[Sigia-l] JOB: Senior UX Designer at Eons.com (IA, UI, Visual, XHTML)

[Brian O'Neill]

Senior User Experience Designer at Eons.com (IA, UI, Visual, XHTML)
 
Experience: 5-10 years (Specifically with large consumer sites using all of
the disciplines listed)
 
Location: Boston, MA (Charlestown Navy Yard)
 
Eons.com is currently looking for a senior UX designer who has demonstrated
experience with information architecture, user interface design, and visual
design as they relate to a user-centered design process.
 
Inspired and led by Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com, we are building a
team and product that is dedicated to helping adults 50+ get the most out of
life by leveraging the power of the web.
 
 We need somebody with proven ability to translate words and discussions
from business colleagues into simple interfaces for customers of a large
content portal-like environment. Because Eons.com is a new company, this
role includes discovery work, i.e. determining what the end product will
eventually be through exploration and discussions with business sponsors in
addition to the actual design work.
 
Ideally, you have worked in an environment that uses open source
technologies, and especially web standards (XHTML/CSS/JS) in the design and
development phase.  Candidates with less coding experience should minimally
have a grasp on component-based design and how to define the creation of
classes and IDs to a developer. Names and blogs like Zeldman, Spool, Norman,
Meyer, A List Apart, Mezzoblue, Cooper, Simplebits, Stopdesign, WCAG, WASP,
SIG-CHI and the W3c should be readily familiar to you.
 
In addition to information and interaction design, visual design skills are
a must for this position; you should have examples of sites where you were
responsible for the creative as well as the user experience (e.g. beyond
wireframing). The ideal candidate can code their visual designs using CSS or
minimally, can explain it to a developer and be aware of what
component-based design is. We¹re not looking for an artist but instead, a
designer who can create pleasing, simple interfaces that also mask the
³technology² from the end user.
 
Accessibility: you should know the major types of disabilities that need to
be accounted for in web interface design. You should have a basic
understanding of the needs of these users and how to design for the primary
personas without sacrificing accessibility. You should understand what
serialization is about, what a skip link is, and the value of the tab key.
 
Environment:
* Understanding Agile development process and using Wikis
* Works well with Product Managers and Marketing to extract primary business
goals, primary user goals, and metrics
* Know how to play hard and work hard ­ Eons is a collaborative environment
built more on effective communication between members (and less on
documentation) 
* Self-starters and people with ideas on how to shape a new business and a
new design process are encouraged to apply
* Reports to the Director of Design and User Experience (who reports into
Product Management)
 
Pluses:
* Ability to design by coding in XHTML/CSS a big plus (however, this is
first a UI/UX position and not a coding position)
* Persona development experience
* Good at strategy and execution (not just one)
* SEO 
* Knowledge of how people 50+ perceive and use technology
* PHP or some other server-side scripting language
* AJAX ;  how/when to use it and interaction issues with it
 
What this job is not:
Ø   A straight web development job
Ø   A graphic designer position or Flash gig
Ø   A junior position or a gig in which to start a career change
Ø   Boring!
 
Contact: gigs at eons.com  - Please send a resume or even better, your website.
Give us 2 sites to look at (no more) in your short cover letter, and a
sentence or two on what those sites demonstrate the best about your skills.
Also, please list one cool talent you have or interesting tidbit about
yourself!