Having operated a successful digital product design and development consultancy (Devise) for the past 4 years, the time has come for me to seek a fabulous new professional challenge in the form of a full-time position. (My Devise co-founder and I are moving in different directions.)
Being a respected design practitioner and community leader for the past 12+ years, I aim to work in a strategic & managerial capacity while continuing to stay involved in hands-on research and design activities. In crafting my professional future, it’s helpful for me to write up a description of my ideal role. Here’s what I want to do:
- Make the world a better place by improving people’s experiences with medical devices and healthcare-related technology (and if not having a medical/healthcare angle, then designing for touchscreen/mobile devices, complex systems, gestural interfaces and/or immersive environments is most appealing to me)
- Help identify business opportunities and solve complex product definition challenges through strategic application of the most appropriate research and design activities
- Creatively direct people and manage product design activities in order to help define and deliver delightful products and services
- Collaborate with a cross-disciplinary team of highly intelligent and talented people to get the work done right, helping to ensure that all constituent stakeholders come together as seamlessly as possible to reconcile the viable, feasible and desirable in equal measure
- Lead and help to build a team of user experience designers, including hiring, training and mentoring
- Conduct original user research as needed to understand people’s real-world behaviors and needs
- Deliver innovative design solutions as needed in the fields of interaction design, information design, visual design and information architecture
- Instill user-centered design techniques and approaches to improve product development processes throughout the organization
- Be respected for bringing passion, commitment and creativity to my work
- Have internal authority within the organization commensurate with my level of responsibility in providing the business with great design solutions
- Be supported in keeping up with professional trends by attending industry conferences as well as personally speaking & writing about interaction design
- Remain based in Portland, Oregon with up to 10-25% travel to support activities such as user research, team collaboration and professional development
The possibilities beckon, and I’m excited to think where my career will go next. Could the universe deliver a role to me with all these qualities? If it needs a little nudge from myself and my friends, consider it nudged from my end, and I greatly appreciate any help you, dear reader, might provide in my search.
Please feel free to get in touch with me to discuss opportunities, via email to liz(at)devise(dot)com, Twitter @ebacon, or via the web form at http://www.devise.com/contact . Cheers!