Who: SkyRocket
Position: Senior Manager, UX
Where: Seattle
What: SkyRocket Studios is the team within Big Fish responsible for creating chart topping mobile games like Dungeon Boss and the Fairway Solitaire franchise.
Our internal game studio in Seattle is looking for a fantastic Senior Manager, UX to join our team. You will be managing and growing our current UX design team, working hands-on with various games in development, and collaborating with studio leadership to help define and guide our UX strategy across all of our products. You should be a strong leader and manager, and come prepared with extensive industry knowledge in UX, Management Information Systems, and have a fascination for the mobile free-to- play game experience.
Responsibilities:
Collaborate with senior studio management and other directors to drive strategy, define goals, and manage our growing portfolio of products
Define and implement standards that help the company create a consistent, quality experience for its players across all game products
Push UX boundaries by exploring the latest emerging trends in Free to Play games as well as other industries
Build best practices backed by research
Facilitate the UX design process within cross-functional teams, including software engineers and product managers, in order to resolve business and user experience issues
Manage UX Designers by mentoring and supporting career growth and education, perform reviews and one on ones meetings to maintain strong communication and awareness
Drive awareness and advocate the importance of human computer interaction challenges and opportunities, user feedback, journey mapping and data-driven decisions in designing the end-to-end user experience
Work closely with the UX Designers to scope features, define requirements, and set realistic goals for their projects
Get your hands dirty- Produce sketches, mind maps, flow charts, wireframes, prototypes, mock-ups, and design specs
Unleash your design expertise to create highly engaging, delightful experiences that connect with players on an emotional level
Collaborate with UX designers, art leads, product managers, producers, engineers, and QA to iterate on the functionality, flow, layout, content
Help tune existing features and create the UX design for new and evolving features while maintaining a high level view of the user experience of the whole product
Create wireframes and user flows when necessary, ensuring that iterative feedback is incorporated into the software application and game development process
Mentor and guide your UX team on interdisciplinary projects to establish a holistic, consistent player experience on their projects
Use your collaborative nature to build relationships with stakeholders throughout the company, establishing a strong UX vision and evangelizing player experience design
Responsible for communicating UX pipeline during new team member on-boarding, and cascading high level business and process directives to team members
Play and analyze games in all genres
Requirements:
You have a player-first attitude and use a combination of research and your understanding of gamer culture to empathize with players and develop strategies and best practices tailored to their needs
Thorough knowledge of wireframe production, process flows, journey mapping, system architecture, business process auditing, design and implementation
Fluent in UX best practices and have the critical thinking skills to know when it’s time to break them in favor of something different for a purpose.
Excellent understanding of game navigation and common UI patterns as they relate to engagement and monetization in the Mobile space
Exceptional Leadership abilities. Leads by example and regularly exhibits a positive attitude and demonstrates a passion for excellence
Ability to balance a wide range of concurrent responsibilities while being level headed and priority focused
Mentors others in areas of specialization while striving to learn and grow through collaboration with others and outside sources/organizations
Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite and UI prototyping software Experience in designing interfaces for mobile and other platforms is preferred (iPhone, iPad, Android, PC, Facebook)
A team player, open to critiques from all disciplines, and not afraid to share your ideas
Continuously learning, constantly seeking opportunities to experiment, fail fast, optimize workflows and foster open communication
Excellent written and oral communication skills- Proactive and straightforward
A curious and critical thinker, able to articulate complex ideas with humility (and a healthy dose of humor)
Independent, organized yet flexible, and able to prioritize effectively without losing sight of the big picture
Fascinated by games, especially mobile free to play, and the ways in which this growing genre continues to change and evolve
College degree in Art, Animation, Design, Human Computer Interaction, or Management Information Systems
7+ years as a user experience designer with some focus on mobile preferred but not mandatory
3+ years as a project lead preferred
3+ years of people management
Avid gamer and mobile app enthusiast
Experience with CCG/ RPG style games a plus
Experience in social game production, game merchandising and messaging a plus
Experience in SCRUM/Agile production methodologies
How: Apply Here
