**Description:**
Marriott International offers you the opportunity to find the hospitality job and career journey that s right for you\. With more than 4400 properties and 19 brands you ll find us in your neighborhood and in more than 87 countries across the globe\. Find Your World at Marriott\.
**Qualifications**
**POSITION SUMMARY**
The Senior Experience Designer supports a vision for howexperiences should be designed and contributes a set of advanced userexperience skills to help create successful products for users across all ofMarriott's digital services\.
**EXPECTED CONTRIBUTIONS**
In the course of your work with Marriott s digital products,including Marriott\.com one of the top 10 revenue\-generating web sites in theworld you ll come in every day ready to tackle interesting, challenging work\.Here s what you ll be doing:
+ Working collaboratively with your manager to develop the experience design practice, promoting best practices and design approaches that align with the Marriott culture and needs
+ Acting as an advocate for UX standards and guidelines, supporting the extended team in developing and maintaining this foundation for designing cohesive experiences
+ Supporting Marriott Digital Products leadership by articulating design strategies
+ Championing the creation and iteration of design strategies that help Marriott Digital Products leadership visualize a long\-term organizational direction
+ Working on one or more product lines, where your decisions will align with high\-level organizational strategies and KPIs, while working with other team leaders to translate these into team and personal goals
+ Staying on top of the latest techniques being used by our direct competitors and other eCommerce sites
+ Basing decisions on user research findings and insights, observing users interact with our product or a competitor s for at least two hours every six weeks
+ Promoting a culture where critique and feedback are central to the work we do, and ensuring that team members have regular opportunities to critique and have work critiqued
+ Staying focused on continuously improving and re\-evaluating best practices
+ Valuing emotional safety, keeping team members focused on celebrating failures and highlighting lessons learned from those failures
+ Keeping co\-workers grounded on the idea that our focus is on delivery rather than deliverables, and solutions rather than documents
+ Working in a collaborative environment with people who have a variety of skills like user experience design, research, product management and front/back\-end development collectively contributing to the end product\.
**Work Environment**
You ll work with avariety of teams, each practicing design in various product developmentsettings\. These include Agile s fast\-paced, iterative product discovery andexecution; a waterfall that supports large, complex projects where you ll keeptrack of many challenges and collaborating to solve multi\-faceted problems withother teams; and to a lesser extent, marketing in a more traditional,client\-agency model with faster turn\-arounds, and limited resources andsupport\.
**CANDIDATE PROFILE KEY TALENTS AND EXPERIENCE DESIRED**
**Candidate Profile**
You re exactly who we re looking for if you:
+ Value deadlines, set realistic expectations around them and then meet them
+ Can balance user, business and technical needs, and will go to bat for users if things are out of kilter
+ Help teams define a product s problem areas from our most important users perspective
+ Understand the blurry line between skills, and use collaboration as the best way to deal with it
+ Have a current understanding of web technologies and principles like responsive design, front\-end markup and libraries such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery and Ajax methods, plus Content Management Systems, Web Services, and APIsand know how they re integrated and used
+ Have superior communication and interpersonal skills, including strong facilitation, presentation, storytelling, sketching and critiquing skills
+ Can establish successful long\-term relationships in your core areas and influence others
+ Inspire confidence and lead through example
+ Feel comfortable with basic statistics and analysis, and can use data to inform your decisions
+ Are proficient with spreadsheets \(MS Excel\) for multiple uses, from content inventories to budget management and staff forecasting
**Skills**
Our ideal candidatehas all of these skills\. If you re missing one, but are passionate aboutlearning new things, we still want to talk with you\.
**_Interaction Design_**
You re a master of advancedtechniques of interaction design, and can t wait to wow us with a portfoliothat shows it\. Also:
+ You design how systems respond to the actions of users, with the goal of optimizing the satisfaction of those users specific goals
+ You can think through an interaction and communicate it to potential users, your team and stakeholders through sketches, wireframes or prototypes
+ You can see all of the edge cases an interaction may spawn, but balance this through judicious use of the 80/20 rule
+ You have strong awareness of common interaction patterns used by competitors and the general industry, and know how to apply them
+ You're comfortable working with standards and guidelines for interactions and components, but also creative in coming up with new ones when necessary
**_Graphic Design_**
You re a master of basic techniques of graphic design, andcan walk us through a portfolio that shows it\.
+ You structure visual elements as a way to satisfy the specific goals of well\-defined users
+ You use contrast, color, tone and proximity of elements to help users move through information, functionality and interactions
+ You educate non\-designers about how your design solutions address the user goals specific to the project, aligning your tactics with the product s driving strategies
+ You simplify the volume and interplay of visual elements, bringing clarity without sacrificing the power of visual design
**_Prototyping_**
You re a master of basic techniques of this skill, and canwalk us through a portfolio that shows it\.
+ You have skills in multiple low\- and high\-fidelity prototyping tools, such as:HTML/Javascript, Flash/Flash Catalyst, Axure, Balsmiq, Adobe InDesign/PDF, paper prototyping
+ You are able to determine what prototyping tool is best for a specific product s need at the time
+ You can take a prototype through rapid iterations based on feedback from users, teammates and stakeholders
+ You can prototype live during a team working session
+ You understand common and emerging desktop web, tablet and mobile\-based interaction patterns, and are capable of simulating them within a prototype
**_Information Architecture_**
You re still mastering the basic techniques of informationarchitecture, but you understand what s involved, and can collaborate withothers who have more experience in the skill\.
**_Writing_**
You re still mastering the basic techniques of this skill, butyou understand what s involved, and can collaborate with others who have moreexperience in the skill\.
**Education andExperience**
Our ideal candidate has at least a Bachelor s Degree inExperience or Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Information Architecture,Library Sciences, Human Factors, Psychology, Anthropology, Branding or Marketing\(or similar\), or five or more years of equivalent experience in related fieldwith proven track record, as well as skills in at least three of the followingbackground areas:
**_Audience Diversity_**
You getthat people are different\. You ve led the delivery of successful products andcommunications targeted to diverse, heterogeneous user groups with complex orcompeting needs based on race, national origin, religion, age, disability orgender expression\. And you can walk usthrough a portfolio that shows it\.
+ You can articulate the distinguishing characteristics between segments of an audience in a way that is relevant for design activity to act upon
+ You have observed differences in expectations, needs and behaviors that audiences from different cultural backgrounds express, and you are able to distinguish cultural stereotypes from truly distinct needs
+ You have observed differences in expectations, needs and behaviors that individuals in different generational profiles express, and you are able to weed out stereotypical ageist assumptions/noise
+ You have worked on products and communications serving niche audiences, and can articulate what attributes make such audiences unique
**Content Frameworks**
You re the master of content frameworks and are articulatein your understanding of them\.
+ You can provide requirements needed to update or extend the content framework
+ You understand what content can be managed with a content framework
**Loyalty Programs**
You ve had extensive experience with and are a subjectmatter expert in loyalty retention, preferably the Marriott Rewards and/or RitzCarlton Rewards programs\. Also:
+ You have experience with the branding and promotion of a loyalty program, including the acquisition and retention of members
+ You understand the nuances of the various personas that are represented in a loyalty program and how to communicate to them
+ You have experience in multi\-channel marketing
+ You can recognize brand voice from a mile away
+ You have a solid understanding of personalization and its roll in optimizing member communications
+ You re practiced at creating or overseeing concepts and/or recipes for testing and can translate findings into targeted communications
+ You understand the challenges of global brands and have worked with localizing content in a cultural specific way
+ You have contributed to creating and maintaining a proven brand voice, personality and standards that elevate the overall user experience
+ You can apply your knowledge of loyalty programs to leverage promotions, offers and program features
_Managing Careers_
You re a management pro and have managed managers of others\.Also:
+ You manage individuals on an ongoing basis, including recruiting, retaining, growing, and terminating talent
+ You help your direct reports understand their role on the experience design team, their possible career paths, and the specific steps needed to progress
+ You can identify/forecast skill gaps within your team and recognize when to fill them via coaching, training or hiring
+ You manage at least one individual contributor
+ You ensure that your direct reports are meeting their billable target hours
+ You delegate work appropriately
+ You can create specific, measurable goals that align with departmental goals
+ You evaluate performance against those goals, assigning ratings and making salary and promotion recommendations
+ You provide continual feedback based on your own observations as well as feedback from work managers
+ You address the educational and personal development needs of team members to ensure:
+ Base and advanced experience with UX design approaches, techniques, methods and best practices as well as enterprise and soft skills necessary to successfully convey deliver UX work\.
+ Fluency and awareness of industry trends \(modular design, responsive design, mobile first, direct content manipulation, touch interfaces, etc\.\)
**Managing Work**
You ve managed multiple work teams, defining the skill setsneeded on a project and proactively addressing gaps and weaknesses of those onthe team\. Also:
+ You lead experience design efforts and manage the work of others
+ You help stakeholders define specific problems so you can accurately gauge level of effort and successfully staff projects
+ You define project experience design roles and responsibilities, crafting tangible goals for each role
+ You provide timely feedback on the performance and skills of user experience professionals
+ You work with career managers to identify opportunities that might enhance the skills of those working on your project
**_Product Pages_**
You are an expert at creating digital experiences thatcommunicate product benefits and attributes using all types of content\(photography, copy, etc\.\) Also:
+ You understand how to merchandise a product or service
+ You can articulate the value of a product or property using whatever means of communication is available \(visuals, text, interactive functionality, etc\.\)
+ You elegantly and effectively manage the tension that comes from serving several distinct user types whose needs and goals conflict and overlap\.
**_Search_**
You ve had extensive experience with and are a subjectmatter expert on online travel booking \(preferred\) or other eCommerce searchforms and search results\.
+ You're well versed in industry best practices for increasing search rate and step conversion
+ You understand that many users begin their search through a search engine, and know what's required to design for a crawler as well as a human user
+ You get ranking algorithms and know the factors that might be included in one
+ You understand how back\-end data influences guided navigation and error handling
**_Standards &Practices_**
You understand the need for a shared vocabulary amongcollaborators\. You advocate the notion that providing agreed upon knowledge andreferences for an organization are key to driving cohesive decisions\. Also:
+ You ve been responsible for maintaining documentation that expresses guiding principles for how something should work or operate\.
+ You have experience with and you are comfortable discussing different kinds of standards approaches such as style guides, component libraries, web standards, accessibility guidelines, brand guides, and SEO best practices\.
+ You have authored guidelines or standards, distinguishing different levels of adherence, from strict standards that must be enforced to lose starting points; you are comfortable working within a design system that contains guidelines across the spectrum\.
+ You have used guidelines/standards to enforce adherence to a particular brand identity/technical requirements/workflow; you also share the view that foolish consistencies are the hobgoblin of little minds\.
**_User Accounts_**
You ve had extensive experience with and are a subject matterexpert in online user accounts\. Also:
+ You are a perfectionist when it comes to optimal user flows for online accounts, designing and/or offering oversight for solutions that seamlessly get users to the information they need
+ You have experience in providing a consistent, intuitive user experience across the digital landscape
+ You have an expertise in prioritizing information to meet user needs, from sign in to logout
+ You can identify and address use cases and edge cases that need to be resolved to create a fluid experience
+ You understand best practices for the identification and creation of error messages that will keep the user on track
+ You understand and practice adherence to brand voice requirements as it applies to online accounts and related messaging
_Marriott International is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture\. Marriott International does not discriminate on the basis of disability, veteran status or any other basis protected under federal, state or local laws\._
**Job:** _eCommerce_
**Organization:** _Corporate_
**Location:** _MD\-Bethesda_
**Requisition ID:** _16000RN4_