Summary - Lead UX Architect
The Lead UX Architect works closely with SMS business leadership, product owners, engineers, and our users to craft experiences across multiple channels and platforms. This role will draw on their experience leading the UX lifecycle (research, concepting, iterative design, testing) to help lead the definition and creation of human-centered design solutions that address user needs and SMS Assist's business goals. The Lead UX Architect has experience in managing complex product initiatives through the entire product lifecycle and proactively managing deliverables and expectations. They demonstrate leadership and help the product team through identifying process improvements, socializing new techniques, mentoring junior members of the team, and proactively managing expectations. They support their scrum team by leading discovery and validation for product initiatives, assisting with prioritizing team roadmaps, delivering empathy for multiple user types, leading user research and usability testing, facilitating an iterative design process, providing direction to members of the design team, ensuring consistency of experience, identifying UX patterns and engaging in effective dialog with the engineering team to ensure design intent is delivered consistently.
The Lead UX Architect demonstrates leadership in these areas of UX discipline:

• User Research
• Usability testing
• Information Architecture
• Wireframes/Prototypes
• Content Strategy
• Leading Ideation/Brainstorming

Responsibilities - Lead UX Architect

• Ensure design team produces elegant, smart, and usable designs for the web and mobile applications across multiple scrum teams
• Provide direction to UX designers to ensure delivery of easy-to-use experiences that empower our users and meet stakeholder expectations
• Lead the human-centered design process by implementing rapid testing and iteration of concepts to deliver value across multiple scrum teams
• Identify collaboration opportunities and synergies with product managers, stakeholders, clients. and developers to reduce duplicative efforts, improve consistency, and accelerate delivery of value
• Lead design thinking methodologies to empathize, brainstorm, learn, ideate, challenge stakeholders and UX peers, and iterate
• Communicate design strategy to product managers, clients, developers and other team members and be able to articulate design rationale
• Demonstrate leadership in Agile process to deliver design artifacts in a timely and effective manner across multiple scrum teams
• Direct gathering design requirements and user research focused on understanding motivations and inform product priorities
• Ensure quality assurance of UX deliverables across multiple teams
• Ensure brand voice and product experience are supported through appropiate UI copy that helps users comprehend and complete tasks effectively
• Research and share knowledge of the industry's latest UX best practices and tools
• Contribute to UX vision and strategy
• Lead, train & mentor junior members of the team
• Educate on design innovation and best practices while building consensus and buy-in from stakeholders
• Develop presentations, storyboards, and client feedback mechanisms to communicate design process
• Foster a healthy team environment
• Work with team members across time zones
• Ensure confidentiality of internal and external data
• Perform ad-hoc projects and other duties as assigned

Professional Skills - Lead UX Architect
These are the professional skills we would expect from an individual fully established in this role.

• Verbal Communication - Advanced
• Written Communication - Advanced
• Teamwork - Advanced
• Relationships - Advanced
• Negotiation - Proficient
• Organizational Awareness - Advanced
• Learning Agility - Advanced
• Analysis - Advanced
• Problem Solving - Advanced
• Process Orientation - Advanced
• Prioritization - Advanced

Role Specific Skills - Lead UX Architect

• Speed and proficiency with UX applications to produce wireframes, prototypes and workflows
• Ability to create lightweight prototypes to test concepts
• Familiar leading creation of design system UI libraries
• Ability to present UX research to build empathy for users, UX deliverables to convey workflows, and UI comps to ensure design fidelity
• Ability to convey user experience through stories and frame problems for a diverse audience of stakeholders, helping them envision potential design opportunities
• Ability to craft presentations to facilitate communicating UX deliverables
• Working knowledge of usability principles, conventions, and techniques
• Able to proactively manage stakeholder expectations and communicate accurate timelines
• Passionate and vocal advocate about all things UX and other areas of design and innovation

People Management Skills - Lead UX Architect

• Experience managing direct reports

Qualifications - Lead UX Architect
Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience
• 10+ years of experience creating iterative design, working closely with users, peers and developers from inception through implementation
• Experience designing enterprise UX and enterprise applications
• Working knowledge of usability principles and techniques
• Experience directing UX design and collaborating with Product Management and Engineering counterparts
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and effectively lead delivery in an agile dual-track scrum environment

Please note, this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities, and schedule may change at any time with or without notice.
SMS Assist is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) that welcomes and encourages all applicants to apply regardless of age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify and/or expression, national origin, disability, veteran status, marital or parental status, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy or other reasons prohibited by law.
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