User Experience Strategist

**Requisition ID**:39437

**Organization**

Located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples, Vancouver has a commitment to becoming a City of Reconciliation. Vancouver consistently ranks as one of the world’s most liveable cities and is working towards being the greenest city in the world. Named among Canada's Top 100 Employers, BC's Top Employers, and Canada's Greenest Employers, the City of Vancouver seeks colleagues who can help shape and embody our core commitments to sustainability, decolonization, equity and outstanding quality of life for all residents.

Consider joining our committed team of staff and being part of an innovative, inclusive and rewarding workplace.

**Main Purpose and Function**

The User Experience Strategist works independently to research, recommend, design, and deliver on cohesive and inclusive citizen-centric user experiences across digital channels that support user needs, business objectives, and the City’s digital strategy. The position exercises independent judgement in technical aspects of the role.

The Strategist is a member of Digital Channels within Technology Services - an inclusive, collaborative team of digital technology professionals that efficiently designs, develops, and operates high-quality digital products and services for the people of Vancouver that are user-focused, effective, and innovative.

**Specific Duties/Responsibilities**
- Applies user-centered design processes and industry best practices to guide optimal user experiences that holistically solve complex user and business challenges, both online and offline
- Identifies, defines and prioritizes user needs, business requirements, and success metrics to determine strategic value, in coordination with product owners, project managers, and digital performance specialists
- Designs, documents, debugs, and tests new and existing user interface modules to have an optimal user experience
- Creates and effectively communicates UX design assets such as user stories, concept maps, user journeys, task flows, storyboards, information architectures, wireframes, prototypes, and visual designs to project stakeholders and developers
- Defines, evolves, and applies content, design, interaction, and accessibility policies, guidelines, and systems, in consultation with digital strategists and developers
- Defines and designs user tests and conducts rapid user testing internally, and consults with the vendors to support larger scale user testing.
- Provides recommendations for improvements which may include third-party solutions
- Assesses and optimizes the performance of new and existing features by actively supporting secondary research activities, user research and usability testing.
- Interprets results of usability testing, user research and web analytics data to uncover insights and identify gaps.
- Conducts accessibility reviews using automated and manual testing with assistive technologies to identify and prioritize issues, and recommend opportunities to improve.
- Coaches, mentors, and trains team members and other staff on UX and digital accessibility best practices and how to address issues
- Initiates and facilitates collaborative sessions to help drive strategic discussions and decisions that advocate for users while addressing business challenge
- Supports the Implementation/UX lead to foster an inclusive design culture and promote the value of user-centered design and digital accessibility within the organization
- Other duties/responsibilities as assigned

**Minimum Qualification Requirements**

Education and Experience:
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

- Considerable knowledge of UX methodologies and design thinking
- Sound knowledge of Web accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1), best practices, and legislation
- Sound knowledge of Front-end web development (HTML, CSS, JS, ARIA)
- Responsive web design
- Sound knowledge of Agile software development methodology
- UX activities and deliverables (such as interviews, user stories, usability testing, concept maps, user journeys, task flows, storyboards, competitive analyses, information architectures, copywriting, wireframes, prototypes, visual designs, pattern libraries, expert/heuristic reviews, and design systems)
- UX design tools (such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Invision, or Frontify)
- Accessible technology and testing tools (such as JAWS, NVDA, ZoomText, VoiceOver, Dragon Naturally Speaking, WAVE, and aXe)
- Web analytics tools (such as Google Analytics and Hotjar)
- Project, task, and bug-tracking tools (such as Microsoft Azure DevOps, Basecamp, and ServiceNow)
- Documentation tools (such as Dropbox Paper and SharePoint)
- Content management systems (such as OpenText CMS, Wordpress, or Drupal)
- Graphic design tools (such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator)
- Collaboration tools (such as Outlook, Cisco WebEx and Jabber)
- Communi