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One of the coolest UX jobs around …
We are working with Transamerica in their search for a UX Lead based in sunny Los Angeles. Transamerica Life Insurance Company, which began operations in 1961, is part of the AEGON USA group of companies. The firm markets individual and group life insurance and annuities and is licensed to provide insurance throughout the US (except for New York and Washington DC). Its products are distributed through agents and brokers, as well as via direct marketing efforts.
Transamerica strongly believes in the value of user-centered design and considers it an essential function of its continuing success. The User Experience group is Transamerica’s center of excellence for research, online strategy, user experience design, and usability testing. Transamerica’s goal is to be the leader in Financial Services by designing world-class user experiences that boldly differentiate the firm from its competition.
The User Experience Lead reports directly to the Director of Enterprise UX and serves as the primary person responsible for the information architecture and interaction design of Transamerica’s prospect, users, and associate-facing digital platforms.
This individual is responsible for participating in research, and analyzing requirements. Then working with senior business leaders and key divisional stakeholders to design highly-innovative concepts and experiences communicated in the form of wireframes and clickable prototypes that can be tested with end users and presented internally for discussion, sign-off and approval for development. This role requires a confident and creative individual with a versatile set of hands-on skills able to collaborate with fellow SEO, SEM, social media, content strategists, visual designers, and technologists on a cooperative, agency-like team.
The ideal candidate must show a fearless dedication to truly out-of-the-box thinking and be willing to take chances, boldly cultivating revolutionary, groundbreaking ideas that will delight users away from the competition, while solidifying Transamerica’s reputation for being a leader of innovative thinking.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: It’s amazing to think that since May 2013, Transamerica has become (by far) our largest client, and we’ve managed 17 or their searches within that time frame. Much more astounding still is what Transamerica’s VP of Digital Strategy, Anthony Ginn, and his team have accomplished since his arrival that spring.
Transamerica ended last year as the top financial brand in terms of online engagement, and it just surpassed the 500K mark on its Facebook fan page. Transamerica has more FB fans than Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, Allstate, and Prudential — which is quite an accomplishment, given the vast amount of mainstream brand recognition those companies have.
Thanks to Anthony’s team, @Transamerica was the first financial brand to trend nationwide on Twitter — a feat they’ve accomplished six times now. The firm has reached over 2 million people on Twitter, once surpassing the Golden Globes. Transamerica was the first ever financial brand on Tumblr and Redditt, and it was the fastest growing financial brand on Pinterest last year. Plus, its Linkedin page has nearly 20K subscribers.
According to Anthony, “We just won an award for our Tumblr feed, and we’ve earned more than 4 million total YouTube views. Our Google traffic is reaching new highs all the time, and we’ve seen massive increases in our social share of voice. We’re on a roll. There’s never been a better time to join our team.”
But all this growth has created a giant spike in demand for UX expertise across the entire company. This increase calls for smart, driven UX professionals who know how to operate in a lean UX environment. Beyond all the work that is being done in social, Transamerica has more than 1300 websites – some of which will play a critical role in the company’s future. (Some of which won’t.)
You’ll need an 80/20 mentality towards getting things done: Less wire framing and more prototyping, for example. And lots of calls with PM’s, because Transamerica has ops nationwide. Every day, you’ll find yourself whiteboarding and brainstorming with colleagues regarding solutions to prickly UX challenges, such as simplifying a sign-up process involving multiple products; with multiple customer segments; and multiple personas.
Is this role right for you?
The role is perfect for a smart, process-oriented UX Lead who’s passionate about how consumers interact with online experiences. Ideally, this UX Lead would have worked in a large organization and understand the opportunities and complexities and working in such a large organization. Having said that, Transamerica Digital is essentially a startup, with its own small company culture and electric vibe.
Anthony’s Digital Group is comprised of some of the smartest, most relatable and forward-thinking marketers in LA. Like them, you’ll need to have phenominal UX chops along with a positive outlook on life. Also like them, you’ll need to be (somewhat) high-energy and very positive-outcome oriented. In a perfect world, you’d have responsive / mobile experience and be very comfortable working in lean agile environment.
If any of this describes you, please ring us up. As usual, my kickoff call with Anthony ran more than an hour, and he shared tons of information with me regarding Transamerica’s digital goals, strategies, tactics, tools, and operating philosophies. I’m happy to share that intel with qualified candidates, and you don’t want to apply without it! Please contact us below.
View Harry Joiner’s profile
Responsibilities:
- Stay immersed in the Transamerica’s user of today while maintaining a vision of the Transamerica user of tomorrow, and how the digital platform will evolve to meet their needs and exceed their expectations.
- Champion the user, consumer, customer.
- Collaborate with business stakeholders and business analysts in analyzing requirements and assessing scope to ensure that the vision can be developed to meet Transamerica’s business needs.
- Develop high-level concepts for features and functionality, which could extend into new product development, value-added product modules, and self-service tools designed to meet Transamerica’s user needs.
- Extend concepts through rapid creation of wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes that can be iteratively tested with users and presented to Transamerica’s business leads.
- Partner with Technology to evolve concepts and designs into functioning proofs of concept that can be further validated and tested prior to full scale development.
- Create and maintain documentation (vision statements, personas, scenarios, wireframes, task flows, etc.), for business, marketing and technology teams.
- Participate in usability testing to evolve concepts and designs to meet accessibility and usability industry standards.
- Research and maintain a keen awareness of emerging mobile technologies that can be brought to bear on ideas that support the strategic long-term vision for Transamerica’s mobile platforms.
Requirements:
- 7 years designing Web-based transactional products (i.e., e-commerce, banking, etc.) and large-scale consumer websites.
- At least 2 years of mobile related design experience.
- Demonstrated ability developing and executing creative ideas through the creation of wireframes and interactive prototypes.
- Must be self-motivated, user experience oriented and a strong team player.
- Must be extremely detail-oriented, able to define ideas down to a specification level.
- Excellent relationship management skills, especially interpersonal, verbal, and written communications.
- Demonstrated ability to define key success metrics for projects, incorporating measurable business objectives, revenue optimization and user experience best practices.
- Knowledge of the financial industry a plus.
- Experience working with the Agile methodology a plus.
- Must have an online portfolio or samples of recent web and mobile related work (i.e., mockups, prototypes, specifications, guidelines).
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Allan Seibert. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to email Allan for a packet of market research and company / competitive intel that will differentiate you in your candidacy. Due to the intensely competitive nature of this search, thorough preparation for these interviews with this proprietary material is strongly recommended.
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