the assessment and benchmarking of competitive user experiences. Identify strategic opportunities for competitive advantage based on findings.
• Examine web analytics to inform user interactions and designs.
• Evangelize Human-Centered Design culture and process.
• Lead the translation of business requirements into simple, highly usable, and compelling interface layouts, defining how the user interacts with site functionality. Create (and lead the development of) comprehensive site maps, user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes (low/high fidelity).
• Monitor developments within the industry and technology trends in general to consider UX implications and benefits for client expectations and product roadmaps.
• Be a model for UX designers through quality processes and artifacts, mentorship, the evolution of our UX toolkit and processes, and by helping to attract great talent.
• Advise and conduct research with teams and apply research to generate theories that inform/drive strategy.
• Bring exceptional communication skills that can create buy-in for user-centered product strategy. Speak on a technical level and communicate clearly with engineers and other stakeholders within the team and beyond.
• Work on complex problems and systems, across a variety of interface and interaction types, spaces, and user groups. This includes physical and spatial considerations, designing for specific environments and specialized audiences.
• Facilitate cross-functional meetings and design workshops for actionable outcomes; bring an inclusive mindset to your leadership approach.
• Develop your point of view and identify opportunities to innovate and evolve the product experience.
• Establish a strong design culture by collaborating with members of multidisciplinary teams and advocating for users and user-centered design practices.
• Experience in A/B Experimentation is a plus.
• Design for mobile devices. Responsive design experience is required.

Inspire the teams around you and contribute your voice to the Product Design team by providing design feedback and thought partnership, mentoring, pairing with other designers, and growing the team culture and goals.

Required Qualifications: 

• 6+ years of relevant work experience
• Bachelor’s degree or comparable work experience (required)
• Master’s Degree or better in Behavior Science or related discipline (preferred)
• Excellent oral, written, and verbal communication skills, as well as interpersonal skills
• Must be an expert in user-centered design methods, techniques, and principles.
• Ability to arrange and conduct formal and informal usability tests.
• Project experience in working with teams on large-scale, long-term projects.
• Proven ability (portfolio required) to produce user experience documentation:  storyboards, user scenarios/tasks, user flows, wireframes, prototypes, etc.
• Ability to develop network/system architecture diagrams is a plus.
• Proficient to expert use of software tools:  Figma, Axure, and MS Office applications.
• Knowledge of Pendo & Optimizely
• Must be interested in human beings, how they think, their behaviors, and their limitations. You should be able to feel like our users.
• Ability to establish user experience methodology, processes, estimates, and deliverables for a project.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Group facilitation experience is required.
• Ability to work on multiple projects with competing priorities simultaneously.
• Superb organizational skills with the ability to juggle multiple projects varying in size and complexity, prioritizing time and tasks as needed to meet aggressive deadlines.
• Be able to make intuitive leaps to appropriately hypothesize product design solutions.
• Understand the big picture, along with expert attention to fine detail.
• Convincingly articulate ideas and rationale across the company, including the executive suite.
• Experience in client services and negotiating business decisions.
• Able to deal with ambiguity.
• Knowledge of what’s possible in the digital space.
• Avid learner. Stays current on the latest trends and research in product design and web/mobile technologies.
• Must be able to work individually with minimal supervision/mentoring and as a team.
• Ability to work across multiple internal business units and companies.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS: 

Up to 15%

To be employed in this role, you’ll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.

The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company’s needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, parental leave, and COVID-19 vaccination leave.Through groundbreaking technology and a commitment to stellar experiences for drivers and dealers alike, Cox Automotive employees are transforming the way the world buys, owns, sells – or simply uses – cars. Cox Automotive employees get to work on iconic consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and industry-leading dealer-facing companies like vAuto and Manheim, all while enjoying the people-centered atmosphere that is central to our life at Cox. Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO). For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page. Cox is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer – All qualified applicants/employees will receive consideration for employment without regard to that individual’s age, race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law. Cox provides reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with disability, unless such accommodations would cause an undue hardship.