Thursday, September 4, 2008

Senior Usability Specialist, The MathWorks, Natick, MA

Company Description: The MathWorks is the leading developer and supplier of software for technical computing and Model-Based Design. Employing more than 1,900 people, The MathWorks was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, with offices and representatives throughout the world. The company has been profitable every year since its inception and is privately held.

Over 1,000,000 engineers and scientists in more than 100 countries, on all seven continents, use MATLAB® and Simulink®. These products have become fundamental tools for work at the world's most innovative technology companies, government research labs, financial institutions, and at more than 3,500 universities.

MATLAB and Simulink users are making better and faster progress in vital areas; they are advancing our knowledge of the earth, the environment, and the universe; they are making our cars safer and more fuel efficient, and improving air travel safety; they are making our phone calls clearer and measurement devices more accurate; they are making advances in medical research and diagnostic techniques; they are searching for new sources of energy; and they are educating the next generation of scientists.
Job Description: Senior Usability Specialist

Job #: 6907-JS
Job Title: Senior Usability Specialist
Location: Natick MA
% Travel: None to Minimal
Area of Interest: Senior Usability Specialist

Job Summary
You will be responsible for leading user-centered design activities related to several MathWorks software applications. You will work with teams to understand their projects' user-centered design requirements, and then develop creative solutions for meeting those needs.

Responsibilities
Make recommendations to team members about which usability methods to use to answer their questions about users and design directions based on their projects' needs, goals and constraints.
Work closely with the team members to help them develop user profiles and create task lists.
Help them create paper prototypes, and review online prototypes developed by others.
Run usability tests, conduct interviews and site visits, organize surveys, and complete any other usability assessments you think are appropriate.
Help the developers' record and interpret the results, and you will be responsible for making sure that the project team understands what users' feedback means and how to transform that feedback into actionable goals.
Help the team decide what to do about feedback, and will provide input for design decisions based on that feedback.

Apply: email your resume to paurico@mathworks.com


Qualifications
BA or MA in cognitive psychology, human factors, or related field, or equivalent experience
4-8 years as a usability engineer in software development, with direct experience with a variety of usability methods
Strong leadership skills
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
Ability to balance needs of a large number of concurrent projects
Knowledge of MathWorks products a plus
Knowledge of Perforce a plus

two senior level UX positions at Autodesk in Waltham, MA

Company: Autodesk, Inc.
Job Title:

1. Senior Researcher & Evangelist, Design Patterns
http://autodesk.recruitmax.com/ENG/candidates/default.cfm?szCategory=JobProfile&szOrderID=65586


2. Senior User Interaction Designer
http://autodesk.recruitmax.com/ENG/candidates/default.cfm?szCategory=JobProfile&szOrderID=65585

Entrepreneur, User Experience/ Interaction designer for an MIT Start-up

CONTACT, LOCATION, COMPENSATION

msjhuns@alum.mit.edu

Mix of competitive base salary and equity. Location : Boston/ flexible initially.

CURRENT TEAM

We are basically a young garage startup, now poised to expand rapidly. Current team is:.

1. An MIT PhD, Sloan MBA, Worked with Mckinsey, Lehman

2. An EECS grad from Cornell, An I-Banker from UBS

3. A technology guy / hacker (IIT- India grad), with 8+ years of experience in different technology functional roles, and

4. An MIT EECS grad, with experience, passion building online systems

COMPANY INTRO

We are building an internet startup (Web 2.0 type), in financial services. The offering is a first of its kind, meaningful interactive platform, clearly differentiated through implementation of unique information structuring and design principles applied to financial information (patent pending).

Over the last year the team has converted what was a mere idea to a product where the aha jumps out. The present go-to-market stage is an exciting time for us - encouraged by the "wow" response from users, and are looking to launch the platform in the next 6 months.

People in our close group of mentors and advisers call it as taking a 'Big swing at a large space' : The unique platform, executed right in the marketplace, will be disruptive to the I-Banking business. We expect to redefine at the fundamental level, how individuals, both institutional and retail, access and use business news/information, and how corporations raise capital from public.

WHAT IS THE POSITION ABOUT, WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY ?

If you want to be an internet entrepreneur / or want to do it again, this is a dream job.

Prior to launch we are targeting a major redesign of the product to dial the user experience for this one-of-its-kind site

1. Solid User Experience/ Interaction design experience will be valuable

2. Comfort/ passion for working through complex information architectures and abstracting into a powerful UI

3. Experience, deep interest in working through user personas, use cases to design and brainstorm powerful UIs

In addition, the incoming member will be engaged with all parts of the venture, including marketing, content, monetization strategy. The role will evolve quickly as the business grows, with significant flexibility and opportunity to assume different positions.

This is a great opportunity for someone who would be excited about joining a business that could be worth a few billion dollars in the 5 year time-frame.