Sr. Product Designer, User

About Niche

Niche is the leader in school search. Our mission is to make researching and enrolling in schools easy, transparent, and free. With in-depth profiles on every school and college in America, 140 million reviews and ratings, and powerful search tools, we help millions of people find the right school for them. We also help thousands of schools recruit more best-fit students, by highlighting what makes them great and making it easier to visit and apply.

Niche is all about finding where you belong, and that mission inspires how we operate every day. We want Niche to be a place where people truly enjoy working and can thrive professionally.

About The Role

We are looking for a Senior Product Designer who will define product problems and opportunities, conducting/participating in user research, analyzing how the user’s encounter with the product, and the overall user experience and visual aspect of a product. You will define and create a cohesive user experience throughout the full suite of Niche products, impacting the school and college search of millions of people each year. You’ll design creative solutions to complex problems and bring them to life as easy-to-use and delightful user flows and interfaces.

In this role, you should be an analytical, empathetic, and creative designer who is excited to understand user needs. You're passionate about user research and gathering insights to inspire and inform your design as well as working together with Product Managers and other designers to transform those findings into impactful solutions. You should be a positive leader, inspiring creativity and providing constructive and thoughtful feedback to other team members. 

At Niche, Product Designers are part of the Design team as well as cross-functional product teams, where you will collaborate with Designers, Researchers, Engineers, and Product Managers to take features from concept to launch—from creating user flows and wireframes to building user interface mockups and prototypes for Niche products. A strong portfolio of successful UX and UI design is essential. This role reports directly to the Manager of UI/UX Design.

Responsibilities

• Thinking: Work closely with Product, Research, Engineering, and other Design Team members to apply a human-centered design approach and visualize the future of Niche. Lead design thinking strategy on cross-functional product teams, handling complex and business-critical projects.
• Research: Partner with Product and Research to conduct user interviews and user testing, determine common pain points, define the problems and opportunities, product improvements, and priorities. Conduct research independently to inform design decisions and validate potential product changes. Socializes those learnings with the rest of product design to enhance everyone's understanding of our products and users. 
• Craft: Design flows, wireframes, interactive prototypes and high-fidelity mock-ups, utilizing existing patterns and components. Contribute to the design systems and tools used by the Design team, redefining the bounds of convention when necessary, and raising the bar as a model for others to follow.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communicator. Storyteller. Showcase your vision and rationale behind design decisions to stakeholders and your team. Communicates complex ideas, goals, and problems in a way that is accessible even to those unfamiliar with the project. Presents ideas and arguments logically and concisely. 
• Culture: Contribute to a collaborative culture by asking for and offering feedback from other product designers and cross-functional teammates and be an active leader on the Design Team as a source of support and knowledge. Can shift gears easily and cope with change.
• Drive: Enjoys working hard. Is action- and solution-oriented. Proactively seek out additional data, context, and knowledge to find the best solution and work through complexity to maintain momentum. Enthusiastic about improving yourself, the team, and the company. 

What You Will Do

During the First Month:

• Learn about Niche by meeting with various team members to learn more about our company through our Onboarding meetings
• Collaborate with various team members to learn about how your role fits within the team
• Attend onboarding sessions to better understand our internal processes and learn about the company
• Collaborate with other designers to begin to understand our workflow, design system, and tooling
• Shadow design team members to learn more about how we collaborate with other areas of the business and how your role fits with cross-functional teams. 
• Build confidence to work with our design tools 

Within 3 Months:

• Be the primary designer for a product team and represent the design perspective
• Collaborate with members of the Product Management team to gain the expertise of our users and ensure work stays aligned to the product vision
• Have a high-level understanding of your assigned product areas

Within 6 Months:

• Build confidence in providing constructive and thoughtful feedback to other designers 
• Have in-depth knowledge of your assigned product areas and a solid understanding of how the product areas work together
• You are actively working to improve Design tooling and processes

Within 12 Months:

• You are a strategic leader and the primary designer for one or more product teams handling complex, business-critical projects 
• You have a strong understanding of all major product areas, recognizing patterns, and contributing to design strategy across the suite of Niche products 
• You are a mentor and source of support for other designers

What We Are Looking For

• 5+ years of experience as a UX Designer, UI Designer, Product Designer, or similar role
• BA in Graphic Design, Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Media or related creative field
• Strong awareness of user interface, accessibility, and interaction design best practices

• Comfortable owning and breaking down ambiguous discovery and research problems—conducting, analyzing, and synthesizing user research, workflows, and user testing
• Experience with discovery process—conducting, analyzing, and synthesizing user research and user testing 
• Experience in UI/UX design for consumer-based web products, mobile applications (Web, iOS, & Android), or SaaS products

• Ability to generate multiple design solutions, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and incorporate team feedback to improve upon selected designs
• Superior eye for visual aesthetics, layout, general design principles, and attention to detail
• Advanced proficiency with Figma, FigJam, and other standard design tools

Are you excited about the position and its responsibilities, but hesitant because your experience doesn't align 100% with the posted requirements? We believe you are more than a resume, so go for it! You won’t want to miss the opportunity to play a part in helping students find where they belong.

Compensation 

Our national target base salary range is $104,000-$130,000, plus participation in our Annual Bonus and Stock Option Program. Base compensation will be commensurate with experience and skills.

At Niche, our Total Rewards Philosophy is centered around creating a workplace environment that attracts, motivates, and retains top talent by providing a comprehensive and competitive rewards package.  This philosophy is built on the principles of performance-based compensation, best-in-class benefits and work-life balance, and employee well-being.

Interview Process

Candidate experience is a top priority for our talent and hiring teams.  We believe in providing a transparent, authentic and comprehensive interview process where you have the opportunity to learn about us while we get to know you and your experience.  The interview process is outlined here:

• Phone Screen with Talent Acquisition Partner - 30 Minutes

• Video Interview with Hiring Manager - 30 Minutes

• Portfolio and Hiring Manager Interview 1.5 Hours

• Cross Functional Interview - 45 Minutes

Why Niche?

• We are a fully flexible workforce empowering our employees to choose to work remotely, in our Pittsburgh office or whatever combination suits you
• Full time, salaried position with competitive compensation in a fast-growing company
• Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision and dental and supplemental coverage
• Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
• Stipend that allows you to build your work from home office in a style and function that suits your personal preferences
• Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid) in addition to short term disability for birthing parents
• Meaningful 401(k) with employer match
• Your ideas and work will make an immediate impact on our company and millions of users
• You will join a team that cares about you, our mission, our work - and celebrates our wins together!

Niche will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future for this opening.  

We are currently hiring in states where we currently have employees: AZ, CA, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, DC, WV.

Candidates only.  No recruiters or agencies, please. Sorry, we do not offer relocation assistance.

Niche is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. Therefore, we provide employment opportunities without regard to age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.

All interviews are being held remotely. If there are preparations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.