User Experience (Ux) Research Specialist

User Experience (UX) Research Specialist

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This position is located in Ithaca, New York. The successful candidate will have the option to perform this role remotely at a location of their choosing within the United States.

The New York Convenience of employer guidelines require New York State individual tax reporting and withholdings for this position. Additional individual state income tax filings may also be required if working outside New York State.

No Visa sponsorship available for this position.

What is Cornell University and what is Information Technology @ Cornell?
As a university founded to be a place where “…any person can find instruction in any study,” diversity and inclusion are at the core of our values and mission. We strive to be a welcoming, caring, healthy, and equitable community where students, faculty, and staff with different backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn, innovate, and work in an environment of respect, and feel empowered to engage in any community conversation. As a member of the Cornell University community, it is important to recognize our shared responsibility to each other to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all. Cornell Core values . Cornell University, unique among peers, is the federal land-grant institution of New York State, a private endowed university, and a member of the Ivy League.

Information technologies (IT) is a strategic enabler for many functions at Cornell. Staff working in IT are found in most colleges and units across Cornell. We are comprised of many organizations, but we work as one. By being where Cornell faculty, staff, and students are, we are better able to offer support—whether needed at your desktop or to solve a major business, academic or research objective—to everyone at Cornell. Check out this link to find out more about IT@Cornell.

As an individual contributor you will model and support a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and wellbeing and continually seek to understand how your role, behaviors, and actions impact the success of this culture.

Who we are:

As a member of Cornell Information Technologies’ Enterprise Services team, the User Experience (UX) Research Specialist will join a team of web developers, designers, user experience and support specialists to create and deliver high-quality, innovative web-based experiences meeting the educational and research needs of Cornell students, faculty, staff, and diverse additional stakeholders.

What you will do:

Working as a member of the Custom Development team and with campus stakeholders, the User Experience (UX) Research Specialist will have the amazing opportunity to make a university wide impact on Cornell’s web presence. If you’ve ever found yourself on a website or app and thought of a myriad of ways to make it more user friendly, then this is the opportunity for you. In this role, you will work with and gain exposure to all levels of the organization as you try to make our client’s visions a reality. What makes this role unique, is that your primary focus will NOT be to develop university webpages. AKA – you won’t be writing lines of HTML and JavaScript all day long – that’s what we have our extraordinary team of front-end developers for. Rather, you will be working closely with our clients and end users to understand their needs and how to translate their requirements into a web product that delivers a great user experience. Additionally, you will:

• Finally, you will provide a phenomenal experience to both our customers and users! We strive to have both walk away having had a great UX, both in-person with our staff, as well as from the websites and applications we develop.
• Translate requirements into wireframes or interactive prototypes.
• Plan site structure to meet the business requirements, minimize support, and of course ensure a positive end user experience!
• Meet with users and stakeholders to gather requirements, develop scope, estimates, and project timelines
• Create and/or Revise Information Architectures based on user requirements
• Conduct user research including interviews, stakeholder’s meetings, focus groups, competitive analysis, and heuristic analysis.
• Work collaboratively with our awesome programmers and visual designers
• We want our users stepping away from our web pages feeling “wowed” so you will follow a User Centered Design or Design Thinking approach
• Test - you will wear many hats in this position including quality assurance and web accessibility tester. This means developing usability testing for browsers, mobile devices/tablets based on the requirements of our on-campus partners and making sure the sites meet Cornell University Web Accessibility policy.

What you will be:

You will be a people person who is passionate about finding ways to create the best user experience possible under different constraints. You will be curious and interested in learning. We work as a team here, so collaboration is key! Additionally, you must also have:

• Must be able to work effectively in a dynamic, deadline driven, complex, team-based environment with multiple competing priorities and rapidly changing environment.
• Expert level skills using tools such as Google Analytics, Moqups, Adobe XD, Optimal Workshop or similar to define website requirements and technical specifications.
• Ability to handle sensitive/confidential material in a professional manner.
• Able to analyze requirements, propose solutions, work collaboratively, and meet individual and team deadlines.
• Demonstrated experience in leading usability exercises, related stakeholder meetings, and in creating and/or revising Information Architecture for customers.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Experience in and/or demonstrated commitment to supporting diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and wellbeing.
• Evidence of team-based collaboration experience and a strong service orientation.
• Experience on a team co-developing and co-supporting websites and projects.
• A bachelor’s degree and minimum of 3 years professional experience designing, organizing, and supporting websites and web applications in a collaborative team-based environment or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Understanding of web accessibility guidelines and best practices in design and development (e.g. Section 508 and WCAG 2.1).
• Demonstrated ability to develop competence in new subject areas continuously expand knowledge about technology and methods supportive of campus business processes.
• Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive and equitable working relationships with students, faculty, staff, and community members.
• Able to assess and compare various alternatives and clearly communicate the tradeoffs.
• Able to translate customer needs into content and information architecture recommendations and design objectives.

Here are a few more things that we would prefer you to have, but it’s ok if you don’t:

• Assessing website effectiveness through usage analysis and other tools and practices.
• Managing interactions and communications with clients, setting priorities, making deliverables, sharing progress news.
• Using current development tools such as JIRA issue tracking, GIT or similar repositories, and project management/online collaboration tools.
• Certificate in User Experience from Nielsen Norman.
• Structuring content and design wireframes that will work on common desktop browsers as well as mobile and tablet devices.

What we offer:

Great benefits that include educational benefits, access to a plethora of wellness programs, employee discounts with local and national retail brands, health care options to choose from, generous paid leave provisions: 3 weeks of vacation, 12 university paid holidays (including end of year winter break through New Year’s Day) and superior retirement contributions.

An active and diverse community to work and thrive in! Cornell is situated in picturesque Ithaca, New York, the heart of the Finger Lakes. Ithaca is home to two academic institutions, state parks, waterfalls, gorges, and a wide range of art galleries, theaters, eateries, wineries, and breweries. Ithaca has something to suit all ages and interests!

Familiarize yourself with Cornell's COVID-19 workplace guidance as well as the university's COVID-19 services and information.

University Job Title:

User Interface/Exp Spec III

Job Family:

Information Technology

Level:

F

Pay Rate Type:

Salary

Pay Range:

$76,951.00 - $89,429.00

Remote Option Availability:

Fully Remote

Company:

Endowed

Contact Name:

Susie Jackson

Job Titles and Pay Ranges:

Non-Union Positions

Noted pay ranges reflect the potential pay opportunity for each job profile. The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined considering the following criteria:

• Unique applicable skills
• Education level to the extent education is relevant to the position
• Prior relevant work or industry experience
• Academic Discipline (faculty pay ranges reflects 9-month annual salary)

To learn more about Cornell’s non-union staff job titles and pay ranges, see Career Navigator.

Union Positions

The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined in accordance with the rates in the respective collective bargaining agreement. To learn more about Cornell’s union wages, see Union Pay Rates.

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For general questions about the position or the application process, please contact the Recruiter listed in the job posting or email [email protected].

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EEO Statement:

Diversity and Inclusion are a part of Cornell University’s heritage. We are a recognized employer and educator valuing AA/EEO, and we do not tolerate discrimination based on any protected characteristic, including race, ethnic or national origin, citizenship and immigration status, color, sex/gender, pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions, age, creed, religion, actual or perceived disability (including persons associated with such a person), arrest and/or conviction record, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender expression and/or identity, an individual’s genetic information, domestic violence victim status, familial status, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. We also recognize a lawful preference in employment practices for Native Americans living on or near Indian reservations in accordance with applicable law.

Cornell University embraces diversity and seeks candidates who will contribute to a climate that supports students, faculty, and staff to all identities and backgrounds. We encourage individuals from underrepresented and/or marginalized identities to apply.

2023-08-08