Job Description
Executive Director, User Experience
Location: Remote/Nationwide USA
If you are enthusiastic about education, using your skills and talents to help improve people s lives, and interested in working on a team of professionals at a globally respected education organization- you ve found the right place. At Kaplan, we re passionate about what we do and who we do it for.
Unyielding determination to make a difference in people’s lives through the power of education- That is Kaplan. For more than 80 years, Kaplan has been a trailblazer in education and professional advancement. We are the intersection of education and technology, providing our students and clients with an experience that not only allows them to achieve their goals, but also ignites lifelong learning. Kaplan s culture of collaboration, innovation, and creativity truly makes Kaplan a great place to work and positions us to continue to deliver a best-in-class educational experience.
The future of education is here and we are eager to work alongside those that want to make a positive impact and inspire change in the world around them.
The Executive Director of User Experience is responsible for creating and delivering customer-focused product experiences that enable our users – consumers, businesses, institutions and internal teams – to get the edge that they need to succeed. You will create and champion a UX vision and strategy that is based on research and insights and lead a team of user experience managers, designers, and researchers in execution of product objectives across multiple platforms and concurrent workstreams. You will succeed in our dynamic environment with your ability to forge strong partnerships cross functionally and ability to balance driving action and prioritization with insights and speed. You will embrace best practices and scale research and design while advocating for UX as a catalyst for innovation. Our ideal candidate is an enthusiastic leader that commands respect and inspires those around you.
We Are Looking For Someone To:
- Drive the maturity of an experience-led culture and lead the continuous evolution and improvement of UX design and research methodologies
- Implement ways to scale the team’s impact and influence across the organization
- Develop a strong UX culture around data, human insights, and learning efficacy to deliver both student and business outcomes and drive efficient decision-making
- Build and develop an engaged, collaborative and impactful team through hiring, people development, cultivation of a community, coaching and mentorship.
- Be an agent and driver of change in the ongoing evolution of the UX discipline and team to drive better business outcomes
- Interface with senior leaders to understand deeper needs and overall business goals
- Partner closely with Business, Product, Content and Engineering teams to develop processes, enable structure and establish KPIs for user experience and product delivery success
- Provide direction on resource utilization, project prioritization and roadmap creation so that we balance the tactical needs while also carving time out for strategic initiatives and the identification of new opportunities
- Drive UI standards and governance, building out the design system and ensuring consistency within and across platforms
You Are Someone Who:
- Is customer-obsessed about delivering best-in-class, human-centric end-to-end experiences
- Is extremely entrepreneurial with a strong track record of moving fast and creating innovative customer experiences
- Is a dedicated and passionate people manager that takes great pride in creating success for their team and from their individual growth
- Is a passionate expert in strategy, communication, and concept development
- Relishes the opportunity to be a change agent of UX processes within a digitally transforming company
- Immerses yourself in the digital culture of daily life not just your job
- Believes that great products are the result of true collaboration
- Appreciates that the best outcomes are both a win for the customer and the financial health of the company
- Is able to flex to real-time changes
- Enjoys having fun and relishes bringing your whole self to work
The Experience We Value:
- 7+ years of UX experience with a deep focus on strategy and at least one core discipline
- 5+ years directly responsible for hiring and managing UX teams
- Experience in managing team members and possibly need strong experience in handling direct and indirect reports.
- Should have research experience to ensure we have a strong research division
- Experience in handling the research roadmap and be strategically thinking ahead to continue building the momentum with generative and exploratory research
- Demonstrate leadership/ownership of UX strategy and design of thoughtful digital user experiences across web and mobile
- Experience in managing complex projects across multiple concurrent workstreams
- Record of strong stakeholder management, internal evangelism and collaboration
- Significant experience working in an agile, iterative development process
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with an ability to influence senior stakeholders
- Bachelor’s degree or higher
We offer a competitive benefits package including:
- Remote work providing flexible work/life balance
- Comprehensive Retirement Package including 401K company match and two pension programs
- Our Gift of Knowledge Program provides tuition assistance and substantial discounts for our employees and close family members
- Competitive health benefits and ne hire eligibility starts day-1 of employment
- Generous Paid Time Off includes paid holidays, vacation, personal, sick paid time-off, plus one (1) volunteer day and one (1) diversity and inclusion day to participate and give back to our local communities
- And so much more!
Colorado Residents: Salary Range in Category B
