UX Design Manager (Chicago, IL)
Who we are: Founded in 2001, Vivid Seats (NASDAQ: SEAT) is a leading online ticket marketplace committed to becoming the ultimate partner for connecting fans to the live events, artists, and teams they love. We believe in the power of experiences and are fiercely dedicated to building products that inspire human connections. Named as one of Built In's top places to work in 2023, we believe that our People are our greatest competitive advantage. To support our People, we have built a company culture that empowers our employees to embrace challenges, encourages unity through collaboration, and seeks to constantly evolve by leveraging data and inspiring innovation.
The Opportunity:
As a User Experience Design Manager at Vivid Seats, you’ll mentor designers on the team to deepen and broaden their design thinking, as well as their presentation and design skills. You’ll work with the business to understand how to position the team to partner more effectively to meet agreed upon goals. You’ll drive toward greater understanding of the end user’s needs and strategically advocate for solutions to any friction or blockers within the current Vivid Seats journey.
In addition to bringing manager best practices, you will develop a collaborative, cross-disciplinary and high-performing team while overseeing and improving organizational design, structure, priorities, management processes and reporting information systems. They will be responsible for hiring and promoting talent, while building productive, value-added partnerships with vendors. You will also be integral in building an engaged Vivid Seats corporate culture. “How” results are achieved will be as important as “what” is achieved.
How your role contributes to the success of Vivid Seats:
- Oversees the creation of team member's individual goals to align with department goals and defines success outcomes.
- Encourages innovation and curiosity. Leads by example by bringing ideas to the table and encouraging team discussions. Rewards enthusiasm for solving business and user challenges.
- Strong focus on end user experience and demonstrates a clear passion for the customer. Understands and can describe different user journeys and needs to translate to design and product outcomes.
- Facilitates design challenge workshops. Helps the team uncover new business opportunities. Creates a UX roadmap, influences future product prioritization. Communicates strategic direction in written and oral formats as set for the team.
- Brainstorms constructively with others. Understands business strategy as defined and shared by the business/manager.
- Enables the UX leader to build a strong foundation of UX within the organization. Ensures the team always conducts competitive/comparative analysis, user research, and delivers data and insights driven design solutions for B2C initiatives
- Identifies improvement areas and possible competitive advantage for exploratory research to build a case for future enhancements.
How your role expectations will progress as a UX Manager in the first 30, 90, and 180 days:
30 days in
- Acclimate to Vivid Seats’ values and organizational goals to understand how your department drives initiatives forward.
- Understand your teams’ contributions and the needs of stakeholders that rely on your deliverables to bring business objectives to life.
- Set weekly touch points with direct reports to understand their role, motivations, and needs, building trust and leading with empathy.
90 days in
- Empower and coach team members to achieve personal and functional goals that correlate to department objectives.
- Develop and lead initiatives for your team that enhance process, drive innovation, and build on Vivid Seats values.
180 days in
- Monitor and evolve team deliverables, individual goals, and overall performance to ensure alignment with broader initiatives of your department and the organization while coaching your team to grow skill sets.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to confirm accurate prioritization and refine processes for collaboration and best practices.
- Meaningfully contribute to department roadmap exercises that balance current needs with future strategic initiatives.
What You’ll Bring:
- 5+ years’ experience as a User Experience Designer and 3+ years’ experience in managerial role
- Solid understanding of UI/UX philosophies and processes
- Experience with solving UX problems, designing solutions for both B2C and B2B experiences
- Experience in partnering with researchers to drive studies
- Grounded in design thinking and perpetually curious with a continual desire to ask better questions
- Superb visual and verbal communication skills
- Proficient in Figma designing and prototyping
- Previous A/B testing exposure, collaboration with product teams and data-driven design work
- Experience and/or willingness to work in an agile environment
Vivid Seats provides competitive compensation; bonus incentives and equity for all employees; FLEX PTO; mental health days; medical, dental, and vision insurance; 401K matching; monthly credits and discounts for attending live events; remote work and snack allowances; and a variety of additional workplace perks.
Location: Chicago, IL
We believe in a hybrid working model which provides employees the flexibility to take advantage of in-person and remote collaboration. Check out our brand new HQ office, bursting with the energy of live events fandom and the vibrancy of Chicago’s rising tech scene.
Our Commitment:
We are an equal opportunity employer that values the critical importance of a diverse workforce and sense of belonging. Many of our roles have flexible requirements and we encourage you to apply regardless of whether you meet every qualification.
