Job: Web/Flash Producer at Kobo

Location: Kobo Inc., 135 Liberty St. Suite 101, Toronto, Ontario

Kobo is currently searching for a talented and enthusiastic web professional to join our team as a Web/Flash Producer. As part of the Design & User Experience team, you will be responsible for production related tasks, including site updates, email development and delivery, banner ad and microsite builds, converting creative to web format, and more.

Responsibilities

• Work with Merchandising team and HR Department to schedule promotions, rotations and job descriptions, etc., using internal tools.
• Implementation of design changes to website based on requests from UX, Merchandising & Marketing.
• Contest builds, maintenance, scheduling, etc.
• Skinning and layout of microsites (blogs) owned by Marketing.
• Maintain an in-depth knowledge of current Internet trends including CSS3, HTML5, Flash Action Script 3, vendors, services, and tools.

Skills & Experience

• University or College degree in one of the following: Computer Science, Interactive Media OR equivalent experience (web development/e-commerce).
• Expert level understanding of CSS, HTML.
• Intermediate knowledge of JavaScript/JQuery.
• Intermediate knowledge of Flash Action Script 2.0 & 3.0.
• Understanding of best practices for coding emails across various email clients.
• Proficient with Photoshop software.
• Proficient with Flash software.
• Web standards & browser compatibility.
• Disciplined, organized & reliable work habits.
• Good communication, written & documentation skills.

To apply, please visit: http://hire.jobvite.com/j/?cj=oHzMVfwH&s=uxWaterloo

Job: Senior Information Architect at Kobo

Location: Kobo Inc., 135 Liberty St. Suite 101, Toronto, Ontario

Work downtown at one of Canada’s most exciting startups and help us design experiences on the web and for smartphones, tablets, desktops and eReaders

The responsibilities of the Information Architect include designing user interfaces, informing functional specifications, performing competitive reviews and creating flows, wireframes and process maps. You will be able to visualize concepts quickly and clearly and will work closely and collaboratively with the User Experience Team.

Key Responsibilities

• Conceive, design and prototype useful, usable, and compelling user experiences and user interfaces (represented by scenarios, paper prototypes, storyboards, wireframes, site maps, screen flows, etc.
• Document user interface requirements
• Apply domain knowledge, user interface design best practices, and knowledge of emerging UX related presentation/gestural technologies.
• Bring strong design, conceptual and problem-solving skills to translate conceptual ideas (business needs and user goals) into simple yet meaningful user interfaces.
• Assess data from multiple sources (product requirements, tech constraints, UX research, web analytics) and synthesize it in order to develop efficient user scenarios, taxonomies, classification schemes, navigation systems, design patterns, etc.
• Create and effectively present UX deliverables (wireframes, workflows, paper prototypes, etc.) to explain and negotiate design solutions to key stakeholders.
• Develop competitive assessments and perform site/application/device reviews.
• Help define, request and incorporate relevant and recent UX research and data from customer feedback to appropriately inform design decisions.
• Help define UX performance metrics.
• Upholding UX guiding principles and style in project execution.
• Create, maintain and share project documentation and UX guidelines after project execution.

Key Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years in interaction design in a product development context.
• Embraces and champions a collaborative approach that brings good resolution decisions to tough design questions and issues.
• Ability to successfully execute multiple projects and tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to quickly visualize concepts through sketching or other rapid prototyping methods.
• Ability to help define site strategy, concept, content, and features.
• Willingness to try alternative approaches to a challenge.
• Experience developing user personas, functional specifications and wireframes.

To apply, please visit: http://hire.jobvite.com/j/?cj=oayLVfw8&s=uxWaterloo

Job: UX/Web Designer at TribeHR

TribeHR is an early stage startup in Waterloo, building a refreshingly simple Human Resources application for small and medium business. If you’re looking to see the fruits of your labor used and loved by customers and if you’re excited by the idea of participating in the creation of a new company, we are the place. Our team hustles, and we’re looking for people who are up for the challenge of keeping pace.

We are looking for a creative UX/UI designer to continue to build the company’s brand online and offline in the field of human resources software. We’re looking for someone who already has experience designing successful web applications. We have a high performing team and if you enjoy the thrill of working with a group that will push you to do the best work you’ve ever done, then you might be the right person.

This person will:

• Maintain existing designs and interfaces
• Help define new experiences, workflows, and architectures for new features
• Conduct user research and testing
• Apply principles of interaction design to designing UI, behaviour, and page layout
• Generate simple, creative solutions to usability problems.
• Write scenarios, sketch storyboards, draw wireframes, and create production-ready design specifications
• Implement new application and website designs

We iterate quickly and this role will have the opportunity to influence the rest of the development team and product direction. The ideal candidate will have:

• A passion for design and user experience.
• Examples of work that demonstrate your abilities in interaction and visual design for the Web.
• Solid understanding of UI design principles and user-centered design methodologies.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Hardworking, flexible, and effective in multi-disciplinary teams.
• Expertise with design tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.
• Fluency in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Experience designing for mobile apps and web pages will be an asset. Interested? Apply here.

Job: Senior User Experience Designer

Open Text™ (NASDAQ: OTEX; TSX: OTC) is the world’s largest independent provider of Enterprise Content Management software. The company’s solutions manage information for all types of business, compliance and industry requirements in the world’s largest companies, government agencies and professional service firms. Open Text supports approximately 46,000 customers and millions of users in 114 countries and 12 languages. For more information about Open Text, visit www.opentext.com.

User Experience (UX) Designers research, identify, and solve complex software design problems in an innovative, highly collaborative environment. UX Designers work directly with program managers, product managers, architects, and software developers to translate high level product requirements into designs that deliver compelling experiences that solve the business problem. They are responsible for designing the user experience architecture, interaction flow, and UI design of complex enterprise software applications.

Must be self-motivated with ability to work both independently and in conjunction with other UX team members and product groups. Enthusiasm and flexibility to work on a variety of projects are necessary, as well as the ability to rapidly acquire new domain knowledge. Must have the ability to balance business needs and usability / design ideals within a fast-paced, agile software development environment.

Responsibilities

• Support Program and Product Management by performing user research, developing ongoing relationships with customers to capture their stories and build a shared understanding of their problems and needs
• Work with Product Management in helping to create the product backlog and define the user experience vision for the product.
• Conceptualize, design and deliver intuitive and compelling designs for a complex product suite that clearly support business objectives
• Advocate user needs throughout the development lifecycle to inspire the engineering team to develop the right product
• Validate designs with customers and other stakeholders in order to drive iterative improvements throughout the development lifecycle
• Mentor peers, stakeholders, and teammates on customer-centered design principles and methodologies
• Maintain an awareness of current trends in interaction design and competitive software to identify opportunities to enhance the user experience
• Contribute to and help champion User Experience Design team initiatives, such as creation of design guidelines, process enhancements, toolkits, etc., fostering a customer-centered culture

Requirements

Education

Degree in Interaction Design, Psychology, Human Factors, Industrial Engineering or related HCI discipline, or demonstrated proficiency and experience in the field of software user experience / interaction design.

Skills

Minimum of 5 plus years of strong software interaction design experience reflected through portfolio / work samples demonstrating the following skills:

• Demonstrated results-oriented work ethic and consistent record of meeting deadlines
• Excellent listener, facilitator, communicator, and team player
• Self-reliant, used to taking initiative, and great at follow-up
• Creative, with solid understanding of interaction design best practices / principles
• Requirements gathering and analysis
• Creation of user personas
• Task and workflow analysis
• Light prototyping (paper and click-through interactive)
• Heuristic evaluation and expert walk-throughs
• Usability testing and analysis of results and/or working with user researchers/usability engineers to convert test recommendations to design decisions
• Good analytical and organizational skills including the ability to organize and prioritize tasks
• Ability to work both independently and in a highly collaborate environment as part of a global User Experience Design team
• Ability to shift among multiple projects as needed in rapid, agile software development environment
• Goal driven; plans and manages toward achieving goals, anticipates problems and issues and proactively drives their resolution
• Prior experience doing UX within an Agile environment would be an asset
• Experience with a variety of UI design and prototyping tools, e.g. Visio, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Axure, Balsamiq, Flash, etc.
• Web Development (HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript) and Flash experience a plus
• Knowledge of GUI accessibility standards (Section 508, WCAG, etc.) a plus
• Knowledge of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) products would be an asset

Apply Now

Job: Product Designer at Desire2Learn

Product Designer

Desire2Learn makes industry-leading web-based enterprise eLearning systems. Our products are used by hundreds of clients to deliver accredited courses for both on-campus and distance education programs. Our applications deliver material to millions of users worldwide every single day.

Product Designers are responsible for taking requirements from Product Management and refining and translating them into detailed functional specifications that support the overall product strategy. The Product Designers will work with clients, partners, as well as stakeholders from several business units to ensure functionality meets the needs of our targeted markets. Additionally, the Product Designer will assist the Product Manager with assessing cross product and operational impacts of proposed development projects.

Division/Department: Product Development
Type of Position: Full-time
Location: Kitchener, Ontario

Main Duties

• Researches market trends, competitive offerings and industry standards to ensure that designs are informed and complete
• Facilitates user-centered design process by conducting focus groups, running surveys and interacting with our user community
• Refines and details user and functional requirements as laid out by the Product Manager
• Conducts design reviews with internal and external stakeholders
• Initiates and manages communications with these parties, escalates to Product Manager when needed
• Creates and maintains detailed production-level functional specifications
• Creates detailed product designs to meet functional specifications
• Utilizes mock-up tools to prepare product prototypes
• Works with Architecture and Quality Assurance to ensure feasibility of detailed design
• Works with Usability Specialists to ensure adherence to best practices, define usability testing requirements and make appropriate design changes based on design reviews

Work Experience Recommendations

• 1-3 years of experience directly related to the duties listed above
• Superior technical writing skills
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Familiar with web technologies and Software Development Life Cycle
• Knowledge of web services and distributed web-based systems
• Familiar with Web 2.0, JavaScript, AJAX, XML and other leading-edge web technologies
• Proven experience managing people and projects an asset

Education Recommendations

• Bachelors degree or equivalent in a technical field with high academic achievement

This is your opportunity to make a big impact in the area of next-generation eLearning applications! Candidates that have the combination of skills and abilities as outlined are invited to submit their qualifications in confidence today.

Apply now!

Job: User Experience Designer, Harris Broadcast Communications Division

Company: Harris Broadcast Communications Division

Location: Waterloo, Ontario

Description

We are looking for a User Experience Designer who is ready to move into a junior designer/information architect role. You will be involved in many projects spanning from iOS apps for the iPad to Windows based productivity applications and web based solutions. You will drive the usability of our products, by producing the visual tools that serve as blue prints for the overall information architecture and user experience. Some of the main responsibilities are to help define user requirements, interactively design, prototype and build user interfaces. This includes the definition of software components and behaviours for immediate use in our leading edge broadcast computer graphics product line. The candidate will also be responsible for maintaining the consistency of the user’s experience across the entire product line both from a branding and interaction perspective.

Responsibilities

• Lead the effort with product managers and development staff to understand and define project requirements.

• Conduct usability studies, focus groups and user observations with customer and end users.
• Collaborate in the creation of Personas, Use Cases, and Task Flows that help teams focus on the user needs.
• Collaborate in the development of prototypes to demonstrate interactive concepts and/or facilitate usability research.
• Conceptualize and wireframe user interfaces.
• Produce killer visual design and assist with the production of user interfaces across multiple platforms.
• Work closely with other members of the project team to negotiate implementation issues and support the development effort.
• Maintain, improve and audit UI specifications and guidelines against existing products and competitor products.
• Research into design and usability best practices to maintain best of breed.
• Performs other tasks as may be required by the Company (demos, icons, broadcast graphics, etc.).

Essential Skills & Requirements

• 4+ years combined educational experience with a Degree in Graphic Design, HCI, Information Design and/or industry experience.
• Proven interactive design experience and knowledge
• Solid experience of working across a range of design projects from websites to new media.
• Excellent understanding of user centered design principles and methods.
• Must be detail-oriented, deadline driven, and able to multi-task with solid organizational, time management, and follow through.
• Able to collaborate with members of a multidisciplinary team.
• Detail oriented with the ability to learn quickly in a constantly changing environment.
• Proficient knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator.

Value Add

• Experience and understanding of XAML, Silverlight and WPF platforms (including Expression Blend, Visual Studio)
• Experience with designing user interfaces for iOS (iPad, iPhone)
• HTML5/CSS3 experience

Send your resume with a cover letter to Matt Campbell at MCAMPB07@harris.com

Job: Usability Specialist, Desire2Learn

Bright minds creating bright futures! Desire2Learn is a leading provider of enterprise eLearning software solutions to academic clients and other organizations around the world. We have been recognized by the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program as one of the fastest growing companies in Canada for the last 4 years! This prestigious award recognizes our strength and success as we continue to grow. We have also been named one of Canada’s Top 50 Small & Medium Employers, as well as one of Waterloo Region’s Top 15 Employers for 2011. Within our unique and thriving culture, our talented team is encouraged to drive innovation and excellence in an environment that promotes collaboration, continuous improvement and effective communication; not to mention having fun while doing it! We are looking for superstars who share our commitment to improving teaching and learning world-wide. Our challenging projects, company perks and overall passion for the eLearning industry are the Desire2Learn Difference! Learn more at www.Desire2Learn.com.

General Description

The Usability Specialist will work across product teams to define and implement user experience standards and best practices. They will provide research support at all phases of the design process. To drive integration of research findings, the Usability Specialist will develop written summaries and concept designs.

The usability specialist will promote inclusive design by researching, specifying, designing and advocating for accessibility-oriented features and functionality.

Additionally, they will act as an ambassador for Desire2Learn accessibility and user experience both internally and within the larger user community.

Main Duties

• Conducts research into ergonomics and human-computer interaction (HCI)
• Ensures consistency and ease of use of the product
• Conducts design reviews
• Responsible for accessibility reviews and evangelism
• Conducts remote and in-person user research
• Facilitates user-centered design practices throughout the Product Design function
• Creates and maintains all necessary patterns and design guides

Work Experience Recommendations

• 3-5+ years experience working in a professional environment on user experience design and research
• Ability to dialogue with cross-functional teams (from product management to development)
• Experience planning and facilitating usability testing, focus groups, and customer interviews
• Knowledge of eLearning and/or Learning Management Systems is an asset
• Familiar with web technologies and Software Development Life Cycle
• An exceptional understanding of fundamental design principles and graphical design fundamentals
• A proven ability to articulate design concepts
• Superior technical writing skills
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills

Technical Expertise (Strongly encouraged)

• 3+ years of experience with C#, .NET and Microsoft tools and technologies
• Fluent in CSS, HTML and JavaScript with understanding of cross-browser design issues and clean work-arounds
• Experience working with Web Standards and Accessibility Standards
• Experience with enterprise web applications
• Experience with web-based security is considered an asset

Education Recommendations

Post-secondary degree in human factors or interaction design (or equivalent professional experience)

This is your opportunity to make a big impact in the area of next-generation eLearning applications! Candidates that have the combination of skills and abilities as outlined are invited to submit their qualifications in confidence today through our website at www.desire2learn.com/careers. We thank all applicants in advance for their interest. Only those applicants whose profiles closely match our requirements will be contacted directly.

Job: UI and UX Designer at Enflick

This is a full-time position in Waterloo, Ontario.

Enflick, Inc. is a fast growing Waterloo startup creating mobile solutions that expand the potential of today’s leading mobile platforms. With multiple highly acclaimed apps on the iPhone platform, we are looking to further enhance our product line as well as diversify our portfolio to more platforms. Amongst other products, Enflick’s flagship products TextNow and PingChat! are top seller apps in the iTunes App Store.

We are seeking a highly talented individual to take the role of designing the user experience for Enflick’s mobile applications. We are offering extremely competitive compensation for the right candidates.

Responsibilities

• Design user interfaces for mobile applications on Android, BlackBerry and iPhone.
• Develop high level and/or detailed storyboards, wireframes, and prototypes to effectively communicate interaction and design ideas and validate proposed designs with product development.
• Work with the product management team to analyze customer/product requirements and propose application solutions to be developed.
• Provide interface design expertise and review from concept development through delivery.

Requirements

• 1+ years of experience in commercial user interface design experience for mobile platforms (Android, Blackberry, iPhone)
• Passionate for design and user experience
• Proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, etc.
• Understanding of interaction design for mobile platforms
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and teamwork skills
• A degree in visual or graphic design related studies or equivalent

How to apply

To apply for this position, please email your cover letter and resume to jobs@enflick.com. If possible, please include your portfolio to demonstrate your past work in user experience design.

Posting User Experience jobs in the Waterloo region

Our plan for this site is to add a “Jobs” page, with listings or pointers to UX-related jobs in the area. If you’re an employer and would like to promote an open position with your organization, please send your job posting to the UX group coordinators. We’ll get it online for you.