IS 485 Job Titles
A Small Sample of Job Openings
Source
Software Development
Magazine (Nov 2001)
Job Title
Internet Development
Description
Functions include development and maintenance of
Internet/intranet/web applications. May design,
implement, and support electronic commerce.
Application Testing/Quality Driving quality in design, development and execution of
applications. Ensure quality of testing procedures and
Assurance
results: writes, designs, and develops test cases with
application development staff and users; executes tests
and documents results.
Microsoft Corporation
Application Design
Gathers customer/user requirements, designs and models
packaged or corporate computer programs. Sets
functional and user interface specifications. May
develop or supervise coding to specifications.
Application Development
Codes, debugs, deploys, and maintains computer
programs. May work with and modify packaged
applications; may build or use components. In the
absence of an application architect or on projects of
lesser complexity, gathers customer requirements and
specifies functionality.
Project Management
Plans and schedules software projects. Estimates costs,
program size and development effort, and manages risks
and budgets. May evaluate developer productivity,
recommend software development processes, and guide
technology selection.
Usability Engineer
Design and conduct usability studies for the product (lab
and field), analyze the results of usability studies,
identify usability defects based on analysis, report the
results to program managers, product designers,
developers, test engineers, and marketers. Work with
design team to set usability goals for product, generate
long-term usability plans for product, represent and
interpret usability data and usability HCI research during
product design process, track usability issues, and report
progress toward meeting usability goals to management.
Usability Lead
Direct usability engineers in planning and conducting
usability studies, recruit and manage full-time and
temporary usability resources, work with usability
engineers to identify and implement appropriate data
gathering and analysis methodologies and techniques,
define applied research questions and conduct research
that can impact near-term product development,
represent usability at Microsoft PR functions, press
visits and industry conferences. We are interested in
candidates with degrees in cognitive, experimental,
social, or human factors psychology, computer science
with a human factors emphasis, anthropology, and
related fields.
Usability Manager
Direct usability engineers in planning and conducting
usability studies, work with product unit managers to
develop usability support plans, recruit and manage fulltime and temporary usability resources, work with
usability engineers to identify and implement
appropriate data gathering and analysis methodologies
and techniques, work with usability managers from other
Microsoft usability groups to set policies and procedures
for the usability community, represent usability at
Microsoft PR functions, press visits and industry
conferences. We are interested in candidates with
degrees in cognitive, experimental, social, or human
factors psychology, computer science with a human
factors emphasis, anthropology, and related fields.
Usability Intern
Work with product teams on applied problems in HCI
design and usability evaluation, conduct user needs
assessments, benchmark product comparisons, formative
usability studies, and research on user interface and
programming concepts, all under the direction of an
experienced Microsoft usability engineer.
Product Designer
(the description is from the
“Office” group)
Chances are you spend more time in front of Office than
you do your car or TV. And if you're like us, you can
always find room for improvement. Help us improve and
innovate the design of the most used product in the
world - Microsoft Office. The Office design team seeks
product designers with strong visual design skills to take
Office to the next level. Whether it's improving existing
products, inventing entire new products or building web
services, the need for exciting and new interaction
design is skyrocketing. To keep up with the demand and
make our already popular product even more successful,
we need your contribution. You'll be working along side
the world's best usability engineers, program managers,
product planners and developers. Together you'll
research, design and prototype solutions that are not only
useful, usable and desirable, but also exciting, new and
emotionally engaging. Strong visual design skills are
important, but you also need to be skilled at interaction
design. This includes prototyping in your favorite tool
like Director, FrontPage or Flash. Special points to
designers who aren't afraid to jump into html or Lingo!
You also have to display tremendous drive, energy and
initiative. Communication skills and self confidence are
also important as you work with tons of smart,
passionate people everyday. Face it - you went into
design because you wanted to make a difference. Start
by making a difference to the 200 million Office users
around the world. Launch or boost your career in a place
with impact -- Become a member of the Microsoft
Office Design team. (Design degree and portfolio
required).
Intuit
Senior Usability Specialist
Design and facilitate field studies and contextual
inquiry, usability tests, focus groups, expert evaluations,
brainstorming sessions, survey and questionnaire
creation, and other usability engineering methodologies.
Analyze and synthesize qualitative and quantitative
information, write usability test reports, and present the
results to the stakeholders. Provide concrete, actionable
recommendations to development teams. Manage test
schedules and deliverables. Work with usability lab
staff to schedule and recruit studies.
Senior UI Designer
The Small Business Division's UI Design group designs
the user experience for the QuickBooks family of
products including desktop and web applications. Our
goal is to create elegant, appealing, and extensible
designs through user-centered design practices. These
practices include setting standards for design
development, serving as user advocates throughout the
product development lifecycle, driving the UI design
phase, participating in cross-product UI reviews, and
performing usability tests.
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Software Quality
Assurance Engineer
Lead product design sessions with a crossfunctional team to develop new products and
enhancements to existing desktop and Internetbased products.
Deliver work-flows, design specifications, and
prototypes for your team's designs.
Partner with product management and product
development teams to influence long-term UI
design direction
Conduct design reviews and usability tests and
provide consultation during various phases of the
product development lifecycle
Aid in new concept development through focus
groups, user interviews, surveys and observational
studies.
Establish and communicate UI vision and strategy
Manage the design process, drive UI design
decisions, create schedules and track issue
You will work closely with Engineering,
Documentation, Technical Support and Marketing to
ensure we are building the best product for our
customers. This means getting involved from the
product inception phase through the design and
implementation phases. As an ideal candidate, you are
well versed in the software development process and test
methodology, committed to quality and enjoy
challenges. You will develop feature test strategy and
plans based on the design and implementation,
communicate results/measurements of testing and make
recommendations for improvement, of the product and
processes, and actively participate in product/feature
team meetings. You will provide leadership and
mentoring to other team members. You will contribute
to test automation strategy and QA process
improvements.
Progressive Insurance
Usability Center Design
Specialist
The UCD specialist will consult with business users and
software development teams on the following: (1)
reviewing applications for adherence to standards and
generally accepted principles of good design, (2)
conducting user requirements analyses and workflow
analyses, (3) facilitating user interface design sessions
for multiple platforms including Microsoft Windows,
internet, PDA, WAP, voice, and e-learning.
A large portion of the UCD specialists time will be spent
conducting usability testing and associated activities:
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assisting teams with usability test preparation,
designing and administering user profile and
participant feedback questionnaires,
facilitating usability tests,
documenting usability test observations,
analyzing usability data to generate reports,
recommending design improvements,
presenting usability results
recommending design solutions to project
managers, business users, developers and
testers.
The UCD Specialist will also be involved with
developing and enhancing Progressive's internal
usability standards and guidelines.
The Hartford
Usability and Human
Factors Engineer
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Become an integral part of a web development/ecommerce group whose focus is on user-centered
design.
Contribute to the success of web based insurance
tools/applications in the marketplace by conducting
user studies in task analysis, user profiling, task
scenario development, prototype development, and
usability evaluation. You will be involved in
iterative design and test processes, so a thorough
understanding of constructing usability goals from
business cost-benefit analyses and user data is
critical.
Develop, administer, and analyze user preference,
profile, and user interaction surveys.
Conduct competitive product analysis from a
usability perspective.
Conduct primary usability research as warranted.
Work closely with customers, business and the
development teams to play a lead role in user
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Adobe
Motorola
Senior User Research
Specialist
The successful candidate will be deeply involved in user
research throughout the product development cycle
Adobe Systems. The candidate will work directly with
user interface designers, marketing, and engineering.
The candidate will be responsible for conducting
usability tests, field studies, site visits, surveys, heuristic
evaluations, and some prototyping. Candidate should be
able to evaluate the usability of product concepts,
workflows, user interaction, and visual designs.
User Interface Designer
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IDX Systems
Corporation
interface design.
Interview customers, conduct heuristic evaluations,
run usability tests, analyze usability data and present
findings.
Assist in educating business and IT partners on the
value of usability and its practices.
Provide input to the User Interface Design Standard.
Usability Consultant
Translate abstract concepts and ideas - from
information obtained from customer research - into
low fidelity prototypes (e.g., hand-drawn sketches,
PowerPoint simulations) and progressively develop
them into high-fidelity Macromedia Director (and
similar) prototypes.
Assist in iterative usability testing of your
prototypes throughout the development cycle
Be self-motivating and take leadership and
ownership of the design and development of the
user interface.
Integrate effectively into a multidisciplinary group
that includes human factors specialists, ergonomists,
cognitive and behavioral scientists, interaction
designers, industrial designers, and deliver to strict
deadlines in a fast paced environment.
Excellent verbal, written, artistic and graphical
communication skills
Allied interests in any one or more of the following:
art, design, sketching, interactive-technology
(games etc.), fashion, human behavior
The primary goal of the Usability Consultant is to
establish user interface (UI) standards for the IDX
Lastword/Carecast products. The Usability Consultant
understands the workflow and end-user requirements
and works with the Chief Designer Architect and
development management team to develop solutions that
meet business and usability requirements. This person
should have the capacity to understand every aspect of
the application UI and its architecture and ensure that the
solution is consistent with the product's standards.
The Usability Consultant designs customer facing
interfaces and validates screen and workflow designs
with our Designer teams and customers. Writes detailed
design specifications to describe the visual and
behavioral aspects of each user interface design. Works
with developers and designers to clarify design and
update design specs prior to the quality assurance
testing. Works with QA testers and programmers to
clarify issues. Conducts field studies to collect usability
requirements and communicate the results to the
appropriate members of the development team.
Conducts usability reviews of working code to ensure
that the implementation of the design has retained its
usability and meets the established standards.
Sysgenix Resources
Senior UI Designer /
Analyst
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Google
UI Designer
Google is looking for a candidate with a strong
background in interface design. As UI Designer, you
will work with engineers and product managers to
design highly usable interfaces that adhere to Google's
commitment to the best possible user experience. You
will be responsible for:
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Usability Analyst
Storyboarding, scenario development, and user
experience modeling experience.
Usability testing and heuristic analysis experience
Experience working on a team (with usability
personnel, graphic designers, web developers, and
business and systems analysts).
Certifications in Human Computer interaction,
Usability, Human Factor, Ergonomics, etc.
Helping to define the user model and user interface
for new Google products and features.
Developing high level and/or detailed storyboards,
mockups and prototypes to effectively communicate
design ideas.
Gauging the usability of new and existing features,
and making constructive suggestions for change.
Help us find out about our users! Google is looking for a
Usability Analyst to work on all aspects of user testing
at Google. Your responsibilities will include designing
and conducting qualitative user studies to gauge the
usability of new and existing Google features,
conducting log analyses and surveys, and making
concrete, data-driven recommendations for change based
on your findings.
The ideal candidate will have strong analytical and
quantitative skills and can work well with technicallyminded and statistically sophisticated people. He or she
must be able to work independently and fast, to manage
multiple projects, and to produce useful data and
recommendations for a wide variety of projects.
Ispiri Inc.
User Interface Architect
Architect an intuitive, simple, yet powerful UI for a
product for which making simple that which has
previously been complicated is a key feature. Refine the
product based on usability testing, user trials, and focusgroups. Deliver a best-of-breed product that users love to
use.
GUI Designer/Developer
This person will architect and implement user interfaces
for our next-generation tools for business professionals
and for application developers, with responsibility for
both code, usability and learnability issues, including
performance, aesthetics, and integration with user
experience guidelines of base level environments (IDE
or Office tool). Candidates should be able to explain the
design principles and tradeoffs considered, and the end
result, of previous work on GUI Design and
Development.
And Many More
Some of the job descriptions above can be found at: http://www.hcirn.com/jobs/
Quote from IBM Ease of Use Site under FAQ section
Who needs to know about UCD in an organization?
Everyone! Many organizations expect specific groups or persons to specialize in UCD
and then magically produce wonderful products throughout the company. The only way
to ensure success is for all members of an organization to "live and breathe" user data and
together drive ease of use into products and services.