Principal UX Designer

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co; Dublin; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is seeking a Principal UX Designer to elevate UX across K-12 learning experiences. You will partner with the UX Director to shape our practice, mentor an international design team, and drive end-to-end experiences across multiple product portfolios within a collaborative agile environment.

You will communicate business value of design to executives, mentor designers, and work with stakeholders to improve customer journeys across the HMH platform.

Qualifications

• Relevant third level degree or minimum 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree
• Proven track record leading and delivering world-class user experiences across mobile and web products
• Experience operationalizing service design within a large scale agile environment

Responsibilities

• Define and shape UX best practices for PXD and Core Solutions
• Participate in the delivery of projects, defining scope, goals and deliverables
• Link pain points to improvements with cross-functional solutions
• Communicate and envision service concepts to stakeholders
• Plan and facilitate workshops following standard design processes
• Validate ideas using accessibility and UX research
• Communicate with confidence to team members and executives
• Deliver actionable feedback based on values and goals
• Build relationships with key stakeholders across HMH
• Inspire teams to explore innovative design solutions while meeting deadlines
• Be collaborative and support team motivation and morale

Skills

Design thinking

UX design

Leadership

Agile

Communication

Mentoring

User research

Service design

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

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You are a seasoned UX professional, ready to make an impact in the highly competitive and evolving US educational technology market. As a Principal UX Designer, you will partner with the PXD Director of UX to deepen our UX practice to optimise and elevate the learning experiences and systems we deliver to meet the needs of K-12 students and educators and provide a frictionless path through content and connected product offerings.

As Principal UX Designer, you are a change agent and positive force for creating the capacity for adaptation and innovation to thrive within Core Solutions and across the HMH ecosystem. You understand and communicate the business value and impact of design decisions at the executive level and drive superior end-to-end experiences across multiple portfolios on the HMH platform. You work with minimal supervision, mentoring our growing international UX Design team as you help define and shape our practice. You work in a collaborative agile environment with high performing, cross-functional teams made up of Learning Experience Designers, UX Researchers, Product Marketing and Portfolio Management from across the organization. As a trusted partner, you improve the experiences of HMH users as well as our employees by designing, aligning, and optimizing our operations to better support our customers’ journeys.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define and shape UX best practices for PXD and Core Solutions
• Participate in the delivery of a range of projects, defining project scope, goals and deliverables in collaboration with key stakeholders
• Link customer pain points to organizational shortcomings or redundancies and identify opportunities for improvement with collaborative and cross-functional solutions
• Effectively communicate and envision service concepts and ideas to team members and key stakeholders, using a diverse set of methods & tools that illustrate all the components and touch-points of HMH services
• Plan and facilitate workshops f ollowing a standard design and development process (e.g., divergent-convert, double diamond, design thinking)
• Validate ideas and designs using best practices in accessibility and UX Research
• Communicate with confidence to team members, peers, and executives
• Deliver and receive actionable feedback based in values, principles, and objective goals
• Build relationships and trust with key stakeholders across HMH business units
• Instill project teams with the confidence and discipline to explore innovative design solutions while respecting deadlines
• Be collaborative. Contribute to healthy team motivation and morale, offering emotional and logistical support

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Indicates the minimum required education level, previous experience, specific knowledge, skills and abilities as well as preferred experiences / skills for this position.

Required

Education Level and or relevant experience

• Relevant third level degree or minimum 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree
• Proven track record leading and delivering world-class user experiences across mobile and web products and services
• Experience operationalizing service design within a large scale agile environment

Knowledge and skills

(general, technical, and soft skills)

• Deep expertise in design thinking/human-centered design
• In-depth knowledge and experience within a relevant service design discipline(Systems Design, Business Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Interaction Design)
• Ability to work within a self-directed culture and navigate ambiguity
• Strong work portfolio that demonstrates your capabilities in the UX process, and product design delivery, or service design
• Strong problem-solving skills, with an ability to recognize and predict use cases and user interaction and incorporate them into design solutions
• Experience working within a cross-functional team or large-scale software development lifecycle using agile methodology
• C omfortable with changing priorities, demands and timelinesExperience of overseeing a team of designers, directing their work, and developing their abilities through mentoring and coaching
• Mastery of UX research methods and data analytics to determine user engagement and sentiment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience planning and facilitating Design Thinking workshops and Design Sprints
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Job Description

Job Title:

Principal UX Designer

Title Reporting To:

UX Director

Division / Department:

Product Experience Design (PXD)

ROLE SUMMARY

You are a seasoned UX professional, ready to make an impact in the highly competitive and evolving US educational technology market. As a Principal UX Designer, you will partner with the PXD Director of UX to deepen our UX practice to optimise and elevate the learning experiences and systems we deliver to meet the needs of K-12 students and educators and provide a frictionless path through content and connected product offerings.

As Principal UX Designer, you are a change agent and positive force for creating the capacity for adaptation and innovation to thrive within Core Solutions and across the HMH ecosystem. You understand and communicate the business value and impact of design decisions at the executive level and drive superior end-to-end experiences across multiple portfolios on the HMH platform. You work with minimal supervision, mentoring our growing international UX Design team as you help define and shape our practice. You work in a collaborative agile environment with high performing, cross-functional teams made up of Learning Experience Designers, UX Researchers, Product Marketing and Portfolio Management from across the organization. As a trusted partner, you improve the experiences of HMH users as well as our employees by designing, aligning, and optimizing our operations to better support our customers’ journeys.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define and shape UX best practices for PXD and Core Solutions
• Participate in the delivery of a range of projects, defining project scope, goals and deliverables in collaboration with key stakeholders
• Link customer pain points to organizational shortcomings or redundancies and identify opportunities for improvement with collaborative and cross-functional solutions
• Effectively communicate and envision service concepts and ideas to team members and key stakeholders, using a diverse set of methods & tools that illustrate all the components and touch-points of HMH services
• Plan and facilitate workshops f ollowing a standard design and development process (e.g., divergent-convert, double diamond, design thinking)
• Validate ideas and designs using best practices in accessibility and UX Research
• Communicate with confidence to team members, peers, and executives
• Deliver and receive actionable feedback based in values, principles, and objective goals
• Build relationships and trust with key stakeholders across HMH business units
• Instill project teams with the confidence and discipline to explore innovative design solutions while respecting deadlines
• Be collaborative. Contribute to healthy team motivation and morale, offering emotional and logistical support

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Indicates the minimum required education level, previous experience, specific knowledge, skills and abilities as well as preferred experiences / skills for this position.

Required

Education Level and or relevant experience

• Relevant third level degree or minimum 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree
• Proven track record leading and delivering world-class user experiences across mobile and web products and services
• Experience operationalizing service design within a large scale agile environment

Knowledge and skills

(general, technical, and soft skills)

• Deep expertise in design thinking/human-centered design
• In-depth knowledge and experience within a relevant service design discipline(Systems Design, Business Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Interaction Design)
• Ability to work within a self-directed culture and navigate ambiguity
• Strong work portfolio that demonstrates your capabilities in the UX process, and product design delivery, or service design
• Strong problem-solving skills, with an ability to recognize and predict use cases and user interaction and incorporate them into design solutions
• Experience working within a cross-functional team or large-scale software development lifecycle using agile methodology
• C omfortable with changing priorities, demands and timelines
• Experience of overseeing a team of designers, directing their work, and developing their abilities through mentoring and coaching
• Mastery of UX research methods and data analytics to determine user engagement and sentiment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience planning and facilitating Design Thinking workshops and Design Sprints
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a learning technology company committed to delivering connected solutions that engage learners, empower educators and improve student outcomes. As a leading provider of K–12 core curriculum, supplemental and intervention solutions and professional learning services, HMH partners with educators and school districts to uncover solutions that unlock students' potential and extend teachers' capabilities. HMH serves more than 50 million students and 3 million educators in 150 countries. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com .

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