Principal UX Designer (AR/VR/XR)

What we’re about
Cantina is an award-winning strategic design and development agency based in Boston with expertise in digital design, mobile app and web development, IoT, connected devices, and experience strategy. We work with companies in all major industry sectors ranging from the Fortune 500 to high growth startups. Our clients include some of the largest and most innovative companies on the planet, and we are actively exploring and doing work in a variety of exciting areas including health & wellness, financial services, sports tech, AR & VR, and machine learning. At our core, we are team of creators, innovators, builders, designers, engineers, and strategists who love what we do. We are committed to designing and building experiences that truly matter, and that enhance the human experience. If you are excited about this opportunity, and you’ve got what it takes to make an impact in this critical role at Cantina, we want to hear from you!
What you’re about
We’re looking for a Principal-level designer — a master of the craft of experience design — to bring demonstrable design leadership and expertise to our experience design practice. You will play a critical role in designing virtual, augmented, mixed and cross-reality experiences, in addition to more traditional web and mobile interfaces. You will be a leader in Cantina’s growing XR design discipline and help build a viable service offering.
Cantina’s design process is driven by research, data and collaboration. You should be fluent in the use of research as a primary input to your work. You should methodically seek and embrace insights based on sound data gathered through that research. You should be adept at presenting findings and then tying both micro and macro design decisions back to specific data. You should relish a process that relies upon evidence and rigor rather than impulse and intuition, but know when and where to get value from the latter.
You are first approachable, second smart, and people enjoy being on your team and working with you. You eschew individual heroism for shared team success. You’re over the “Big Design Up Front” mindset and have seen the light of iterative design. You see communication and collaboration as the keys to success. You have strong opinions, but you know how to see other’s point-of-view and incorporate it into your work.
Key Responsibilities

• Bring an informed point of view around design best practices for one or several augmented/virtual/cross reality (“AR/VR/XR”) mediums.
• Serve as a source of AR/VR/XR design knowledge for our clients and your teammates.
• Understand and embrace technical possibilities and constraints of latest mixed/augmented/virtual reality technologies.
• Employ conceptual thinking to create world-class digital products and services across platforms, reconciling user needs, business goals and technical realities
• Work directly with clients to design end-to-end experiences using participatory and iterative design techniques such as observational studies, customer interviews, usability testing, and other qualitative and quantitative research techniques to uncover insights, learn about user behavior and verify design concepts
• Develop sound UX concepts, including the definition of customer needs, task analysis, and the creation of personas, storyboards, scenarios, user flows and use cases
• Translate concepts into designs that illustrate simplicity despite conceptual complexity
• Lead multi-day design sprints and collaborative workshops with multiple participants across project and client teams
• Effectively communicate research findings, workshop outputs, conceptual ideas, detailed design, and design rationale both verbally and visually
• Create instant tangibility for the project team (including the client) through storytelling and rapid prototyping, from paper sketches to digital prototypes
• Define UI through information architecture, wireframes and user flows and validate with usability testing
• Embrace Lean UX and Agile methodologies
• Lead pre-sales engagements and marketing events from a design perspective to educate prospects on Cantina’s design practice
• Partner closely with technical developer and project manager teammates to ensure that design specifications are implemented & UX best practices are adhered to
• Creation of 3D assets for VR/XR prototypes and projects

 
Requirements:

• Demonstrable knowledge of best practices for UX design in AR/VR/XR environments
• Project history showing your design contributions for AR/VR/XR experiences
• Ability to lead in-depth conversations specific to design within these emerging environments
• 3D modeling, animation, and rendering experience with one or more of the following or an equivalent:
  • Blender, ZBrush, Houdini, Maya, 3D Studio Max, Cinema 4D, or After Effects

Nice to have:

• Experience working with Unity, Unreal, or other 3D engines
• Experience with computer vision, machine learning

 
Compensation

• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Bonus (based on individual and company performance)

 
Benefits and perks

• 100% employer-paid insurance premiums for health, dental, vision and disability
• Optional company-paid mobile phone plan
• Company-paid bike share program
• Flexible work arrangements (such as work from home days) available upon request
• Paid parental leave for up to six (6) weeks
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
• Vacation time accrued to twenty (20) days per year
• Convenient downtown Boston location
• Snacks, refreshments, coffee, tea and more in the office