Taoti Creative is Hiring a Sr. User Experience Strategist / Designer! 

Our ideal candidate... 

With most of our projects, the client is looking to get users (usually website visitors) to do something on their website. That ‘something’ could be making a donation, filling out a lead-gen type of form, signing up for a newsletter, etc. We’re looking for an experienced UX designer that can work directly with clients to understand what those objectives are and then come up with both the big-picture strategies as well as the detailed tactics that will drive users to the desired engagement. Let’s repeat that last part, because it’s a critical part of this job: come up with the detailed tactics that will drive users to the desired engagement. There are many types of UX designers, but the type we’re looking for is someone who is very hands-on, tactical, and highly strategic in coming up with specific features, functions, layouts, or other methods that will get real-world results that are meaningful and measurable.

At Taoti, the UX role is particularly critical because your collective insights and your rendered intent are really the foundation of everything that we will execute and build for our clients. If those blueprints aren’t for effective features, then it won’t matter how well we execute them during production. To come up with truly effective features, you’ll need to work closely with clients to understand their needs and wants. We employ a pretty lean and agile process in that regard in that our ‘discovery’ process is ongoing with deliverables being clear, concise, and actionable. We try to avoid ‘going through the motions’ just to check the boxes and instead focus our energy on coming up with specific strategies and tactics that we can execute and measure against. Our ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate how they’ve arrived at specific features and functions that get results. Our client base is very diverse. User Experience engagements include National Park Service, DC Lottery, U.S. Figure Skating, Howard County Library System, World Bank, USAID, etc., to name a very few. Not to brag, we were voted best User Experience in Washington DC by Expertise.

The Day to Day

While it will vary from week to week, most of your time will be supporting important client projects including but not limited to:

• Lead user researchand discovery activities (user interviews, surveys, heatmaps, heuristics analysis, competitor analysis, content audits, analytics audits using Google Analytics, discovery findings presentations) 
• Facilitate, design, and leadUX workshops and presentations with senior-level, C-Suite clients using visual storytelling and co-design methodologies.
• Translate user research into UX artifacts: sitemaps, user flows, user journey maps, service blueprints, wireframes andprototypes 
• Leadand author usability tests, user scripts, tasks, and reports while coaching and mentoring junior UX designers to assist you.
• Maintainand update our design systems in Adobe XD.
• Apply accessible and inclusive design bestpractices.
• Collaborateand mentor other UX designers, visual designers, developers, accessibility analysts, marketers, and project managers to build the best product we can for our users and clients.
• Lead UXquality assurance testing to ensure UX strategy is maintained throughout the lifecycle of a project.
• Depending on the future state of client needs, facilitate in-person UX workshops in our DC office or at client sites throughout the DMV area (only non-remote portion of the job).

What we're looking for...

• Someone who lives in the DMV and is willing to come into the office at least 3 days per week. (If you don’t currently in the area but plan to relocate, please clearly indicate as much in your application. Otherwise, applications for fully remote work won’t be considered or responded to).
• An amazing portfolio that demonstrates the use of creative and novel solutions to solve complexproblems.
• 5 years of experienceworking on UX design for websites, facilitating and designing UX workshops, and crafting presentations with clients or in a consulting role (this is a very client-facing role so if you don’t like talking with stakeholders, it might not be for you).
• Adept at gathering requirements and understanding the design needs of a public sector client interfacing with a globalpublic.
• Experience storyboarding and developing scenarios relevant to website, web app, and iOSdevelopment
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and analytical skills, including the ability to present design concepts clearly and persuasively to colleagues, partners, stakeholders, and especially to seniorexecutives.
• Ability to workin a fast-past agency environment, leading and contributing to multiple client projects at one time.
• Demonstrated skill in translating quantitative and qualitative datasets into insights and strategies which help achieve clientgoals.
• Growth-mindset, open to receiving feedback and constructive criticismto improve.
• Experience working withAdobe XD, Optimal Workshop, Google Analytics, Slickplan, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Microsoft 365 (Office).

Application Tip: More so than many other roles, the deliverables you’ve produced in the past will carry a lot of weight in our selection process. We want to see firsthand the types of documents you’ve generated for projects. The more of that stuff you can include in your application, the better!

Logistics 

This is a full-time, W2, “in-house” role based out of our Washington, DC office. With our hybrid schedule, we expect employees in the DC area to be in the office at least 3 days a week. Certain roles (such as managers or people involved in projects that require more on-site meetings) may be in more, and that may change from time to time. Ultimately, our goal is to embrace a hybrid office culture that balances the needs of the agency with the needs of employees. (Please note that if you are not local but intend to relocate for the role, please be sure to note that in your application somewhere. Otherwise, we may not respond to non-local applicants.)

Career Growth

That’s one of the best parts about this role, specifically at Taoti. In a larger shop, the creative hierarchy is usually large, layered, and not-so-flexible. Or at a smaller shop, you may have lots of flexibility, but not enough of a team to really benefit from true collaboration. Taoti is the Goldilocks of creative agencies. We have enough clout to let you do top-tier work while being small enough to allow for the flexibility for you to carve out your niche and grow in a way that makes sense for you. You and your manager will work together to create your Independent Development Plan (IDP) so you know exactly what to be focusing on and making progress towards. So, your career trajectory has far more to do with your own aptitude and initiative than it does with an org chart.

What’s the corporate culture like?

“Fun but focused,” as one Taoti put it, is a great way to sum up our culture. We’re a fun and casual shop. The kind of place where you can wear whatever, come and go as you please, and have autonomy over your own day for the most part. But we take the work seriously and believe deep in the mission to make meaningful and measurable impacts for our clients. All the perks and shenanigans and borderline irreverent tone are fun, but to really fit in here, you need to be about the work.

We believe in something we call our “QIST Culture.” Quality. Innovation. Service. And Teamwork. We are always striving to improve these four areas (to the extent that we have a fund of a quarter million dollars per year that anyone can spend from in the interest of going above and beyond towards any of these four values.

We also believe in total transparency and open communication across teams and across ranks. Instead of chain-of-command, we want everyone to have and share their own voice. Every other Thursday, the CEO holds ‘CafeClutch’ just so he can hear ideas and feedback directly from the team instead of through the filter of management.

Want to see what life at Taoti looks like? Check out our Instagram or ‘about us’ video. There’s even a 360 tour of the office. 

What about benefits?

• 5 weeks of PTO (including 11 holidays). This number goes up automatically with each year of tenure.
• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance (50% for qualifying dependents). And we have good insurance. 
• Paid family leave for men and women (including PTO plus short and long-term disability options)
• 3% retirement plan matching (plus access to a financial advisor)
• Home buyer help (including a $1200 closing credit)
• Mobile phone reimbursement
• You can opt for a company-supplied PC or Mac laptop. Or if you want to use your own,we’ll reimburse you for it.
• Charitable contribution matching
• Tax-free metro benefits
• A sincere respect for work/life balance
• Money and time offallocated for professional development (also increases with tenure)
• A diverse team hailing from over 15 countries last time we checked
• A very hip/cool/funky/quirky office space on Barracks Row, in the heart of Capitol Hill. Just 2 blocks from the metro.

A bit more about Taoti…

Established in 1996, Taoti Creative is a boutique, full-service creative agency located on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. We are privately owned and have no corporate overloads (nothing personal, WPP). We do stuff like web development, social media management, branding, experiential marketing, video, AR/VR, etc. Our mission is to ‘move the needle’ for our clients. We leverage technology, creativity, and innovation to generate meaningful and measurable results for our clients—that’s what drives us. Speaking of clients, they’re about 60% non-profits, 20% commercial, and 20% federal government. Some of our customers include World Bank, USAID, DC Water, Discovery Education, American Chemical Society, Jane Goodall Foundation, and dozens of ‘National Association of _________,’ etc.

Our full-time team of about 50 employees is about 65% in-house and 35% remote. We hail from over 15 countries. And for the last four years in a row, we’ve made the Inc5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the United States. There’s of course plenty of additional information on our website. If you’ve not done so already, be sure to check out our culture video: https://vimeo.com/289302105.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion...

Great ideas happen when diverse perspectives come together. Those perspectives are Taoti’s secret sauce. So building a diverse team and culture where everyone has a voice and is included in the process is not just the right thing to do. It’s good for business. We’d love your own perspective to add to our mix! We're eager for new, diverse voices to join the team and sincerely hope people from every walk of life will apply!

Next steps…

If you’re qualified and interested, please apply on our website (www.taoti.com/careers.) Please note that these job ads often get placed onto other websites with their own application systems (we’re looking at you Jooble!) and some sites (looking at you Indeed!) have made up random salary ranges. We aren't able to respond to applications that don’t come through our own website (Because we use software to manage our hiring process, and without it, it would be the wild west here. So please be sure you’re applying on our website.)