Usability Specialist

Brief Job Description
The Usability Specialist focuses on the facilitation and creation of a positive user experience through a user-centered design process that incorporates the disciplines of interface design, interaction design, and usability engineering.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Plan and coordinate all activities associated with usability testing for all products, including scheduling and coordinating user labs and onsite observations with product managers.
2. Assist with the organization of a product user group for all managed products and help to facilitate product user group meetings both onsite and via teleconference.
3. Manage usability tests with internal and external clients through usability labs and onsite observation for all tools, services, and applications.
4. Facilitate implementation of user-centered design process.
5. Execute formative usability tests to identify UI shortfalls, validate design elements, and discriminate among alternative designs.
6. Conduct summative usability tests and user surveys to measure usability improvements.
7. Prepare user personas and act as the user advocate.
8. Propose interface navigation models and high-level page designs through paper prototypes, Visio wireframes, and screen mock-ups.
9. Analyze current and proposed interface designs for usability and design elements, and provide recommendations for improvements.
10. Provide recommendations for tool unification and also behavior and visual design consistency, while working with graphic designer on visual design elements.
11. Ensure consistent language use and messaging in requirements and supporting documentation, such as ZootSpeak, user personas, usability testing guidelines, and usability findings and recommendations.
12. Gather product feedback and information from user groups, competitors, marketing staff, and sales force to be used in the design of product new releases.
13. Achieve a service-focused culture with emphasis on delivering on-time, high-quality products and services to internal and external customers.
14. Other duties as assigned – it is understood that this list of major duties and responsibilities is not an inclusive list and that other duties and responsibilities, which may include helping others in the same or different departments, may be assigned by supervision.

Technical and Business-Related Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:

1. Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g. patterns of numbers, letters, mathematical operations).
2. Originality and Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem and implement unusual and unprecedented solutions.
3. Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong, recognizing there is a problem.
4. Computers and Electronics — Specific knowledge of computer hardware and software, including applications, scripting language, object oriented language, relational databases, and programming.
5. Design — Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of correspondence, advertisements, precision technical plans, drawings, and models.
6. Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
7. Critical Thinking — Using logic and strategic, analytical, reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
8. Instructing — Teaching others how to do something.
9. Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
10. Operations Analysis — Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
11. Quality Control Analysis — Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
12. Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people.
13. Speaking — Conveying and presenting information effectively and as appropriate for the needs of various audience groups.
14. Systems Analysis — Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
15. Technology Design — Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
16. Troubleshooting — Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
17. Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of various audience groups.
18. Finger and Wrist Dexterity — The ability to make coordinated movements of the fingers and wrists of one or both hands to type and grasp objects.
19. Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
20. Accountability — The ability to follow through on an established obligation and a willingness to accept responsibility of the outcome.
21. Initiative — The ability to originate new ideas or methods; to think and act without being urged.
22. Integrity — The ability to adhere to moral and ethical principles.
23. Motivating and Engaging — The ability to build effective relationships with confidence; and, generate a spirit of cooperation and drive team members to achieve desired results.
24. Perseverance — The ability to continue in some effort or course of action in spite of difficulty and opposition.
25. Professionalism — Adherence to courtesy, honesty, and responsibility in one's dealings with customers and associates.
26. Compliance Certification — Knowledge of and ability to comply with federal regulatory compliance in the financial industry (Zoot certification required).
27. Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing internal and external customer and personal services.
28. Communication — The ability to read, to listen to, & understand information and ideas presented in writing, through spoken words, & sentences; and, the ability to communicate information and ideas in writing & speaking so others will understand.
29. Interpersonal — Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do; being flexible; and, listening to others with full attention, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
30. Judgment and Reasoning — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one; and, combining pieces of information and applying general rules to problems to produce answers/conclusions that make sense.
31. Problem Solving — Identifying problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
32. Time Management and Attendance — Managing one's own time, effectively utilizing the time of others, and consistently reporting to work, meetings, or other scheduled events; and, notifying others appropriately of planned or unplanned absences and tardiness.

Educational Background or Professional Designation Required:

• Four-year College Degree, Human Factors Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Psychology, or a Related Field PLUS
• Five years experience with user interface design concepts, UI standards, web-conventions, and usability methodolgies OR
• Equivalent combination of education and experience.

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