Ace Hardware is hiring : Manager - Digital UX / UI in Oak Brook

About This Role The Manager – Digital UX / UI will define and shape the digital customer experience for Acehardware.com, Ace Hardware Consumer Mobile App, Ace Home Services and other consumer facing digital-based experiences. This individual will be responsible for managing a team of UX / UI designers responsible for these areas.

What You’ll Do Own the user experience for Ace Hardware’s digital properties; acehardware.com, consumer mobile app, and home services.

Identify new features and enhancements needed to continually improve customer experience, based on quantitative and qualitative data.

Assess and ensure the usability of new and existing features and advocate for change where and when needed.

Work with Product Owners & Stakeholders to prioritize enhancements, build & manage the backlog, build roadmap strategic plans, determine size of UX effort estimates, and manage team resourcing needs.

Act as strategic thought leader for the UX / UI design & greater ecommerce team, by providing design feedback during review sessions, sharing best practices, providing direction to solve design problems, and ensuring the entire team is creating the best user experiences for Ace’s digital properties, while also helping with vision casting how the digital experience may evolve over longer time frames, based on consumer & market trends.

Ability to lead and navigate the UX Design Team through multiple projects at any given time, varying in size and complexity, without significant oversight from the Product / UX Director.

Manage, prioritize, and determine UX / UI activities for assigned projects.

Resolve problems and roadblocks as they occur.

Work within Agile / Sprint & Waterfall / Project based frameworks.

Resource plan and budget team’s bandwidth within project timelines & expectations.

Create innovative and friction-free user experiences for Ace Hardware’s digital offerings.

Capture and translate business requirements and user needs into innovative user experiences.

Lead working sessions with UX / UI team, product owners, business stakeholders, data analysts and development teams to gather insights and form UX solutions.

Document the user experience solution in the form of presentations, user flows, wireframe specifications, visual comps, prototypes, and other necessary documentation to communicate the recommended user experience to stakeholders and development teams.

Apply best practices, from third-party orgs (such as Baymard) to design solutioning.

Lead review sessions of in-progress work within the UX team but also with stakeholders and leadership to share design direction and gather feedback.

Lead UX research initiatives

Conduct, analyze, and document competitive analyses and heuristic evaluations to share ecommerce landscape, understand best practices across other ecommerce sites and inform design directions.

Identify research needs for project work, including qualitative and quantitative research; as well as, A / B tests, outlining with hypothesis and desired outcomes.

Guide UX team on when / how to leverage live user testing to inform new designs or updates to existing features.

Work with data analysts and product owners to interpret review and analyze KPIs and on-site behavioral data to uncover areas of opportunity.

Leverage and review Voice of Customer to inform future decisions (on-site feedback, app store reviews, etc.).

Establish and apply the visual design language for Ace’s Web / App Design System

Collaborate with the Creative Services team to determine the visual design direction for the digital ecommerce platforms, ensuring the visual design aligns to and elevates the Ace Hardware brand.

Create and maintain the designs for the common components (buttons, links, input fields, alert messages, modals, etc.).

Own and maintain the UI Tool Kit in Figma, used by all UX / UI designers to document the designs for the app and web experiences.

Work with the app and web development teams to implement the Design System, and partner with the UX / Product Director to drive forward the mobile app experience.

Leverage best practices in mobile app design and a deep understanding of native mobile device capabilities to create useful and sticky experiences that keep the Ace customer engaged and wanting to use the App.

Stay on top of new consumer technology trends around AR / VR / Glasses / Mobile / AI to help ensure Ace’s digital experience remains relevant with the evolving consumer.

Who You Are You are a team player with great humility, yet a strong drive to win. This is the Ace culture. You have a passion for digital design and are truly obsessed with doing what is best for the customer. You are actively curious in learning and staying on top of new technologies shaping our industry including AI, AR / VR, Mobile, Personalization, etc.

Required Skills 8+ years of experience in UX / UI design, visual or graphic design, digital product design, information architecture, interaction design, and other related UX / UI disciplines.

4+ years of experience leading and / or mentoring other UX / UI designers.

Proven experience creating UX / UI designs for both web and mobile applications on iOS and Android operating systems.

Deep knowledge on web and app user experience best practices and can clearly communicate and apply those practices to project work.

Understands the ecommerce competitive landscape to inform UX design solutions.

Experience creating user experiences for e-commerce businesses (ideally retail businesses).

Experience with all stages of the digital product development lifecycle in both waterfall and agile environments.

Experience creating wireframes, visual design comps and prototypes in Figma

Experience conducting research & live user testing through platforms like User Testing or PlaybookUX.

Proven ability to diplomatically advocate for the user, communicate informed design rationale and value.

Effective cross-function collaboration skills with designers, business partners, developers, and other stakeholders.

Experience presenting design concepts, finalized designs, and insights to an executive leadership team

Outstanding communication, organization, time management and interpersonal skills.

MUST have a strong portfolio demonstrating past work experience and deliverables (e.g. visual designs, graphic designs, wireframes, user flows, site maps, research, etc.).

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Compensation Details : $170000 Per Year

Why should you join our team?

We live our values - W.E.L.I.G.H.T (Winning, Excellence, Love, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility, and Teamwork). In addition to providing our employees a great culture, Ace also offers competitive benefits

• that address life’s necessities and perks, many of which expand and improve year after year, including :

Incentive opportunities, based on role / grade level

Generous 401(k) retirement savings plan with a fully vested matching contribution the first year

Comprehensive health coverage for you and your dependents

21 days of vacation and up to 6 paid holidays

Ace Cares Week and volunteering opportunities

Tuition assistance and development programs

Employee discounts on Ace merchandise and other perks

Birth / Adoption bonding paid time off and adoption cost reimbursement

Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other protections

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We want to hear from you! Ace Hardware is an employer committed to equal opportunity and diversity. We uphold a policy of equal employment opportunities and prohibit employment discrimination.

Disclaimer

The pay range for this position starts as listed in the job posting, but could be higher based on education and experience. Salary decisions depend on various factors including education, training, experience, location, travel and market conditions. Salary estimates on external job boards may not reflect the actual pay range. Refer to the Ace position description for accurate starting pay range information.

This position description covers the basic / general essential job functions. Ace Hardware Corporation reserves the right to change duties as needed. Massachusetts law information : it is unlawful to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment.

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