UX Designer

We are looking for a thoughtful, detail-oriented designer to be the next member of our growing developer-owned, remote-friendly, people-first, hyphen-loving company. Candidates need to have significant professional experience designing user experience for custom software applications. The ideal candidate would be eager to collaborate on a growing team with plenty of opportunities for shaping their own role. If you have experience leading UX for complex web applications and are passionate about collaborating with clients and teammates, then we want to talk! Essential Duties Loves to work directly with customers to solve business problems Leads UX design on small and medium projects. Leads UX design on large and critical projects with assistance and guidance from design leadership. User Experience Design Performs user research and discovery with periodic guidance. Actively fosters close design partnerships with key stakeholders and subject matter experts. Independently synthesizes detailed flows of an entire experience, inter-weaving workflows and user journeys. Designs user-friendly experiences founded on user research and business requirements. Defines, implements, and maintains research documentation sets that meet a project’s needs. Informs, implements, and maintains quantitative research methods. Drafts comprehensive sets of wireframes from research and analysis. Defines tone, level, and approach for copy in an application, in collaboration with stakeholders and content specialists. Synthesizes organized and intuitive experiences around the prioritized needs of the user and the business. Product and Stakeholder Management Coordinates a singular, high-level vision of the product’s user experience. Builds out and maintains a product roadmap, in collaboration with stakeholders. Effectively directs the cadence of a project’s design focus through the cycles of Discovery, Definition, Development and Delivery. Identifies additional strategic steps beyond the design and development of the application that are necessary to improve a user experience. Advocates for the design process with stakeholders where appropriate. Aligns business goals with the end user’s experience. Collaboration and team work Supports fellow collaborators and less experienced designers. Gives detailed UI/UX design feedback, constructively. Receives feedback graciously. Contributes to and fosters a collaborative environment on all projects and initiatives they are involved in. Welcomes collaboration from peers and stakeholders outside the design practice. Requirements 4-10 years of experience in UX design is required. Able to maintain simplicity in solutions. Defaults to implementing design artifacts with collaborators in mind. Fully leveraging design libraries, components, auto-layout, and design variables as early as possible Strong communication skills to ensure meaningful engagement and partnership with project stakeholders. Ability to work well independently and within a team environment, while adhering to established and agreed-upon deadlines and establishing individual deadlines. Experience maintaining frequent communication with project stakeholders, providing updates on timelines, obstacles, and status while being mindful of deadlines and expectations. Strong organizational skills to plan out daily tasks and keep clients informed. Strong attention to detail in documenting deployment concepts. Ability to seek ongoing feedback from team members and project stakeholders in an effort to continuously improve performance and work product. Ability to diligently adhere to client and company security policies, remaining compliant at all times. Ability and willingness to commute regularly to Richmond, VA for on-site design meetings. Candidates within a 2-hour drive of Richmond, VA are greatly preferred. Skills Experience leading UX design for custom software is required. Experience leading UX for complex web applications is greatly preferred. Experience with Figma is greatly preferred, but experience with Sketch, Adobe Suite, inVision and similar tools can suffice. Experience with or eagerness to learn the basic principles of Object Oriented User Experience (OOUX) is required. Experience employing contextual inquiry research is required, using tools such as job shadowing, stakeholder interviews, user interviews, or focus groups. Experience creating other UX design artifacts is required, including some of the following: user stories, user needs, user journeys, JTBD, user scenarios, and service blueprints. Experience gathering user feedback is required, using tools such as user testing, usability testing, surveys, and questionnaires. Experience employing wireframes to create insight with stakeholders and uncover challenges with the product design is required. Physical Requirements and Environmental Conditions Prolonged periods of sitting or standing at a desk remaining stationary, typing, and talking. This role is available as fully remote and generally would require you to attend occasional onsite client meetings based on business needs. What We Offer A Great Team – Our team of engineers and designers is the best part of working here. We only hire people who are fantastic teammates – competent and smart, sure, but also humble, positive, and generous. Great Clients – We work with mostly small and medium clients, for whom our projects make a huge impact. We prioritize clients who are pleasant and good to work with, people who share our values of transparency and empathy. Work From Home – We are a distributed company. Everyone works from home, though the leadership team all live in central Virginia. Negligible Travel – In general, we don’t travel routinely for projects. If this is a specific concern, we’re happy to discuss. Flexible Work Schedule – We require a certain amount of overlap with the rest of the team, but if you have a predictable schedule, we can probably support it, e.g., ending at 3:30 every day or being out every Friday morning. Good Work Life Balance (really) – We ask our team to work 40 hours a week*. That’s all: a good, productive 40 hours. And then we try our best to leave you alone off the clock. We do this in part because that’s how we want to live but also because we want our team to be recharged and ready to do their best when working. *If you need to work fewer than 40 hours, that might be possible too; let’s talk. Competitive Compensation – We offer highly competitive salary and benefits, including generous time off, 401k, FSA, medical and dental insurance Simple Thread is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, ethnic origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), political affiliation, military service, or other non-merit-based factors. We hire the best person we can for each role, no matter your personal background. Research tells us that applicants who are female or non-binary, as well as applicants who are people of color, are less likely to apply for roles they do not feel 100% qualified for. If you think you meet more than 50% of our requirements but fewer than 100% of them, please apply. We’re imperfect communicators, so think of our job postings as the starting point for discussion rather than proof that you shouldn’t apply.