Senior Design Architect-UX

The Opportunity: 

Come join our team and help put smiles on kids' faces. We design educational platforms, activities, games, apps, video and sites for children and teachers - it's an unusual chance to feel your sweat is really worth the effort. Your designs will have reach - our primary audience is school kids in the U.S., and many of our products have a global presence. 

Meet some of the team in Design (UX and AV) @HMHCo : https://vimeo.com/127489132 

What we are looking for: 

We're building a team of UX and interaction designers who are problem-solvers with excellent collaboration and communication skills. We're looking for people who live by user-centered design, hunger for research insights, can collaborate easily across capabilities, and who can bring their energy and enthusiasm to designing next-generation learning experiences for children of all ages--someone whose first instinct is to reach for the Sharpie instead of retreating to Photoshop. Show us a portfolio of sketches, experience maps, wireframes and clickable prototypes. 

Can you wear many hats - collaborating easily across disciplines, including design, technology, marketing and editorial? Are you flexible and capable of succeeding in an environment where success comes from a variety of inputs in addition to yours? Can you present your work persuasively to both internal teams and client stakeholders, providing a rationale for your experience design decisions and how they simplify, connect and transform? Can you own a room? 

Are you passionate about learning and sharing experience design trends, emerging technologies and best practices? Do you thrive in a fast paced, multitasking environment? Do you want to work with a team that enables you to have a direct, positive impact on children's learning outcomes? Do you want to be part of an award winning Design team? 

Do you want to be on a team that's leading a massive industry change - helping an 180-year old book-publisher make the switch to a next generation digital learning company - driven by user experience? 

If this feels like a team you'd like to be a part of, we want to hear from you - today. 

Duties and responsibilities: 

Our UX designers are first and foremost facilitators; a large part of your role will be leading our stakeholders through the design process. Creative problem solving is a must, along with the ability to challenge conventional thinking and a willingness to take risks. You should be confident running stakeholder meetings (often done remotely) to help understand requirements, and most importantly, to generate and iterate through multiple ideas. You will lead research activities such as persona development, user journeys, competitive analyses, market landscape analyses, heuristic reviews and usability testing. 

You'll need to produce high quality, detailed site maps, workflows, interactive wireframe prototypes, user flows and annotations - from a user experience perspective - with a strong working knowledge of the UX and UI development process in producing high quality contemporary digital product design. 

Job Requirements 
Experience: 

Requirements: 

• Bachelors Degree is strongly preferred 
• 5+ years UX design and information architecture skills demonstrated in an online portfolio 
• Strong presentation skills 
• Usability Testing and other research methodology 
• Strong knowledge of IxD and UI design 
• Experience running design workshops 
• Speedy efficiency in at least one drawing/wireframing tool (Axure, Omnigraffle, etc.) and experience with prototyping tools 
• Analytical skills in deconstructing requirements ­- identifying and articulating the design challenge 
• Creative problem-solving skills at all levels of detail: from the big picture to the nuts and bolts of interaction design 
• Experience designing native and web apps 
• Comprehensive knowledge in related software (Adobe Creative Suite Design, Web, Production.) 
• Travel is necessary, approximately 10-15% 

Desirable: 

• While not essential it is a distinct advantage to show a current and on-trend UI and visual design portfolio - showcasing best practices in responsive and adaptive design, mobile design and pixel-perfect precision 
• Experience designing for children 
• Educational or gaming content experience 
• Working with co-located teams in different time zones 
• Experience in Social Strategies 
• Search Engine Optimization 
• Agile experience is a plus 
• Experience in developing educational technology products and knowledge of pedagogy a plus 

ABOUT US: 

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (NASDAQ:HMHC) is a global learning company dedicated to changing people’s lives by fostering passionate, curious learners. As a leading provider of pre-K–12 education content, services, and cutting-edge technology solutions across a variety of media, HMH enables learning in a changing landscape. HMH is uniquely positioned to create engaging and effective educational content and experiences from early childhood to beyond the classroom. HMH serves more than 50 million students in over 150 countries worldwide, while its award-winning children's books, novels, non-fiction, and reference titles are enjoyed by readers throughout the world. 
Follow HMH on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 

PLEASE NOTE: 
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is an equal employment opportunity employer and participates in E-Verify. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of gender, race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, or other protected group status. 
*LI-JP1