Sr. Manager of IA

TITLE: Senior Manager, Information Architecture
DEPARTMENT: User Experience, Marketing
REPORTING TO: Sr. Manager, Information Architecture

GENERAL SUMMARY: The Senior Manager of Information Architecture is responsible for leading and managing a group of IAs in the definition and creation of the user experience (UE) at our client. This position requires a strong understanding of user-centered design techniques and cross-functional collaboration in a fast-paced environment, and requires the creation of a cohesive short- and long-term strategy across projects in a specific area of business focus. He / She advocates their team’s role and communicates the impact of the services they provide.

The Senior Manager, IA leads their team in collaboration with the design and development teams to build user experiences, and promotes successful cross-functional communication and partnerships with the UE team, business product management, program management and development functions. This includes the ability to communicate and consult with clients about the customer experience and business goals, the ability to create front-end solutions and strategies that meet both users’ and business needs via wireframes and user tasks / processes, and navigation systems.

He / She is responsible for the growth and talent development of their team. This is a management position that may require managing 1-6 associates.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
Management (40%)
Provide direction and guidance to members of the IA team; may manage 1-6 associates
Responsible for the development of IA staff, including facilitation of training, talent development and annual performance reviews
Communicate best practices, goals and feedback to develop each team member
Review ongoing work and deliverables of team members as well as lead formal and informal critiques
Delegate work effectively across the team, assuring optimal coverage of work and capacity utilization
Participate in project prioritization and level of effort exercises. Recommend and allocate IA resources to on-going projects and initiatives, and make appropriate project assignments.
Leadership (20%)
Provide strong leadership; within the IA group and across the UE department
Review work performed by UE project teams and provide feedback
Build key partnership with peers in Business Product Management and Engineering groups
Engage and participate with Business Product Management and Engineering groups for release planning, process monitoring and enforcement
Lead the IA team and other UE team members to drive for the improved creation and evaluation of UE processes and deliverables. Be an advocate and change driver of best practices based on industry standards for innovative techniques and solutions.
Work with functions across the company to ensure good communications and foster a collaborative work environment
Strategy (20%)
Work with Business Product Management to contribute to overall product and project strategy
Has a deep understanding of business strategies and how to translate those into clear, executable steps
Analyze customer-related research to better inform UE efforts and deliverables
Direct discovery (research) on project-related topics to better understand UE and customer needs, best practices and successful UE strategies
Define success metrics for UE projects and track successes
Develop resource allocation plans based on strategic imperatives and business goals for the year
Grow capacity and the capabilities of the team by incorporating new and innovative methods
Project Work (20%)
Participate occasionally in project work when needed, mainly in new products or offerings that require a certain level of strategic definition in new business areas
Requires all the skills of a contributing IA including:
Proposed and lead project definition activities when project scope requires
Work with other project team members to define methods to be used, including competitive audits and secondary research
Produce highly accurate wireframe documentation and other specifications required to implement design
Provide QA feedback to and consultation with Business Product Management and Engineering prior to launch
Highly aware of competitor best practices

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
Competencies: Skills, Knowledge, Abilities
Functional Competencies:
IA Expertise, a deep understanding of the principles of Information Architecture and Interaction Design
Drive IA design activities including the creation of process flows, site maps, wireframes, prototypes and functional specifications
Act as a strong advocate for the customer, and has an excellent understanding of user-centered design and navigation structures
Experience with flowcharting / diagram creation tools (Visio) and office productivity suites (Microsoft Office)
Solid knowledge of the constraints of website design
Ability to quickly and thoroughly evaluate the quality of team’s deliverables and provide the appropriate feedback and direction
Knowledge of different best practices for workflow processes related to UE activities, including both cascade and rapid iteration models
Ability to recommend and collaborate with other disciplines to implement processes changes based on opportunities
Demonstrate flexibility when prioritizing issues, and successfully balance speed and quality. Drive multiple initiatives and projects forward and follow up on issues to be fixed later.
Work quickly and efficiently without sacrificing a consistently high level of attention to detail for self and team

Interpersonal Competencies:
Strong and effective communicator, both verbally and written
Take a proactive approach to UE and cross-functional communication
Flexible, highly organized and able to recommend priorities for projects
Set project schedules and estimate / manage own time accurately and effectively
Very good project management skills: able to work on multiple initiatives or projects, reprioritize as needed and consistently deliver on time
Builds confidence in others through consistent quality deliverables and reliability
Can resolve conflicts constructively with minimal input from manager. Very diplomatic.
Anticipate potential project problems, and can quickly and effectively create solutions or contingency plans
Escalate issues appropriately to manager and project team
Collaborate successfully within the UE team, Creative team and across the company
Demonstrate willingness to teach and contribute to the team

Leadership Competencies:
An effective advocate for the UE team with business owners and UE management
Present ideas effectively, and is a strong communicator in a variety of presentation situations, including presentations to a large audience and the Executive team. Minimal feedback from manager; can create an effective presentation independently. Excellent writing skills.
Excellent project management skills. Able to work on and/or oversee multiple initiatives or projects, and reprioritize as needed. Able to set accurate project schedules, timelines and level-of-effort. Help team manage their time.
Delegates effectively to team members
Actively teach, mentor and contribute to the team
Able to promote and facilitate communication and collaboration with others. Work to continually improve and enhance cross-team collaboration.
Consistently offer proactive and timely communication
Actively seek out feedback from manager, peers, team and clients; improve own performance based on that feedback. Give effective feedback to peers and direct report(s) to consistently drive quality results and team development.
Accountable for own projects and any of his / her team’s projects. Ownership of new and/or complex projects. Coordinate projects across teams.
May receive direction or advice from their manager, but is expected to bring ideas and solutions to issues raised. Work actively with team to solve problems.
Handle significant pressure with grace

Experience:
7+ years web-based information architecture or interaction design experience, including the design of the overall information architecture of several sites and advanced transactional design experiences
1-2 year management experience
Demonstrated success in leading IA or UE efforts on collaborative multi-functional teams, including project definition, planning and execution
Strong knowledge of Internet usability / user interface best practices
Experience in translating business requirements into IA and UE strategies
Experience in user research planning, observation and translating user research into design decisions
Experience working in a large-scale development environment
Exceptional information presentation (graphic and written) experience
Web design experience, including HTML, the capabilities of web browsers across multiple platforms and new technologies
Experience with the following: Visio, Word, Illustrator, Director, Photoshop and various HTML editors

Minimum Educational Level:
Bachelors or Masters degree, preferably in HCI, Information Science, design disciplines, other relevant field or related work experience