Job Description

We are looking for an inquisitive, personable, and articulate wordsmith-turned-designer who finds joy in understanding users, solving their problems with design, and writing clear interface content for user touchpoints across multiple products. The UX team has been a key player in Vertafore’s software development lifecycle for several years, and now the company is empowering the team to have greater influence. As a UX Designer & Writer, you will be part of a centralized and highly visible UX team that sees its solutions built and delivered at a regular cadence.

Who We Are
At Vertafore, we value diverse perspectives, perpetual learning, and continuous improvement. Each day we bring an open mind, a willingness to give and receive feedback, and a dedication to creating quality user experiences.

Our Product Development teams solve problems with a strong customer focus and collaborate in an open, inquisitive, and positive manner. As creative technologists, we see the beauty of humanity in each other and therefore show respect for ourselves and those around us. This allows us to show up for our team and take risks, knowing it’s okay to fail.

We regularly engage in coaching, mentoring, agile ceremonies (like retrospectives), and fun team activities. We define problems based on user needs, not based on technological capabilities. We endeavor to do things in new ways that add value to our world.

All of these factors create a Product Development environment that is fun, collaborative, and innovative. This is highlighted by our quality delivery, happy customers, and diverse, highly empowered team with career mobility.

Come join us and be part of the action!

What You’ll Do

The UX Designer & Writer will be an influential contributor in improving the workflows and overall user experience of hundreds of thousands of insurance software users—both insurance providers and end-insured consumers. This wordsmithy designer will partner with the Lead UX Strategist, UI Design team, and Technical Writers to understand user needs, design effective solutions, and drive consistent brand voice and tone across our suite of modern web applications.

The successful candidate will
• Build amicable, trusting relationships with partner teams
• Support the Lead UX Strategist in the planning, conducting, analysis and synthesis of both generative and evaluative user research
• Lead the UX design and writing efforts for 1 to 2 concurrent sprint projects, ideating, solving, and testing solutions from a depth of knowledge about Vertafore users
• Support the UX Manager in ensuring language—from button labels to instructional text to system alerts—is consistent across our several modern web applications
• Collaborate with the UI Design team in delivering this consistent language in a 2-week sprint cadence
• Partner with the Lead Designers to create a Platform Experience Glossary that clearly and succinctly captures Vertafore’s user-centric worldview of the insurance universe.
• Partner with the Technical Writing team to ensure that product documentation is user-friendly and in sync with UI designs prior to release, while working within the constraints of an asynchronous release cycle across web applications
• Follow UX best practices for designing enterprise desktop, web, and mobile applications
• Regularly listen to Vertafore users in order to understand how they think and work
• Regularly participate in design studios, design critiques and other design ideation activities; provide constructive feedback based on design principles, patterns and standards
• Devise valuable and viable solutions for Vertafore users, provide solid reasoning for your design decisions, and clearly document their designs so that they can be well-implemented
• Create well-considered UX designs (task flows, annotated wireframes, user flows, journey maps, etc.) that adhere to user stories and conditions of acceptance
• Participate in product definition discussions with Product Managers and Product Owners
• Improve and contribute to Vertafore Design Standards & Guidelines as well as Vertafore’s emerging Platform Design System
• Advocate for users first, and filter product features through the lens of “What is best for customers and users?”

Skills & Requirements

What We’re Looking For in a UX Designer & Writer

• You’re a self-starter and an exceptionally clear communicator who asks a lot of smart questions.
• You have a good grasp of the theories, concepts, principles, and patterns of user-centered design, interaction design, and information architecture which you have applied in a variety of ways.
• You have tacit knowledge of web writing practices and at least one of the well-reputed writing style guides (preferably Chicago Manual of Style) and a working grasp of how to apply style guidelines to product copy.
• You are able to contribute to 2 projects (at various stages) concurrently, meet deadlines, and adapt quickly to changing priorities in a fast-paced agile environment.
• You take a goal-centered approach to your UX practice.
• You can translate UX Research into personas and other conceptual models.
• You can sketch and wireframe like the wind.
• You value rapid prototyping as a design method and are fluent in both paper and digital prototyping.
• You create well-considered UX designs (task flows, annotated wireframes, user flows, etc.) grounded in user research findings and based on user stories and conditions of acceptance.
• You write clear, compelling user-facing copy and can competently articulate user-centric, brand-oriented rationale for your language choices.
• You can have an intelligent conversation with a product manager about UX and feature prioritization.
• You can have an intelligent conversation with a software engineer about trade-offs between user impact and technical level of effort.
• You have some experience (or a strong interest in) leading well-framed usability testing: planning, recruiting, leading, analyzing results, making design recommendations, and communicating findings & recommendations.
• You are comfortable supporting generative user research efforts as needed: stakeholder interviews, user discovery interviews, card sorts, etc.
• You are familiar with web and mobile standards and best practices including content-first, mobile-first, responsive design, and accessibility.
• You can easily move between considering the forest and paying attention to the trees.
• Your working style demonstrates respect, initiative, ownership, transparency, and accountability.
• You are adaptable and thrive in a fast-paced environment.
• You have a strong knack for learning new tools.

Who You Are

• You have 2–4 years of professional experience in the startup, agency, software world or other creative field, including at least 1 year doing web, UX or interaction design.
• You have at least 3 years of professional experience doing copywriting, technical writing, or editing for digital products.
• You have a compelling portfolio of UX design and web (digital content) writing that showcases your skills in problem framing, research, problem solving, and wordsmithery.
• You’ve designed B2B and/or B2C products and services across devices or at a platform level.
• You demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills, including presentation skills and an ability to persuasively articulate design rationale.
• You know how to adapt design methods for the context of each project.
• You have proficiency with at least one of the following tools: Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Axure RP, Sketch, or a similar design tools.
• You have a foundational knowledge of the layers of the modern web stack: HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript fundamentals.
• You have a bachelor’s degree in communications or some flavor thereof: professional writing, technical writing, creative writing, journalism, public relations or the like.

Nice-to-haves:

• You have some experience in the insurance industry.
• You have experience with information architecture or data-driven design.
• You have completed a design bootcamp or graduate-level coursework in design, HCI, social science, or a related field.

Vertafore is an EOE employer and strongly supports equal employment opportunity for all applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law equal employment. Minority candidates encouraged to apply.

Any offer of employment is contingent upon the successful completion of a background check and drug screen. Salary commensurate with experience. Vertafore offers comprehensive benefits and trans-friendly health insurance.

Recruiters: Hiring team will not respond to inquiries from third-party recruiting agencies.