We are looking for an experienced, hands-on UX Manager to join our team. At Ellevation, our managers are player / coaches. As a “player” you are an individual contributor: you work alongside an agile product team to drive innovation, craft workflows, validate ideas, and iterate throughout to deliver best-in-class user experiences to our customers. As a “coach” you are a teacher: you work closely with your reports to advise and guide them on their work and career paths.

Our Product/Design Culture

We are organized into small, cross-functional teams, comprised of a PM, Designer, Technical Lead, and engineers, that focus on high-level objectives in service of our customers and business goals. We focus on outcomes over output. Our teams are empowered to research, prototype, and develop MVPs to solicit user feedback and validate hypotheses. We measure and rapidly iterate so that the end result is a high-confidence, high-value product. 

Iteration and hypothesis-driven design are core principles for the Product and Design Team at Ellevation. We foster an environment where we have the runway to experiment and learn from failure while ensuring that we deliver against business objectives. Our Designers feel just as comfortable and confident to share when their design hypotheses were proven wrong than when they were proven correct: implicit in this is the belief that one of the most important currencies in our line of work is learning. We seek individuals who are willing to be cross-functional, hands-on in multiple areas, and offer thought leadership for the organization.

We also value staying connected and aligned as a team and as a company. We do this through a variety of ways -- quick weekly sync-ups to review our quarterly OKRs; weekly Demo Fridays where we preview cool new features to the entire company; and our twice-yearly all-company offsites, where we gather the entire company for 2 days of team building, business alignment, inspiration, and fun. We also value evolving our culture - new ideas are always welcome!

Design Responsibilities (50%)

• Drive continuous product discovery by anticipating and advocating for user needs, creating interactive prototypes, and validating your assumptions to ensure we are solving the right problems for our customers. 
• Don’t be a pixel pusher. Own the “why” behind the “what” in your designs by articulating the hypotheses and rationale for your proposed workflows. Spearhead all aspects of design including user research, prototyping, usability testing, and visual design.
• Collaborate effectively with your product team to ensure the products and features we ship delight customers at every step.

Management Responsibilities (50%)

• Manage 2-4 UX Designers by regularly reviewing performance and providing feedback to enable your reports to achieve team and individual objectives.
• Serve as a coach and mentor, transitioning between those roles as needed.
• Lead and work alongside a cross-functional group to evolve Ellevation’s Design System and implement with fidelity.
• Recruit and retain UX designers in conjunction with the VP of Product.
• Work alongside the VP of Product to to deeply understand product strategy and define design strategy.
• Foster a data-driven design culture, ensuring that designs are backed by sound methodology and concrete data. 

Requirements

• You have 2+ years of experience managing designers in a product-centric organization.
• 5+ years of demonstrated success in delivering experiences that delight customers in enterprise-facing SaaS or B2B apps/platforms.
• Experience working with and successfully implementing design systems in a high-paced environment.
• You have experience working in and promoting a rapidly changing, collaborative, and iterative product development environment.
• Strong oral and written communication skills and a comfort communicating across different audiences -- from product managers, engineers and internal stakeholders, to technical and non-technical users.
• You’re naturally curious and a great team player. You have strong interpersonal skills and can work with teammates of varying levels of experience.

Within 1 month, you will:

- Develop rapport with agile team and UX team.

- Gain solid understanding of Ellevation’s core value proposition and the mechanics of how the product delivers against that value.

- Make tangible contributions to the agile team by taking on discrete user challenges.

- Begin work evolving Ellevation’s Design System.

Within 3 months, you will:

- Tackle more complex design initiatives.

- Gradually take over day-to-day management of the UX Team including conducting 1:1s, performance reviews, team meetings, mentoring, and more.

- Develop MVP of Ellevation Design System.

Within 6 months, you will:

- Independently manage the UX Team with support from the VP of Product.

- Lead design recruitment and retention efforts hiring 2 additional designers.

- Stand up Ellevation Design System.

Within 12 months, you will:

- Implement Ellevation Design System with fidelity across all of DevPro.

- Effectively shepherd the UX Team in delivering results against company objectives.

About Us:

At Ellevation, we develop world-class software to help school districts and educators support the fastest growing population of K-12 students: English Language Learners (ELLs). Ellevation helps school districts transform their EL programs and ensure all students can achieve their highest aspirations with a best-in-class data and instructional planning platform, resources to build teacher capacity, and student-facing programs to teach academic language.

We are a fast-growing, mission-driven technology company, partnering with over 800 public school districts all across the country. We are well-capitalized, have a strong and growing team, and are continuously focused on how to build the best organization so that we can achieve our ambitious social and financial objectives.

Why Ellevation?

In addition to our great benefit plans and competitive salaries, here are some other perks that make us unique:

+ Great location in Boston - a stone’s throw from the Chauncy Street/Downtown Crossing T stop

+ Ability to make a significant impact in the education industry

+ Fun Fridays including virtual happy hours with our remote team

+ Free snacks, beverages, fruit, and we even compost!

+ On-site gym, game room and darts to support all levels of athleticism

+ Opportunity to join an open and collaborative work environment!

Learn more about our team in our Culture Deck.

At Ellevation, we champion diversity. We’re an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values a range of ideas and opinions. We embrace all types of differences in the development of our organization.