Senior Director, UX & Product Design – US News & World Report ,L.P.

U.S. News & World Report is a multifaceted digital media company dedicated to helping citizens, consumers, business leaders and policy officials make important decisions in their lives. We publish independent reporting, rankings, data journalism and advice that has earned the trust of our readers and users for 90 years. Our platforms on usnews.com include Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News and 360 Reviews.

We reach more than 40 million people monthly during moments when they are most in need of expert advice and motivated to act on that advice directly on our platforms. Our signature franchises include our “Best” series of consumer guides on colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, diets, cars, financial services and more. These guides provide an easy-to-digest list for consumers to better understand and compare when making their decisions. We continue to publish annual guides of the authoritative Best Colleges and Best Hospitals rankings on our website and in print. And our U.S. News Live flagship conferences highlight important national conversations including Healthcare of Tomorrow and Healthiest Communities.

We believe in having a broad range of talent and backgrounds at U.S. News. We strive to maintain a welcoming workplace where everyone is given an opportunity to succeed and contribute to their fullest. Learn more about our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative.

Your role in helping us shape the future:

The (Senior) Director of User Experience (UX) & Product Design oversees the user experience, design, and user research strategies for the company. The (Senior) Director drives design thinking through a user-centric approach that aligns business goals with user goals and incorporates qualitative and quantitative research, competitive research, and analytic tools. Their success as a design leader is dependent on tight collaboration with cross-department stakeholders, including leaders in product, tech, SEO, and editorial. The (Senior) Director of UX & Product Design will oversee the design strategy for a wide variety of consumer products on usnews.com, a native mobile app, and our B2B platforms.

Are you up to the challenge?
• UX & design strategy: Define and socialize the UX, design, and user research strategies for the company via UX analyses and competitive research. Provide robust direction to the UX Team to guide execution on our user experience and product goals.
• User research program: Lead user research across the company by maintaining tools and processes, facilitating testing methods, guiding decision making, and analyzing results.
• Align user and business goals: Execute key business objectives with industry-leading user experience solutions. Ensure that design aligns with key goals including revenue programs and registration / customer acquisition.
• Proactive Iteration & Impact: Continuously introduce improvements to the user experience and visual language of the website and USN products. Engage in feedback loops with business leaders to understand the impact of UX decisions on key metrics. Map UX improvements to KPIs.
• UX team management: Manage UX Team operations through visual roadmaps, priorities and resource allocation. Hire and retain top talent. Provide iterative feedback, create opportunities for design collaboration, and facilitate team communication. Guide UX team members to execute on a holistic design vision for a wide variety of products.
• Subject matter expert: Consistently provide departments with specific, actionable recommendations for UX improvements across key metrics. Maintain a well-versed understanding of UX best practices.
• Cross-departmental collaboration: Collaborate with other teams, including Product and Tech, to resolve issues regarding UX decisions, process, and priorities.