At Microsoft, UX Designers are responsible for designing how users interact with our software. UX Designers are expected to consider each project holistically, incorporating user requirements, business needs, technical constraints, and brand aspirations, to design user flows down to the finest details. Due to the technical nature of Microsoft’s developer products, UX Designers need to be familiar with and passionate about products for technical customers. UX Designers must be adept at distilling complexity into clean, simple, and opinionated user interfaces that place the user’s needs at the core of the design.
The successful candidate will be eager to lead the design of projects from writing the initial brief with stakeholders, through advising engineering on design implementation and iteratively evolving the design. They will be experienced at working closely with visual designers, user researchers, developers and other UX designers to improve existing products, and bring exciting new projects to life. The person we are looking for will be a strong communicator, able to share their knowledge and insight with both stakeholders and other members of the design team.
Designing the UX of software development tools requires a practical, hands-on understanding of software development, so at some point in your life you must have written code, whether it was part of a job, a hobby or during education. If you are passionate about improving the software development user experience, and love discussing technology and software development as much as you love discussing design, this is the perfect job for you.
Responsibilities
Capture project design requirements from Product Managers and Engineers, distill into a design brief and then agree the brief with all stakeholders.
Utilize their expertise in UX design thinking to delve deeply into problems and find the best solutions that meet both user needs and Microsoft business objectives.
Provide sketches, wireframes, information architectures, prototypes, user flows (use cases, activity diagrams), and non-functional specifications for visual designers and implementation teams as appropriate.
Clearly and systematically manage design scope in a timely fashion to facilitate progress and ensure that delivered designs are implementable within constraints.
Review and validate work with peers, stakeholders and users throughout the UX design process, maintaining communication with key team members
Pitch design solutions to stakeholders, explaining and rationalizing design decisions to non-design audiences.
Work with developers to iterate on designs during implementation. Maintain an open communication channel with devs and ensure products are delivered to a high standard.
Continually watch for and identify ways to improve and evolve the design process and communication with groups outside the design team.
Mentor, motivate, inspire and lead less experienced members of the team
Prioritize and work in an iterative way
Basic Qualifications